Two horses were killed in a barn blaze at Belmont Park in Long Island, N.Y., officials said.

Elmont Fire Department firefighters arrived at the famed horse racing facility just after 6 p.m. Tuesday to find flames burning through Barn 60, which houses 60 horses, the New York Racing Association said in a statement.

Fifty-eight horses under the ...Read more

BALTIMORE — After a 2020 Triple Crown season defined by scheduling oddities, empty grandstands and the absence of a transcendent 3-year-old champion, the racing world just wants a little normalcy from the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

The country’s most targeted race will return to its familiar spot on the first Saturday in May with fans in the ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The biggest weekend of races on the Kentucky Derby trail provided confirmation of the reigning champion of this 3-year-old class, the coming out party for a possible future star, and one of the most shocking upsets in recent Derby prep history.

Essential Quality endured a thrilling stretch duel to win the Blue Grass Stakes ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hard to believe, but in the 146 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, right there at Churchill Downs, right there in the heart of Louisville, no home-grown trainer has ever won the race.

“Time for that to change,” Brad Cox said on Saturday.

And it could. Having grown up two blocks from the Twin Spires, Cox could become the ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It’s a long streak. A very long streak. It has been 30 years since the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland went on to capture the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Strike the Gold was the last colt to do it. Nick Zito was the trainer. The year was 1991.

Could 2021 finally end the drought? It very well could, ...Read more

Del Mar has piled proof upon proof that it sets the gold standard for safety among major horse-racing tracks in America.

That they’ve done it again, like a satisfying and significant broken record, shouts from barn roofs that the commitment to protecting horses where the turf meets the surf remains not solely a priority, but a non-negotiable ...Read more

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Trainer Todd Pletcher is no stranger to the Kentucky Derby, having 55 starters in the most famous horse race in the world. On Saturday at Gulfstream Park, he likely had another qualify. Known Agenda, a horse that had never won a graded stakes, proved resilient after taking the lead at the top of the stretch and won ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — What a difference a week makes.

This time last week, Life Is Good was coming off arguably the best performance of the Kentucky Derby prep season so far and a heavy early favorite for the May 1 race.

With trainer Bob Baffert’s announcement Saturday that Life Is Good would be removed from Derby consideration due to an ankle ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Fans will return to the Preakness Stakes on May 15 but on a heavily limited basis under plans announced Tuesday by the Maryland Jockey Club.

Tickets will go on sale for the 146th Preakness on April 5, with plans to run the state’s signature thoroughbred race before a crowd of no more than 10,000 at Pimlico Race Course, the ...Read more

Kentucky Derby favorite Life Is Good will miss the Santa Anita Derby in two weeks, putting his start at Churchill Downs in jeopardy. The 3-year-old colt had completed a six-furlong workout on Saturday morning when his trainer, Bob Baffert, noticed there was something off in his hind end.

“He came back to the barn after the work and was off ...Read more

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club plans to open its annual horse racing meeting on Friday, July 16, and officials are optimistic spectators will be welcomed at the seaside facility.

The 31-day meeting will begin one day earlier than originally scheduled, according to an announcement Tuesday morning.

“We will continue to follow the guidance of local ...Read more

The Preakness Stakes will return to the third Saturday in May this year and ticket information will be released shortly, the Maryland Jockey Club said Thursday in announcing its spring meet at Pimlico Race Course.

Jockey Club officials declined to comment on their plans for a Preakness crowd after Gov. Larry Hogan announced earlier this week he...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill was suspended for a minimum of 10 days and fined $7,500 for a medication violation that occurred on Oct. 9, 2020, at Santa Anita.

The horse Howbeit tested positive for the pain reliever Lidocaine after finishing second in a claiming race. O'Neill entered into a settlement ...Read more

Bob Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby a record-tying six times. And he's taken six different roads to get to that Churchill Downs winner's circle.

But this year he's going back to his 2020 playbook, except, of course, with the Kentucky Derby in May instead of September. Last year, Authentic's first three races were a maiden race at Del Mar, ...Read more

The Santa Anita Handicap, once the crown jewel of the Santa Anita season with winners such as Seabiscuit and John Henry, has fallen on hard times of late. Its purse has slipped from $1 million to $400,000 as the country's best older horses have elected to run in Saudi Arabia and Dubai for mega-million-dollar purses.

With the race's Grade 1 ...Read more

With the John Battaglia on Friday at Turfway Park and the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park and Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, here’s a look at the Kentucky Derby prep races, schedule, leaderboard and list of trainers who have finished in the top three of a points qualifying race.

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KENTUCKY DERBY LEADERBOARD

1 —...Read more

The billionaire owner of 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic is among a trio of breeders suing to block a new industry rule they say threatens a key source of profit in the business of raising thoroughbreds.

The rule enacted in May by the Jockey Club will cut into hundreds of millions of dollars in stud fees by effectively limiting the number ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The richest horse race in the world, the $20 million Saudi Cup, was supposed to be between U.S. imports Charlatan and Knicks Go on Saturday, and it wasn't until the stretch when Mishriff kept gathering momentum and went by Charlatan to win by about a length.

The upset win by the 4-year-old colt was only his second race on dirt. ...Read more