Horse Racing News

Gold Mark Farm's Backtalk willingly accelerated in the final furlong and scored a clear victory in the $110,500 Bashford Manor Stakes on Friday at Churchill Downs.

Multimillion-dollar down-payments on racetrack slots proposed by Gov. Ted Strickland are at risk if Ohio voters approve a competing casino plan in November, the chief executive of a major racing company said Friday.

OPELOUSAS - As the sound of cracking metal echoed toward the backside barns when the gate flew open on the first race Thursday night at Evangeline Downs, Shane Sellers was finally at peace.

Churchill Downs officials say their test of night racing this summer has been a great success after large crowds packed the track for the final evening.

Harness racing's Grand Circuit makes the first of its two summer stops at the Meadowlands during Historic Week, July 1-4. Originally raced at the Goshen Historic Track in New York, the eight Historic stakes events moved to the Meadowlands in 1979.

Claiborne Farm's Blame found running room at the eighth pole for a 1 1/4-length win in Thursday's featured $50,397 Moon Over Prospect Purse for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs.

Nicky Henderson has been fined 40,000 and is unable to make entries for three months over the Moonlit Path case.

Bookmakers are bracing themselves for another wave of support for the John Oxx-trained Sea The Stars, who faces nine rivals in his attempt to emulate the great Nashwan in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park.

Injuries are commonplace in sports, but there's only one sport where you'll find an ambulance following the athletes.

The Maryland Jockey Club and Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemena s Association have agreed to the live racing dates and stakes schedule for the balance of 2009, including the return of the Grade I Frank J. De Francis Dash after a one-year hiatus.

North Dakota`s top horse racing regulator has resigned. Randy Blaseg`s departure was disclosed at a state Racing Commission meeting on Tuesday.

Rembrandt Spur cruises to Currier & Ives victory Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - by Evan Pattak, for The Meadows Meadow Lands, PA --- Rembrandt Spur made a decisive quarter-pole move to the front, then cruised on top to capture the $119,679 final of the Currier & Ives for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Monday at The Meadows.

Robert Landry, who began his riding career in 1981, recorded his 2,000th win on Canada Day July 1 at Woodbine.

JIMMY FORTUNE is in dreamland after winning the ride on Rip Van Winkle in the Coral-Eclipse. Johnny Murtagh last week failed in an appeal to reduce a ban incurred on Kayf Aramis at Royal Ascot, and the mount on Aidan O'Brien's colt was handed to Fortune.

Viva Pataca finally achieved his rightful place alongside the greats of Hong Kong racing when he was named Horse of the Year for 2008-09 at the annual Champions Awards.

RACING at Worcester today has been abandoned due to a shortage of on-course water for the horses.

Federal prosecutors have unsealed an indictment returned nearly two years ago by a grand jury investigating allegations of corruption in state prison agricultural operations.

Lawmakers and Gov. Ted Strickland are giving themselves an extra week to work out their budget differences, after the state Senate adopted a continuing resolution authorizing spending through the first seven days of the new fiscal year.

Scobie Coogan saddled half of his Newmarket stable to success at Brighton as Lady Florence obliged in the Brighton & Hove Streamline Taxis Selling Stakes.

The Irish Derby has often had a stronger field than the equivalent races at Epsom and Chantilly, benefiting from its later position in the calendar to attract the best horses from all three countries for a kind of decider.