CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL The 2020 yearling auction season comes to a close with the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, and the Paulick Report has the reading material you need in the sale preview edition of the PR Special. In this edition, bloodstock editor...

Eoma Eoma was the star of Friday’s behind-closed-doors meeting at Seoul Racecourse, taking out the class 1 feature and in the process breaking the track record for 1400M, They might only be racing for small stakes but for the second week running, the form mostly held up. Aside from Eoma...

It's not every day you have a chance to watch not one, but two horses race for Triple Crown glory. But that's what we have this weekend as the one-eyed wonder, Mighty Heart, goes for Canada's Triple Crown in Saturday's Breeders' Stakes from Woodbine, and some eight hours later Contrail...

Much has been made lately in Kentucky on farms reducing stud fees in response to the blighted economy, but there’s a group of stallions whose fees would have mostly dropped as a matter of course even in booming times. These are second-year through fifth-year stallions; frequently, fees for horses entering...

In the Dallas Cowboy game against the New York Giants on October 11, 2020, Cowboy quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a gruesome ankle injury in which his bone protruded through his skin.  Bill Barnwell of ESPN wrote: “If you were watching the play, you are not going to forget what you...

Today’s post and video are for Secretariat fans and pedigree geeks. Old Friends Blog Visit 20 began a three part series recognizing Secretariat’s ongoing influence on racing by celebrating the retirees at Old Friends who descend from him. They include … Continue reading →...

After a second prolonged shutdown, Korean racing took its first steps back toward resumption on Friday with behind-closed-doors/no wagering cards at both Seoul and Busan. They may have been racing for significantly reduced prize money but there was no shortage of competitiveness as Ioannis Poullis rode four winners at Busan...

Mike Smith calls it his “last-ditch effort” to protect his fellow riders and the horses on which the sport depends. As a Hall of Famer, the all-time leading Breeders' Cup jockey and co-chair of the Jockeys' Guild, Smith, 55, is speaking out about restrictions on the use of the riding...

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, co-chair of the Jockeys' Guild, has written a letter to California Horse Racing Board members on behalf of the Guild and California riders criticizing a restrictive riding crop rule that went into effect on Oct. 1 over concerns for the safety of horses and...

“My wife Mary Ryan-Hirsch and I have been hosting “Horsemen Dinners” in south Florida the past several years. Once a month, we gather up a crowd of horsemen and meet at a restaurant near Gulfstream Park and have one of these get togethers. We usually get a crowd of 60-75 guests. One of the...

Wanted to make a formal announcement that a couple months ago I decided to end The Beemie Awards. Well I shouldn’t say end, never say never, etc, but I’m not planning on doing them anymore. I wish I could blame it on the craziness of 2020, but the truth is,...

Had there have been a formal debate among equine geneticists on the Jockey Club’s proposal to limit the book size of Thoroughbred stallions, geneticists would likely have formed “selective breeding” and “mutational load” camps.  Selective breeding occurs when a stallion is chosen for a mare with the goal of producing...

The Paulick Report editorial team – publisher Ray Paulick, editor-in-chief Natalie Voss, news editor Chelsea Hackbarth and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills – takes a look back at this strangest of Triple Crowns in this week's edition of the Friday Show. From the minute Churchill Downs officials announced in mid-March that...

You know this adage well: “Sell a stallion overseas and he’ll catch fire.” The latest example is Daredevil (More Than Ready), whose remarkable first-crop daughter Swiss Skydiver put on a show for the ages on Saturday to deny Gl Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief) the Gl Preakness S. at...

On Oct. 12, 1920, the race of the century took place at Kenilworth Park just outside Windsor, Ontario. It was between the first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton and the incomparable 'Big Red' ­­– Man o' War. It was a match between two champions: a battle of titans. It...

On Friday, October 2, 2020, Old Friends at Aston Grove held its official opening. It’s been a long time in the works. When Old Friends supporters Bev and John Passerello moved from California to Ashton Grove Senior Living in Georgetown, … Continue reading →...

Well, we got through it. The 2020 Triple Crown was different, that's for sure. A Belmont Stakes that began the series, not at its traditional mile and a half but at a truncated nine furlongs around one turn. A Kentucky Derby run in eerie silence on the first Saturday in...

With trainer Kenny McPeek declaring to send multiple Grade 1 winner Swiss Skydiver (by Daredevil) to the Preakness Stakes on …Continue reading →...

At the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale, the average selling price was just over $128,000.  The then-unnamed Swiss Skydiver sold for $35,000, or 27% of the average.  Fast forward to October 2020 at Pimlico Race Course.  The largely overlooked filly at the Keeneland Sales became the sixth filly in history...

Our readers here at the Paulick Report seem to love a good lookback at horse racing history. In considering the best subjects for our 2020 Triple Crown coverage, this seemed like a good time to make note of the crucial role Black horsemen have played in the early days of...

King Kreesa, Kharafa, He Loves Me Not, Windy Land and Star Plus in the rain Feeling stressed? Here’s a tonic. The ingredients are simple. Horses. Rain. When rain came two days ago I rushed over to the farm hoping to … Continue reading →...

Horse racing has a long history, with enduring traditions and customs and interesting anecdotes about the often-eccentric characters who have been part of the sport.  This week’s Horse Racing Business brings you one such anecdote about Hall of Fame Trainer Charlie Whittingham, Hall of Fame horse Ack Ack, and the...

In the Louisiana Cup series at Louisiana Downs over the weekend, one breeder’s named came up again and again. Jay …Continue reading →...

This is not another article exclaiming that racers by the legendary Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) won all the Group 1 stakes over the weekend. Indeed, from 10 G1s on Saturday and Sunday, they won “only” four of those: marvelous Magical (Irish Champion), Search for a Song (Irish St. Leger), Mogul...

A few evenings ago, as we head toward fall and the sun sets earlier, I took the iPad for a walk to the back of the farm. The weather was mild, the horses were contented and lazy, and I asked … Continue reading →...