Blood-Horse

Lest anyone think the seventh race at Churchill Downs Nov. 27 was just a routine maiden race, one only needed to glance in the paddock for those in attendance. Track executives were back to welcome trainer Bob Baffert after a three-year suspension.

It could be a day of firsts for the connections of Bravo Centurion (AUS) when Western Australia's hottest horse aims to repel the eastern invasion and extend his picket fence in the Nov. 30 Winterbottom Stakes (G1). 

The 10-hour session saw 249 foals offered and 204 found a buyer at a healthy clip of 82%. Turnover was up 8% year-on-year at 8,996,000 guineas while the average price rose by 7% to 44,098 guineas.

Laurel Park is scheduled to resume racing on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, after canceling racing over track surface concerns when it was last scheduled to race Nov. 22-23.

Turfway Park's Holiday Meet, running through Dec. 29, boasts record-setting purses fueled by support from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. Owners, trainers, and jockeys will compete for more than $7 million in purses across the meet.

The 2019 champion 2-year-old colt will stand at Eclipse Thoroughbred Training and Sports Therapy in California's Santa Ynez Valley.

After a tight battle with Ryan Moore, James McDonald has won the 2024 World's Best Jockey title. The New Zealand-born, Australia-based jockey also won the World's Best Jockey Award in 2022. 

A second horse in Barn 4 at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course tested positive for strangles, a contagious upper respiratory bacterial infection. A 14-day quarantine is now in place at this barn.

Jay Hovdey is the author of Well Armed: A Thoroughbred of Destiny.

A perfect 3-for-3 at Del Mar, Formidable Man will go up against a field that includes New York invaders Donegal Momentum and Carson's Run.

Grade 1 winner Volatile was represented by his first stakes winner Nov. 26 when the 2-year-old filly Reliable Source romped in the $100,000 Zia Park Princess Stakes.

A five-win day at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 23 that included a stakes victory earned Manny Franco honors as the Nov. 18-24 Jockey of the Week.

Dollars & Sense looks at FanDuel's recent purchase of naming rights for regional sports networks and a possible benefit of added exposure for racing.

The leading European first season sire by winners to runners as well as black-type performers, the Haras d’Etreham sire has already produced group winners that include Misunderstood, that was also placed in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (G1).

Maiden Watch: Week of Nov. 18-Nov. 24

Well Armed: A Thoroughbred of Destiny, is a book located somewhere on the non-fiction spectrum between unbelievable and inspirational.

Fittingly this year on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28—just as the weather across much of the United States is turning cooler, resulting in horses and horsemen headed south—Gulfstream Park begins its elite season, the Championship Meet.

Three is the magic number for trainer Phil D'Amato at Del Mar Nov. 29 as he sends a trio of runners to the post in an attempt to win his third $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup (G2T).

The average price went up by 8% year-on-year to 12,085gns, while the median was up 13 points at 9,000gns, having been 8,000gns 12 months ago. Turnover dropped by 12% to 1,341,500gns.

Other women have taken the rostrum elsewhere in the world. In May 2014 Stephanie Grentell auctioneered at the Inglis Scone Yearling Sale in Australia, while Aurelie Branere took charge of selling during the Arqana Autumn Sale the following year.