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1 Omaha Beach Richard Mandella War Front—Charming, by Seeking the Gold The back story is there, the owner and trainer are Derby gods material, Mike Smith chose to ride him over a Bob Baffert-trained Santa Anita Derby winner, the colt is making tremendous strides with every start, he appears to have no flaws, and is pushbutton with several ...

If it wasn’t enough to watch The Stronach Group struggle with all that has transpired at Santa Anita over the past months, last week we witnessed some of the impact of the situation and other unrelated issues arising for them elsewhere in the country. The Stronach Group, a sizable and influential player when it comes to racetrack ownership with ...

1 Omaha Beach Richard Mandella War Front—Charming, by Seeking the Gold He continues to go from strength to strength and there is no plan of attack when it comes to trying to beat him, because he is so pushbutton. He showed again in the Arkansas Derby you can step on the gas at any point in the race and put him in neutral at any point in ...

The Thoroughbred industry caught a slight breather April 6 as the actual subject of racing and the Triple Crown series took the main stage. Splendid racing returned to Central Kentucky as Keeneland hosted a gaggle of graded stakes with its Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) and Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) as its centerpieces, and Aqueduct ...

1 Omaha Beach Richard Mandella War Front—Charming, by Seeking the Gold His exceptional works continued with a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 3/5, fastest of 18 works at the distance, followed by a strong six-furlong gallop-out. Mike Smith watching the work, was so impressed he told Mandella, “That was my work of the meet.” It is apparent ...

March went out anything but like a lamb. Following a record-breaking sale at Fasig-Tipton’s The Gulfstream Sale of 2-year-olds March 28, Meydan delivered a splendid day/night of international racing in Dubai, and Maximum Security ran off a nifty wire-to-wire win in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) on a stakes-packed card in South ...

1 Omaha Beach Richard Mandella War Front—Charming, by Seeking the Gold You couldn’t have watched his last work, a bullet half in :47 4/5 without feeling very good about this horse and the progress he’s been making. He was just cruising off a workmate and when set down inside the eighth pole he took off opening seven lengths in a flash and ...

In this space last week the point was made that it was time for a national set of rules to govern Thoroughbred racing and that the industry should get behind the proposed Horse Racing Integrity Act and follow the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and The Stronach Group’s lead on banning race day medication. That stance still ...

1 Omaha Beach Richard Mandella War Front—Charming, by Seeking the Gold The more I watch the Rebel Stakes the more impressed I am with his performance. Game Winner appeared to have him measured, but he dug down deep and fought back gamely, and as I mentioned, was two lengths in front shortly after the wire. For a horse who had never faced ...

The spike of fatal injuries at Santa Anita Park since the meet opened Dec. 26 has been horrific to say the least. The closure of one of racing’s most important and iconic racetracks has cast a pall on the sport and takes an already fragile industry closer to the brink. For years we have been faced with the question, “How can we grow the sport?” ...