BloodHorse.com

The dawn is breaking on a beautiful, cool Saratoga morning. This is the day everyone in Charlie LoPresti’s barn has been waiting for. The day begins as any other, but there is a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air. This is the day of Wise Dan’s long-awaited return in the Bernard Baruch Handicap following colic surgery only 3 1/2 months ...

For years American consignors and breeders have talked about the retreating participation of European buyers, particularly at yearling sales. Mostly the observations have been anecdotal without any hard numbers defining the trends. The staff at The Blood-Horse decided to compile those numbers in order to define more clearly not only what is ...

Saturday’s Travers Stakes (gr. I) was not just about V.E. Day, but also V.J. Day. We had the Victory in Europe tie-in and the Victory for Jerkens tie-in.The Travers was also about family and the perpetuation of family history through the generations. Only in the Sport of Kings can images and memories reappear after a half century, untouched by ...

There are some simple factors regarding this year’s Travers Stakes. First, Bayern is going to be very tough on an uncontested lead, especially breaking from post 2 and with a stone closer, Commanding Curve, inside him. Second, Tonalist and Wicked Strong are both sitting on big efforts, and it was apparent from the Jim Dandy Stakes that Wicked ...

As part of the ongoing debate about the future of medication testing and enforcement in American racing, let’s hope out-of-competition testing takes on a greater sense of urgency.Being able to test a horse at any time serves an important role in finding banned substances that would otherwise go undetected because they could have cleared a horse’s ...

Not unexpectedly, The Jockey Club announced Aug. 10 a call to action for federal legislation to support uniform medication testing and enforcement.The Jockey Club does not advocate having a federal agency actually responsible for enforcement and testing in Thoroughbred racing, however. Instead, the call to action would involve the pursuit of ...

By any measure owner Kaleem Shah is having a remarkable year. The native of Bellary, India, has had nine stakes winners this year, seven of which have been in graded stakes including two grade Is. The weekend of July 26-27 provided the best example of the kind of hot streak Shah is riding. On July 26 at Del Mar, Shah’s Fed Biz won the grade II San ...