Blood-Horse

After a powerful performance in the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes (G3) Jan. 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course, War of Will seems bound for races reserved for the best of his generation, a path that leads to destiny on the first Saturday in May.

With the cool poise of a seasoned professional, Roy H cruised in a perfect stalking spot just outside the leader, inhaled that rival around the far turn, and drew off under wraps in a sparkling final time of 1:08.89.

Howling Pigeon Farms, Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Madaket Stables' sophomore filly Needs Supervision broke through at the stakes level Jan. 19 in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. 

It was a speedy day at Tampa Bay Downs, where Win Win Win broke the track and stakes record in the Pasco Stakes, Molto Bella set a stakes record in the Gasparilla Stakes, and Tapa Tapa Tapa established a new standard in the Wayward Lass Stakes.

Four-time champion and three-time Breeders' Cup winner Beholder delivered a bay filly by Curlin Jan. 19 at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

A New York senator has re-introduced legislation banning any kind of performance-enhancing drug in all horse races in the state, including furosemide.

Gary Barber's Solid Wager lived up to his name with a last-to-first rush to capture the 126th running of the $100,000 Toboggan Stakes (G3) at odds of 5-1 Jan. 19 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Auction will also feature dispersal from the estate of the late Marquise de Moratalla

Hronis Racing's five-time grade 1 winner Accelerate turned in the final work of his career Jan. 19 at Santa Anita Park in preparation for the Jan. 26 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. bided his time, but at the top of the turn in Gulfstream Park's ninth race Jan. 18 he began to guide Bourbon War towards the lead and once clear the Tapit colt had no competition.

The claimer-turned-stakes-winner story is a familiar one. It happens all over the country, every year and the reason for the change of fortunes for any horse is almost never a single, identifiable thing.

Jessica Green has been named as the senior director of finance and administration at the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

NYRA today announced that tickets for the 2019 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, highlighted by the 151st running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, will go on sale to the public on Thursday, January 24, starting at 10 a.m.

Multiple grade 1 winner and John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) victor Red Rocks died in September at the age of 15, Calumet Farm has confirmed.

The New York Racing Association has canceled live racing scheduled Jan. 21 at Aqueduct Racetrack because of dangerously low wind-chill temperatures forecast in the New York City metropolitan area for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance has partnered with Centennial Farms to present the Best Turned Out Horse Awards during the Pegasus World Cup Invitational card Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.

Young Maryland stallion Divining Rod, a classic-placed son of Tapit owned by Gainesway Farm, Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable, and Country Life Farm, is represented by his first foal, a Maryland-bred filly born at Country Life Jan. 16.  

Moretti, a $900,000 purchase from the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale by Mike Repole and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, is set to make his stakes debut in the Feb. 2 Withers Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

There is a smorgasbord of stakes action across the nation Jan. 19. Older sprinters are in the spotlight at Santa Anita Park, where Roy H makes his seasonal debut in the six-furlong Palos Verdes (G2), and also at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Undefeated Mexican superstar Kukulkan arrived in South Florida Jan. 18 in advance of his next scheduled start in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.