Horse Racing
“And they’re off!” Horse racing of all types is found in our racing section, including Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Harness, Steeplechase and Arabian racing.
Want to get lucky? Take a look at the Wagering to help guide you. Keep track of upcoming horse races and racing events in our Calendar of Events for Horse Racing.
Want to live the dream of owning a racehorse? Check out the Breeding, Partnerships, Sales & Bloodstocks sections where you can help yourself be a force in the Sport of Kings.
Need a place to train your baby and help develop his successful career? You will find both training facilities and professional racehorse trainers in our Training section. See you in the winners’ circle!
by CL Cimino
Around the world, horse racing is considered to be more than just a spectator sport. Rather, it's a longstanding cultural tradition where rituals, codes of conduct, and presentation are just as important as the actual races themselves. If you're heading to the glitz and glamour of the Grand National for the first time this year, a rudimentary understanding of horse racing etiquette will go a long way helping you get the most value out of the experience. Whether you're a dashing gentleman or a refined lady, here are the absolute essentials of horse racing etiquette that you need to be aware of.
1. Dress Code
Perhaps the aspect that most worries first-time attendees is the dress code. As you may have seen from the photographs of major race events that often make the splash on national newspapers, people tend to dress to impress. That's not to say that you need to go all out and spend the equivalent of a month's rent on a tuxedo. Rather, you can simply follow the basics to ensure that you are appropriately dressed for wherever you will be spending the day.
It's worth noting that different races often stipulate vastly different dress codes. Different rules apply depending on the enclosure you are in. For those in the prestigious Royal Enclosure, all men must wear black shoes with matching socks, a top hat, a tie, and ideally a three-button jacket.
Read more: Grand National: The Complete Guide to Horse Racing Etiquette for Beginners
by Bill Finley
Trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, the two biggest names among the 27 people indicted Monday after an investigation into horse doping, are due back in court Mar. 23 for their arraignment. Both were arrested Monday in Miami and released on bail.
As part of the bail agreement, the court imposed the requirement that Servis and Navarro not have any contact with racehorses without the presence of the third party owner of the premises where the horse is stabled.
The indicted horsemen will be allowed to enter a guilty or not guilty plea at the arraignment.
Read more: Servis, Navarro to be Arraigned March 23rd, Could Face 5 Years Each
UPDATE: EIE originally published this article in March of 2020. Rick Dutrow is back training and one of his horses, White Abarrio, cruised to a 6 1/4 length victory in the $1 million dollar Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, beating odds-on Cody's Wish who finished 3rd.
by Wallace Matthews
Back in the mid-90s, a thoroughbred owner called Rick Dutrow asking a favor: Did he know anyone at the New York Yankees who might be able to arrange a special visit to the Stadium for his handicapped daughter, who was a huge Yankee fan?
Dutrow didn’t, but he knew Don Zimmer slightly, who at the time was manager Joe Torre’s bench coach, and he knew how to use a telephone. He called the Yankee Stadium switchboard, asked to be connected to the home clubhouse, and somehow found himself speaking to a man inside the Yankees closely-guarded inner sanctum.
“Could you ask Don Zimmer to call Rick Dutrow? He knows my dad, Dickie Dutrow, from horse-racing,’’ he told the man, who was likely a Yankees clubhouse attendant. Ten minutes later, Don Zimmer called back.
“I was hoping and praying he would remember my dad,’’ Dutrow said. “And like the freak he was about horse racing, he remembered like it was yesterday.’’
That phone call started an association that led Dutrow to train horses for Torre, including the filly Sis City, who developed into a pretty good Saturday afternoon horse, ran fourth in the Kentucky Oaks and wound up being sold for $2 million, returning Torre, a one-quarter partner, a cool half-million on his initial investment in a $50,000 claimer.
It also resulted in Torre, who managed the Yankees to four world championships and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, writing a letter to the New York State Gaming Commission in November 2015 asking it to reconsider the unprecedented 10-year license revocation handed down by the Commission four years earlier.
“My name is Joe Torre. I write in support of Trainer Rick Dutrow. I love horse racing and Rick trained some of my horses. My experience with him was positive. I understand that there is an effort underway to have the Gaming Commission review the penalty imposed on Rick in 2011. I support this effort in the hopes that this focused reconsideration by the Commission will return Rick to his life's work. ‘’
In recent days, Torre’s support -- along with that of trainer Dale Romans, owner Michael Dubb and vet Dr. Larry Bramlage, to name just a few – has been bolstered by the addition of noted civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and the prestigious Manhattan law firm of Paul, Weiss to the cause.
Their mission is to get Dutrow’s sentence reduced to time served and his license to train reinstated, and their reason is simple: When it comes to training thoroughbreds, many owners have expressed that no one does it better, or safer, than Rick Dutrow.
by CL Cimino
The Royal Ascot can boast of a long and prosperous history. Queen Elizabeth II attends this event every year along with the other members of the Royal Family. This racing event is hugely popular in the UK with many fans searching Royal Ascot offers for 2020 during the summertime.
1- Brown Jack
Brown Jack is one of the most popular racehorses in the history of British racing. His achievements in the Queen Alexandra Stakes looks unlikely to be repeated by any other horse- he won this race for a record six seasons in a row.
What makes his achievements even more amazing is that he started as a hurdler before he switched to flat racing later in his career.
Brown Jack won the Ascot Stakes in 1928 before he went on an incredible winning run from 1929 to 1934. He also won the Goodwood Cup, Champion Hurdle, Doncaster Cup, Chester Cup, and the Ebor Handicap. His trainers were Aubrey Hastings and Ivor Anthony while the British military officer Sir Harold Wernher was his owner.
People are greatly passionate about horse racing in the UK. The Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National are some of the most popular events in the whole world. A great majority of fans attend these events with horse racing betting very common among the race-goers.
1- Sprinter Sacre:
The story of Sprinter Sacre is hugely inspirational for people desiring glory and success in their fields. Despite many odds, the great horse won many racing honors and carved a big name for himself in the United Kingdom.
Sprinter Sacre looked destined for glory from the very beginning. He won one race after another and garnered headlines from the very start of his career. He claimed notable victories at the Tingle Creek Chase, Queen Mother Champion Chase, and Arkle Challenge.
However, his racing career got in jeopardy when he was found to be suffering from a heart complication after he pulled up in a race in 2013. His performance got greatly affected by this problem as he struggled to win any racing contest.
But his perseverance paid off as he finally managed to secure a victory in about two and a half years. And once his losing jinx was broken, he produced other important victories. He claimed the 2016 Queen Mother Champion Chase even after committing a big mistake during the race.
2- Red Rum
Red Rum is a household name in the United Kingdom. He has the distinction of being the only racehorse in history who won the Grand National for a record three times.
by Kalyn McMackin
San Diego -- Ferrin Peterson is no stranger to hard work. The Carlsbad resident works two jobs: one as a professional jockey and the other as a veterinarian, making her quite the dual threat when it comes to horse racing.
At 5'4" and 110 pounds, Peterson's stature looks like most jockeys -- except for the long blonde braid tucked under her black riding helmet.
"I want to see how far I can take this jockey career," Peterson said. "I would love to be the first female to win the Kentucky Derby. It's never happened and I think that's crazy."
Before earning her jockey's license in 2018, Peterson raced part-time. She's competed in 230 races and won 15 of them, often as the only woman riding.
"There's this perception that we're not as strong as the men or maybe we'd be more scared. But as I've been here longer, I can tell people are starting to change their opinion about me," she said.
Read more: Female Jockey and Veterinarian Brings Double the Expertise to the Track
The Cheltenham Festival may have originated in 1860 and had a permanent home at the Gloucestershire track since 1911 but it is still growing in popularity and stature. Last year the opening day Festival attendance reached 67,934 people - record breaking stuff.
The mid 1960’s and Tom Dreaper’s three time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Arkle, added a new dimension to the annual gathering of National Hunt superstars as his celebrated achievements were the beginning of an Irish invasion which has numerically grown and grown to the point that Irish trained runners cannot match the numerical advantage of the home nation but surpasses it in terms of winners.
Irish Winners Galore
In 2006 Irish horses swept the three most prestigious prizes the Cheltenham Festival: The Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase and in 2017 Irish-trained runners took 19 of the Festival’s 28 races.
So it’s good news all round for the Cheltenham Festival and National Hunt racing in general albeit connections of a horse engaged in a mid-week Plumpton seller, where the prize-money may even not cover a month’s stable fees, may differ in opinion!
by Chelsea Hackbarth
We walked in to the Keeneland Sales Pavilion with an idea, a little bit of hope, and a lot of bravado.
We walked out a little bit wiser, we hope, and with a renewed sense of faith in ourselves.
The eight months in between were a heck of a journey.
“We both graduated with equine business degrees, surely we can figure this out,” my business partner, Steph Settles, said to me last November. “Besides, it'll be fun to have a baby around.”
A couple of bloodstock industry neophytes, we were discussing our first pinhooking venture. Steph didn't know how prophetic her words would turn out to be, though. Just as we had organized a few of our friends to head into the Keeneland January sale and pick out our first prospect, Steph and her husband found out they were expecting a baby of their own.
Due in early September, as in right before the Keeneland September sale.
“If I have to go straight from the birthing suite to the sales ring, I'll be there when our filly sells,” Steph joked. “I'm not worried about it. I'm all in.”
Read more: More Than A Pinhook: Life Lessons From A Sassy Bay Filly
The sport of horse racing has been a source for entertainment and joy for thousands of years, in virtually every culture around the world. Now, in the 21st Century, trainers take great care to plan the racing career of every horse, considering carefully which races will fit each horse's potential and talent. It isn’t uncommon to see the best horses in the world racing at many tracks in the United Kingdom, or travel to Australia and the United States to take on worthy competitors.
Each country has its professionals and noteworthy races, of course: technology such as television, simulcasting and the Internet make it possible for race fans to watch thrilling races somewhere on the planet virtually every day of the year. (i.e., you don't have to be in Hong Kong to watch, bet and enjoy the races at Happy Valley.) Here are some of the best locations to watch racing across the globe.
United States
The love of the sport in North America dates back to 1665, when the first race was run in New York. (Very close to present-day Belmont Park, in fact.) Since then, the sport in North America has grown by leaps and bounds: the most popular races are big betting occasions, even for people who don’t usually bet.
Read more: A Primer on Thoroughbred Racing: the United States, United Kingdom and Australia
by Bill Finley
Cameron Beatty was at that stage in life–young, healthy, athletic, motivated, naive–where he never even imagined the possibility that everything he had could be taken away from him. He was the starting quarterback at Freehold Township (NJ) High School and had accepted an offer to play at Fairleigh Dickinson, where he had an academic scholarship. He was going places, and on the fast track.
In an instant, everything changed.
In 2010, Beatty, now 27, was on his way to the gym to workout when he had a motorcycle accident so serious that it nearly cost him his life. He suffered a brain injury, a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding. At first, the doctors did not realize the extent of the spleen injury and the bleeding it was causing, but when his heart rate dropped to under 20 beats per minute he was rushed into emergency surgery.
“I woke up one morning bleeding to death,” he said.
Read more: A Young Man, an Old Man, A Second Chance, and a Dream
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