SUNDAY MORNING –  110 BEYER SPEED FIGURE for wild FLORIDA DERBY – 1:52 1/5 for 9 furlongs; CHROME heads to ROYAL ASCOT, INTERNATIONAL STAR sweeps Fair Grounds stakes and more! NOTE – (read all the news and notes on Dubai in yesterday’s post called “Eager”)                     […]

    Live blogging DUBAI WORLD CUP card  – picks for big races in the US further down this post)                         yeesh – PRINCE BISHOP makes mincemeat of California Chrome and Lea – CC had poor journey but the winner, an 8-year-old horse from […]

  SMART STRIKE, at Lane’s End – PHOTO BY LANE’S END     SMART STRIKE (1992 – 2015) 16 CROPS 1,431 FOALS OF RACING AGE 1,047 STARTERS 771 WINNERS 112 STAKES WINNERS $118 MILLION PROGENY EARNINGS Mr. Prospector – Classy’n Smart by Smarten Owner/breeder: Sam-Son Farms Grade 1 winner, 6 wins in 8 races, $337,376 […]

  CALIFORNIA CHROME worked 4 furlongs in 50 on the Meydan dirt in Dubai and is set for the DUBAI WORLD CUP on Saturday – MATHEA KELLY PHOTO FROM DUBAI RACING CLUB         DUBAI WORLD CUP SATURDAY EST 8:40 A.,M…4pm – Dubai Kahayla Classic, US$1m (Dh3.67m) 9.40 a.m – Godolphin Mile, $1m […]

                                        **WE MAY HAVE A COLD WEATHER ALERT TODAY (!!) but….     WOODBINE WORKTAB  HEATS UP The first very busy day on the Woodbine worktab was Saturday when 204 horses had workouts, from 2 to […]

  UPDATE – Trainer Marcus Vitali told Thorougbhblog today that RIDING THE RIVER, Canadian champion and earner of over $900,000, was put down yesterday at Gulfstream due to a broken shoulder. “It is a pretty gloomy day,” said Vitali, who trained the 8-year-old for Commonwealth Stables in Massachusetts. The gelding was sold by Dave Cotey, […]

  CARLO TUCCI picks up $155,000 2yo in Ocala, Casse buys big       CARLO TUCCI, one half of the successful TUCCI STABLES, signed the ticket for a $155,000 Ontario bred 2-year-old colt at Tuesday’s Ocala March sale. The Tucci’s, whose Midnight Aria won the Queen’s Plate in 2013 and who have scaled the […]

    TORONTO STAR FEATURE – JACK KENNEY MAY 18 1935 – MARCH 14, 2015   It was 1964 and Ontario’s horse racing community was on its way to being globally recognized. The shiny, new Woodbine racetrack built by E.P. Taylor was a few years old, and Taylor’s great little Canadian-bred Northern Dancer was on […]

 We lost friend Jack Kenney on March 14.     HORSE RACNG LOVER, INNOVATOR, BUILDER AND A HALL OF FAMER – JACK KENNEY   If you were lucky enough to be in the horse racing game for the Jack Kenney years at Woodbine (president and CEO 1975-1993) you would have had the chance to see […]

                      The profile of Woodbine racetrack continues to change even with one more to go before the 60th season opens on April 11. Already this spring, president and CEO Nick Eaves will be leaving his post as chairman Jim Lawson will ably take over the […]

  WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE – EXPANDED CASINO GAMING STILL BEING SOUGHT FOR WOODBINE RACETRACK WOODBINE ENTERTAINMENT GROUP has reportedly approached Toronto Mayor JOHN TORY in an effort to reconsider the failed 24-20 council vote from 2013 with regards to expanding gaming at Woodbine racetrack…   http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/11/casino-debate-could-focus-on-expanded-gaming-at-woodbine-racetrack.html                   […]

SHARING IS GREAT 111 BEYER SPEED FIGURE FOR SHARED BELIEF     Mike Smith barely had to move on the racy almost-back gelding SHARED BELIEF who cruised to an easy win in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap last evening, capping off a wild day of tons of racing action all over the world. The […]

     1978 SANTA ANITA HANDICAP – one of  our favourites, the remarkable VIGORS     Feelin HOT HOT HOT – well, not yet in Ontario but with the incredible racing action today at Tampa Bay, Gulfstream, Santa Anita and the GOLD CUP in Barbados – it is a racing fan’s dream day! BIG PICK […]

                                                    ONTARIO-BRED UNCLE MO sells for $275,000 CANADIAN-BREDS IN THE SALE, with sale price, buyer Alex and Jo-Ann Liebling from Arkansas paid $275,000 for a Canadian-bred, Ontario foaled colt by […]

It’s MARCH! Still plenty of snow and ice (thanks to yesterday’s storm) in southern Ontario but the temperatures will slowly creep up later this week. It is that time of year to think about our own horses getting ready for racing on April 11 or what is happening on the Kentucky Derby trail or what […]