Horse and Harness Racing

Santa Anita gets key racing dates

2013-05-23 17:55:00

Santa Anita came away the big winner Thursday when the California Horse Racing Board tentatively approved racing dates for 2014 and 2015 in response to the pending closure of Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 22. Santa Anita will expand its usual fall...

Stakes are highest for Orb in Preakness

2013-05-18 05:00:00

BALTIMORE — Horse racing's Preakness is a place of history and a bubble of hope. If you come here with a Kentucky Derby victory under your belt, as trainer Shug McGaughey and Orb have, you have little time to appreciate that history. You are...

Preakness host Maryland's horse racing in optimistic state

2013-05-17 00:00:00

BALTIMORE — It is difficult to be at the Preakness this year without feeling a tinge of jealousy. That is especially true if you are just a few days removed from a visit to the current dungeon of California racing, a.k.a. Hollywood Park. All...

Preakness notes: A different kind of trainer helped Gary Stevens

2013-05-18 18:50:00

BALTIMORE — Gary Stevens on Saturday became the oldest jockey to win the Preakness, and the Hall of Famer has Clark Masterson to thank. Masterson, a personal trainer based in Bellevue, Wash., helped the 50-year-old jockey lose 25 pounds and nearly...

Oxbow's Preakness victory doesn't spoil anything

2013-05-18 21:42:00

BALTIMORE — Chances are, the horse racing public will get it wrong again. When Oxbow went wire-to-wire in Saturday's Preakness, again ruining a chance for a Triple Crown, it is likely to prompt hand-wringing among those who see it as the...

Hollywood Park's ghost of a chance casts pall on Southland racing

2013-05-11 00:00:00

With its announcement Thursday, Hollywood Park did little to refute the theory that horse racing is a sport in need of hospice. They raced at the Inglewood track Friday, but it wasn't business as usual. Nor will it be the rest of this meeting and the...

Hollywood Park to close after final autumn meeting race Dec. 22

2013-05-10 00:00:00

Everyone knew the day was coming and now it's a reality. After 75 years of horse racing, Betfair Hollywood Park will end its operations following the final race of its autumn meeting Dec. 22. The words "sad day" were repeated often Thursday afternoon at...

Orb wins the 139th Kentucky Derby

2013-05-04 18:50:00

LOUISVILLE, KY. — Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey is a man who looks like the embodiment of the nickname that is all anybody calls him by. Short and unassuming, he said this week he made an effort to enjoy the run-up to the Kentucky Derby,...

Orb wins 139th Kentucky Derby

2013-05-04 16:00:00

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Orb splashed through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby, giving Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey his first victory in the race. When the field turned for home on the cool, overcast Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs,...

Horse deaths are troubling to Bob Baffert

2013-05-02 17:25:00

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With nary a thought to Hamlet, trainer Bob Baffert is currently suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In his current situation, and in a world where oft-misinformed social media stirs the rumor pot to a boil,...

Goldencents gives Doug O'Neill a Rerun for the Roses

2013-04-06 20:18:00

Apparently, trainer Doug O'Neill has taken the name of his most famous horse literally. Saturday, he decided, I'll Have Another. So, here we go again. If race fans have that feeling of "Groundhog Day," nobody could blame them. The O'Neill Show, a...

GOP rehab good start, but misdiagnoses some problems

2013-03-18 14:42:00

�There is much that is brutal and bracing in the 12-step rehab program the ailing Republican Party has enrolled itself in. “Public perception of the party is at record lows," wrote the veteran political practitioners summoned by GOP leaders to...

Shoot the Rapids, with Efren Prado up, far right, leads Af Quack with Jose Ranilla aboard, center, and the rest of the field as they head for home in Saturday's second race at the Brown County Fairgrounds. Shoot the Rapids went on to win the 5 and one half furlong Thoroughbred Claiming race.

2013-05-18 13:49:00

Horse racing enthusiasts look over the entries in Saturday's fourth race as they move about the paddock at the Brown County Fairgrounds. The 64th annual pari-mutuel horse races began the first of three weekends of racing action Saturday.

2013-05-12 00:00:00

Horse racing enthusiasts look over the entries in Saturday's fourth race as they move about the paddock at the Brown County Fairgrounds. The 64th annual pari-mutual horse races began their first of three weekends of racing action Saturday. photo by john davis taken 5/11/2013

2013-05-11 20:15:00