Blood-Horse

A large crowd turned out in sunny weather Nov. 26 for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company 2019 November Day of Racing, headed by the pair of six-furlong OBS Sprint Stakes for OBS graduates.

Like millions of Americans, trainer Michael Stidham will be checking with the weatherman before finalizing Thanksgiving travel plans.

Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) runner-up Shancelot is being pointed to the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint Feb. 29 on the Saudi Cup undercard toward a possible clash with defending champ and stablemate X Y Jet in the March 28 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1).

The New York Racing Association announced Nov. 26 the race dates and schedule for 45 stakes races over the 2019-20 winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack. The winter meet begins Dec. 12 and continues through March 29. 

Appropriately on "Black Friday," one of the busiest retail-sales days of the year, the connections of 12 runners are shopping for opportunity in the Nov. 29 Clark Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Chad Brown will send a pair of 3-year-old fillies to compete in the $300,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T) Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs, including grade 2 winner New and Improved.

On a day when families will be giving thanks for what means the most to them, Courtlandt Farms' Strike Power will no doubt appreciate getting back to what he does best.

Yearlings by prominent Canadian stallions Old Forrester and Langfuhr topped the Winter Mixed Sale conducted by the Ontario division of the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Nov. 23 at the at the Woodbine Racetrack sales pavilion.

With three straight wins including her first stakes victory in the Chilukki Stakes (G3) Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs, Sally's Curlin will try to extend that victory streak in the $300,000 Falls City Handicap (G2) Nov. 28 at the Louisville track.

Amer Abdulaziz Salman's Phoenix Luxembourg Fund, lauded by its founder as "the world's first regulated Thoroughbred fund," has been placed into voluntary liquidation and never operated as a functioning investment fund at all.

Two-time champion turf female in Canada Starship Jubilee is scheduled to make her first start in Kentucky in the $175,000 Cardinal Stakes (G3T) Nov. 28 on the turf at Churchill Downs.

Elizabeth "Liz" Bracken, a 16-year employee of the New York Racing Association and later an associate coordinator at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program, died Nov. 24 in Providence, R.I. She was 52.

Raymond "Butch" Lehr has joined Kentucky Downs as track superintendent following the retirement of Ron Moore, the track announced Nov. 26.

Despite some attractive lots in the catalog, buyers at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale Nov. 25 could have been forgiven for lacking a little inspiration.

Breaking from post 11 in the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes Nov. 25 at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Dugout rated in third into the turn, seized the lead in mid-stretch, and had just enough late.

Unbeaten Nashua Stakes (G3) winner Independence Hall and upset TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Storm the Court are among the 24 betting interests in Pool 1 of the 2020 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which kicks off Thanksgiving Day.

The $250,000 Zia Park Derby and $250,000 Zia Park Oaks top a list of seven stakes races offered Nov. 27 as part of Zia Park's seventh annual Land of Enchantment Day program.

In a statement Nov. 25, Phoenix Fund Investments and its owner, Amer Abdulaziz, denied all allegations made against the entity in legal proceedings against an international cryptocurrency operation called OneCoin.

War Dancer, who has his first yearlings in 2020, tops the roster at $7,500. Big Brown and Bellamy Road's fees remain at $5,000.

Shadai Stallion Station, which stands or stood Japan's top 10 sires of 2019—including the late Deep Impact and King Kamehameha who passed away earlier this year—announced stud fees for the 2020 breeding season.