34 DAYS TO WOODBINE’S OPENER Fresh coats of paint in the barns, new wall boxes and tack boxes and that bubbling-over feeling of bringing your beautiful horses back to the track after a winter vacation. Woodbine is starting to get busy with just over a month before opening day (April 20). On Sunday, 45 horses […]

KENTUCKY DERBY REBELS Long Range Toddy and Omaha Beach upset heavily favoured Bob Baffert trainees Oaklawn Park’s management stepped up and split the Rebel Stakes yesterday after Santa Anita had to cancel its San Felipe Stakes last weekend. The result was two very entertaining horse races at the Hot Springs, Arkansas track with each division […]

MONUMENTAL MOVE: THE STRONACH GROUP BANS RACE-DAY MEDICATION Santa Anita and Golden Gate implement Lasix ban In a bombshell announcement, Belinda Stronach, chairman and president The Stronach Group, laid out new protocols in a quest for the betterment of racing including a ban on race-day Lasix. In addition, Stronach addressed the need for stricter whip […]

  MARCH OCALA 2-YEAR-OLD IN TRAINING SALE Manfred and Penny Conrad of Waterloo, ON, paid $200,000 through agent Team Casse for a Canadian-bred filly by Munnings – Amiable Grace, by Alphabet Soup bred by the late Bill Graham. The filly worked 2 furlongs in :21 1/5 for the gallop show. This is the 3rd foal […]

KENTUCKY DERBY TRAIL New Shooters Scoop Points Of the 3 major stakes races on Saturday that are considered stepping stones to the Kentucky Derby, it is not certain if any of the winners have Derby faves Game Winner et al worried. The Tampa Bay Derby was likely more relevant for the Derby hunt as it […]

DUBAI SUPER SATURDAY THIS MORNING- 7 a.m.   Click on the super HPI racing station on your TV or HPIBet on your tablet, computer or phone beginning at 7 a.m. this morning to watch Super Saturday at Meydan. This is the big racing day before it’s huge Dubai World Cup card at the end of […]

WONDER GADOT IS BACK!   Watch Wonder woman at Oaklawn!   WONDER GADOT, Anderson Farms-bred champion, is getting back into action today at Oaklawn – JULIE WRIGHT PHOTOedited press release A big weekend for trainer Mark Casse begins today, Friday, as his trainee WONDER GADOT, the probable Horse of the Year in Canada is scheduled […]

Mighty MELMICH flies for 2nd in Grade 2 McDiarmida Helena is the ‘One‘ On the Canadian front this past weekend, HOLY HELENA (Ghostzapper) got back into winning form with a win in the Grade 3 The Very One, a race she won last year. She is the Queen’s Plate winner from 2 years ago owned and bred […]

SATURDAY WRAP-UP – IN BRIEF Monday’s Thoroughblog and –enews mailing (for subscribers) will have more on the weekend racing and other features but here are quick hits: CODE OF HONOR is back on the Kentucky Derby trail with his win in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and a 95 Beyer Speed Figure. The Will […]

  YES, SHE WON AGAIN! 23 Grade 1’s, 31 straight wins for WINX Essentially there was just one horse in the field that WINX met last night for the Grade 1 Chipping Norton  as the other starters were stablemates and apparently they were well out-matched. Poor old HAPPY CLAPPER, a tough gelding who has chased […]

WOODBINE COULD SEE LOOOCH THIS SEASON Trainer Peter Walder hopes to bring Ron Paolucci horses north Canadian racing fans may get to see some horses of popular American owner Ron Paolucci this year at Woodbine. Trainer Peter Walder recently paid a visit to Woodbine and the racing department to map out plans to possibly bring […]

WOODBINE BACKSTRETCH OPENS Peter Walder returns, Mike Maker stable out It will be windy, cold and probably a fair bit icy but horsepeople in Ontario are eager to get back to work. The Woodbine backstretch opens Monday for set -up and no doubt there will be a few brave souls out there today. Horses are […]

WOODBINE STAKES RACES TOTAL $16 MILLION Woodbine Mile returns to $1 million purse The 2019 stakes schedule at Woodbine, worth some $16 million and on par with last year, is highlighted by the 160th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate on June 29. A total of 95 stakes will be run at the 133-day […]

  SOVEREIGN AWARD NEWS MEDIA FINALISTS NAMED and AMANDA ERWIN is OUTSTANDING GROOM                             THOROUGHBLOG and CANADIAN THOROUGHBRED MAGAZINE are well represented in the Media Fonalists for the 2018 Sovereign Awards. Stories by editor Dave Briggs (Pink Lloyd wins Horse of the […]

PETER REDEKOP  – WILL FATE BRING A KENTUCKY DERBY START? His 3-year-old Anothertwistafate wins El Camino Real Derby It is the most famous prize in horse racing. The Kentucky Derby is still 75 days away but anyone with a good 3-year-old is already having Derby dreams. British Columbia businessman PETER REDEKOP (featured in the March […]