Victoire Pisa, winner of the 2011 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (UAE-I), has been retired from racing to stand at stud at Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm in Japan.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Kentucky Derby (gr. I)-winning jockey Patrick Valenzuela, 49, announced his retirement Dec. 9, agent Tom Knust confirmed.
Friday, December 09, 2011Hat Trick, a Japanese-bred group I winner, came through with his first winner when his son Dabirsim won by 10 lengths at La Teste de Buch in France.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Jockey Pat Valenzuela, who rode Sunday Silence to victory in the 1989 Kentucky Derby, looks for a repeat aboard Comma to the Top.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011Irish stallion Invincible Spirit closed out 2010 with a record but it was a record for the number of 2-year-old winners in a single year for a stallion standing in either North America or Europe.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
For a trainer to find success in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (gr. I) it might be good if their horse is familiar with 'Big Sandy.'
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Take a trip to the '80s as I revisit the victories by Ferdinand, Alysheba, Winning Colors, and Sunday Silence. As well as some of the other characters I found along the way.
Son of Harlan's Holiday one of three Goldophin interests in a full field of 3-year-olds battling for $2 million at Meydan.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Churchill Downs' vice-president of communications discusses the activity in Pool One of the 2010 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Former president of the Maryland Jockey Club heads group that seeks to purchase the MJC from a bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corp.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Congratulations to Breeders' Cup Bracket Battles Round 1 winners. Round 2 voting is now underway. Cast your votes today and register for a chance to win weekly prizes from YouBet.com.
Friday, October 09, 2009Agnes Tachyon, the world's leading stallion by progeny earnings last year, died June 22 of apparent heart failure.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009For Sunday Racing Co., life could not be better. The partnership heads into the Derby with a colt that was not only sired by one Derby winner but is half-brother to another - talk about pedigree. And that colt won his final pre-Derby race impressively April 19 to establish himself as the probable favorite for the big race.
Thursday, April 23, 2009Hat Trick, who stands at John T.L. Jones III's Walmac Farm near Lexington, will shuttle to Argentina for the 2009 Southern Hemisphere breeding season.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009The first foal by Sunday Silence's son Silent Name is a colt born Jan. 17 at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs near Paris, Ky.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
MAHUBAH'S CORNER, by Avalyn Hunter Daiwa Scarlet (JPN) staked out a place among racing's queens with a victory in the prestigious Arima Kinen (Jpn-I). Just the fourth female to win the race, her victims included just about every top Japanese male still in training, including 2007 Arima Kinen winner Matsurida Gogh (JPN); 2008 Japan Cup (Jpn-I) winner Screen Hero (JPN), and 2006 Japanese champion 3-year-old male Meisho Samson (JPN).
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
A weanling colt by Sky Mesa sold for $77,000 during the Nov. 14 session of Keeneland's November breeding stock sale. The day's gloomy final figures weren't any different from the rest of the sessions, with the gross off 36% from last year's figures.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Patrick Valenzuela, whose career as a jockey has been both troubled and brilliant, won his 4,000th race Oct. 9. His milestone victory came at Louisiana Downs aboard Burst of Light in a one-mile allowance/optional claiming event.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, on three years' probation for a California DUI and unable to apply for a riding license in that state until Dec. 31 of this year, plans to begin riding races at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., according to a report in the Daily Racing Form.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A warrant has been issued in a California county for the arrest of jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who failed to appear at a recent hearing associated with a charge against him for driving under the influence.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Charles Fipke's homebred Tale of Ekati may have turned in a sub-par effort in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II), but he sparkled at Aqueduct when he ran down War Pass in the final strides of the $750,000 Wood Memorial (gr. I) April 5.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Agnes Gold, a Japanese grade II winner by Sunday Silence, was represented by his first foal from his initial North American crop when a colt out of the Alphabet Soup mare Call Out was born March 7.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
MAHUBAH'S CORNER, by Avalyn Hunter
When Fumie Takahashi's 4-year-old colt Matsurida Gogh swept across the finish line of the Arima Kinen (JPN-I), all Japan was once again reminded of the loss of Sunday Silence. A member of the stallion's last crop, Matsurida Gogh's upset victory, his first in a group I event, placed an exclamation point on the legacy of Japan's greatest sire.
Thursday, December 27, 2007Silent Name, a grade II winner by Sunday Silence, has arrived at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Kentucky near Paris, where he will enter stud for $7,500.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Sunday Racing's Vermilion saved ground on the backstretch and accelerated past the leaders in the final furlong to win the $2.4-million Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn-I) by 1 1/4 lengths on Nov. 24, in the process setting a new record on the Tokyo Racecourse main track.
Saturday, November 24, 2007Favored Daiwa Major made it back-to-back victories in the US$1.85 million Mile Championship Stakes (Jpn-I) Nov. 18 with a gritty neck victory over Super Hornet on the turf at Kyoto Race Course.
Sunday, November 18, 2007Dr. Tadashi Iida, a well-known owner, breeder, and veterinarian in Japan and CEO of Chiyoda Farm, that country's major breeding and training facility, passed away Nov. 15 in his native land after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 80 years old.
Friday, November 16, 2007Former Japanese champions Zenno Rob Roy and Jungle Pocket have been denied access to New Zealand and instead will now stand the remainder of the embattled Southern Hemisphere season in Australia.
Monday, October 01, 2007
Hat Trick, a champion son of Sunday Silence, will stand at Walmac Farm near Lexington, Ky., in 2008. He ran a mile in Japan in 1:32.10.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
With the Japanese industry continuing to wait for a dominant successor to perennial leading sire Sunday Silence, who died in 2002, much of their hope seems to have fallen on Deep Impact's bay shoulders.
Monday, July 09, 2007Ray Paulick, editor-in-chief of The Blood-Horse, has been elected to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's board of directors.
Friday, June 08, 2007Daiwa Major won his fourth grade I race Sunday with an impressive performance in the US$1.9 million Yasuda Kinen (Jpn-I) at Tokyo Racecourse, which also sewed up the 2007 Asian Mile Challenge for the 6-year-old Sunday Silence horse.
Sunday, June 03, 2007Silent Name, making his initial start on a synthetic surface, won for the first time in more than a year when he dominated 10 foes in the $400,000 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup (gr. II) at Keeneland Saturday.
Saturday, April 14, 2007Suzuka Phoenix broke through for his first group I win March 25 in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo racecourse just outside the Japanese city of Nagoya, enabling champion jockey Yutaka Take to claim a group I triumph for the 20th consecutive season.
Sunday, March 25, 2007A Super Derby day worth $1.3 million, a new Super Derby prelude day, Louisiana Downs champions day, and the richest prep race in the nation for the new Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, highlight a stakes schedule worth more than $3.4 million at Harrah's Louisiana Downs in 2007. The racing season begins Friday, May 4 and continues through Oct. 20.
Thursday, February 22, 2007Deep Impact collected 287 of a possible 289 (97.9%) total votes in winning the 2006 Japanese Racing Association's Horse of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
Monday, January 22, 2007Great expectations are hovering over Japanese Triple Crown winner Deep Impact as he prepares for his first season at stud, with Shadai Stallion Station officials hoping he will help ignite global interest in Japanese-bred horses.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007Great expectations are hovering over Japanese Triple Crown winner Deep Impact as he prepares for his first season at stud, with Shadai Stallion Station officials hoping he will help ignite global interest in Japanese-bred horses.
Monday, January 15, 2007Deep Impact demolished a field of Japan's best horses to record his seventh grade I win and end his career on a tremendous high in the Arima Kinen Sunday over 2,500 meters at Nakayama racecourse.
Sunday, December 24, 2006Ed Dunlop, the trainer of British star Ouija Board, got some good news when he talked to the champion mare's regular exercise rider earlier this week while she was preparing for Sunday's Japan Cup (Jpn-I).
Thursday, November 23, 2006Fusaichi Pandora was awarded victory in Sunday's Queen Elizabeth Commemorative Cup (Jpn-I) at Kyoto racecourse when the undefeated 3-year-old filly Kawakami Princess was disqualified after finishing first.
Sunday, November 12, 2006Daiwa Major earned his first grade I victory in 2 1/2 years when he captured the Tenno Sho (Autumn) over 2,000 meters at Tokyo racecourse Sunday.
Sunday, October 29, 2006Silent Name, a grade II winning son of Sunday Silence, will retire to Frank Stronach's Adena Springs near Versailles, Ky., in 2007.
Thursday, September 28, 2006Harrah's Louisiana Downs Casino & Racetrack has named Youbet.com as the presenting sponsor of the track's marquee race - Super Derby XXVII - to be held Sept. 23.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006The Japanese star Dance in the Mood, whose connections were disappointed when she ran second in the 2004 American Oaks (gr. IT) on the Hollywood Park turf, provided redemption Saturday when she romped to victory in the $750,000 CashCall Invitational Mile (gr. IIIT).
Saturday, July 01, 2006As expected, Japanese champion Deep Impact won Sunday's Takarazuka Kinen (Jpn-I) before 80,000 spectators convincingly in his final domestic outing at Kyoto Racecourse prior to heading to France for the Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) on Oct. 1.
Sunday, June 25, 2006Deep Impact, Japan's 2005 Horse of the Year, justified his 1-10 price with a record-smashing win in the Tenno Sho (Spring) (Jpn-I) at 3,200 meters (1.98 miles) at Kyoto racecourse Sunday.
Sunday, April 30, 2006Heart's Cry, partnered by Christophe Lemaire and trained by Kojiro Hashiguchi, gave Japan its second win of the Dubai World Cup meeting, leading all the way to capture the $5 million Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) over 2,400 meters (about 1 1/2 miles) on the Nad Al Sheba turf Saturday night.
Saturday, March 25, 2006Godolphin Racing's Japanese-bred Sundrop, vanned off after her last-place finish in the Emirates Airlines Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) last month, swept past the field in the stretch to win the $175,050 Cardinal Handicap (gr. IIIT) on the Churchill Downs turf Saturday.
Saturday, November 19, 2005A record crowd of nearly 137,000 people at Kyoto Racecourse Oct. 23 witnessed Japan's sixth Triple Crown winner, the first in 11 years and only the second to have captured the series unbeaten.
Sunday, October 23, 2005