Blood-Horse

The annual National HBPA Conference concluded its educational presentations Feb. 26 first with a session on how retired racehorses are transforming the lives of first responders and military members, as well as school children of backstretch workers.

It's hardly a shock to the system to see an unbeaten New York State-bred step into a wintertime open stakes. To see two of them in the same graded race? Welcome to the Gotham Stakes (G3).

2024 Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) winner Locked, trained by Todd Pletcher, comes into California race after running second to White Abarrio in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) in Florida.

For the first time in track history, Colonial Downs will host a Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying race and the voice of the Kentucky Derby (G1), Travis Stone, will be calling the racing action.

The most recent shifts in Northern California horse racing have prompted The Big Fresno Fair board of directors and fair management to make the decision to postpone horse racing in 2025.

Patrice Jacobs Wolfson, who along with her husband Louis owned Harbor View Farm and raced 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, died Feb. 25 at her home in Bal Harbour, Fla.

Panty Raid, a grade 1-winning racehorse and dam of graded stakes winners Proxy and Micheline, has been euthanized at age 21, per a social media post by her owner, Godolphin.

Godolphin's Opera Ballo scored a second straight impressive win on the Kempton Park all-weather course Feb. 26 and moved into the lead on the Euro/Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Group 1-winning juvenile Henry Longfellow will shuttle to Rosemont Stud in Victoria this year, where he will stand for an introductory fee of AU$22,000.

Soul of an Angel clinched Eclipse champion female sprinter of 2024 with her impressive victory in Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) last fall at Del Mar. She is being offered as a racing/broodmare prospect by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

The Florida Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry provides one of the state's most robust agribusinesses, with 33,500 jobs and $3.24 billion in annual economic impact.

Liam in the Dust, a well-respected player in the 2-year-old filly division last year for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, returns to action in the March 1 $200,000 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trainer Mark Casse will seek to continue his dominance in Gulfstream Park's Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 1 when he saddles a trio of runners led by D. J. Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Vixen.

The Thoroughbred Education and Research Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of its 2025 grant awards cycle. TERF primarily aims to support students in pursuit of education in equine industry careers and to fund equine research efforts.

With Tenma and Vodka With a Twist, two of the top 3-year-old dirt fillies in Southern California, sitting out the March 2 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park, opportunity knocks for six others in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race.

Two different panel discussions at the National HBPA conference—one featuring lawyers and one with research veterinarians—recommended steps trainers can take to diminish the chances of a horse's post-race drug test coming up positive.

A collapsed company that built a digital enterprise called Game of Silks that aimed to bring virtual ownership of race horses and farms to the metaverse is being sued for securities law violations.

Sam Houston Race Park will pay tribute to jockey Stewart Elliott when he turns 60 years-old on Saturday, March 1.

Damon Thayer's theme when he delivered the keynote address Feb. 25 at the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association's 2025 conference? "Cooperation is always better than extinction." 

Jockeys Jose Ortiz and Juan Vargas share the Jockeys' Guild's Jockey of the Week honors for Feb. 17-23 after stakes-winning weekends at Oaklawn Park.