Horse Racing

A 3-year-old filly was euthanized after completing a workout at Del Mar, the track’s first fatality of its summer racing season. Veterinarians found that she could not recover from the unspecified injury and was euthanized. Lovely Lilia was trained by Vladimir Cerin.

Former Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey Barry Geraghty announced his retirement from jump racing on Saturday at the age of 40. Geraghty, who was Irish champion jump jockey in 2000 and 2004, is the second most successful rider in Cheltenham Festival history with 43 wins, behind only his compatriot Ruby Walsh, who quit the sport last year.

Art Collector took a big step toward the Kentucky Derby, pulling away from the filly Swiss Skydiver in the stretch in the Blue Grass at Keeneland for his first graded stakes victory. The Kentucky-bred son of Bernardini and Distorted Legacy by Distorted Humor started the $600,000, Grade 2 event from the No. 3 post and battled Shivaree and Swiss Skydiver to the far turn. Rushie joined the chase at the final turn, but before Art Collector and Swiss Skydiver separated themselves from the 13-horse field.

Cieren Fallon showed he has inherited the riding genes from his legendary father Kieren landing his first Group One race on Saturday, the July Cup on Oxted. Fallon junior took the lead with a furlong to go and comfortably held off a challenge from Frankie Dettori on Irish raider Sceptical with favourite Golden Horde third. Dettori -- finishing second in the sprint for a third time -- must wait another year to see if he can at last win the race and make it a full house of Group One triumphs in England.

Nineteen horses have died at the track near Los Angeles since the beginning of the year, up from nine over the same time period a year ago. "Without these crucial changes, anything else is simply a temporary fix," said Kathy Guillermo, the group's senior vice president. Horse racing has come under scrutiny following the deaths of dozens of racehorses at California's famed Santa Anita Park last year, which grabbed headlines and prompted government investigations.

The California Horse Racing Board on Friday put Los Alamitos on probation for 10 days while the track develops a plan to address an increase in horse deaths. Commissioner Wendy Mitchell was the lone dissenter. Los Alamitos was the only track in California allowed to continue operating during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

English racegoers have become used to the silks of Dubai's Godolphin, Qatar Racing and Saudi Arabia's Prince Khalid Abdullah taking the big prizes but Golden Horde's win at Royal Ascot allowed Bahrain to bask in the racing limelight. The significance of his win at Ascot, though, in raising the profile of racing in the kingdom was immense. "It was a great day for everyone involved in the sport in Bahrain, I was absolutely thrilled with his success in such a great race," Sheikh Salman bin Rashed Al-Khalifa, Executive Director of Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club, told AFP by phone from Bahrain.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- A horse named for Dr. Anthony Fauci won his first race at Keeneland on Thursday.

Lizzie Kelly announced Thursday she was retiring after "a dream" career when she became the first woman jockey to win a Grade One race over fences in Britain. The 27-year-old is expecting a baby with her husband Ed and said it was highly unlikely she will return to ride competitively. Kelly made history when she rode Tea For Two to victory in the Grade One Kauto Star Novices Chase at Kempton on December 26, 2015.

A prominent Kentucky horse owner and breeder has been banned from racing and sales at Keeneland Race Course after his racist post on social media. Keeneland said Wednesday it was banning Tom VanMeter from the premises, including participation by his sales company, while the Lexington track further reviews circumstances related to the recent ''reprehensible comments'' he made online. In Facebook post last weekend on Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club president Donnie Snellings' page that called on followers to ''Re-post if you are still boycotting the NFL.'' VanMeter, who is white, responded with a post that used an abbreviation of the N-word.

Two undefeated horses from the barn of two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert have come back positive in split-sample testing for a banned substance in Arkansas. Baffert confirmed to The Associated Press via text message Monday that he had been informed of the positives for lidocaine involving Charlatan and Gamine in the second round of testing, which he had sought under his rights after the first positives occurred in late May. The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, initially reported on the positive tests. Lidocaine, a widely used anesthetic in racing, is considered a Class 2 drug by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and use of it carries a penalty of a 15- to 60-day suspension and a fine of $500 to $1,000 for a first offense.

Trainer John Gosden said he was thrilled as Enable began her bid for a historic third victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with a respectable second in the Group One Eclipse Stakes at Sandown on Sunday. The six-year-old came to challenge halfway down the straight but the front-running Ghaiyyath held her off to deny Enable and Frankie Dettori a repeat win in the race. Ghaiyyath, ridden by William Buick, had the advantage of already having raced twice, including an impressive victory in the Coronation Cup last month.

The silence that greeted Emmet McNamara and shock winner Serpentine from the few able to attend the Epsom Derby reflected the surreal atmosphere conjured up by the coronavirus pandemic. The surprise was not that trainer Aidan O'Brien had won a record eighth Derby but the manner in which one of the least fancied of his six runners triumphed. O'Brien's habit of running several in big races, especially the Derby, has drawn murmurings of discontent from his rivals who say they run as a team.

Instead of 100,000 people packing the rolling hills of Epsom Downs for Derby Day, the sound of swirling wind and rain filled the biosecure racing amphitheater on Saturday. ''I couldn't hear anything around me,'' winning jockey Emmet McNamara said. Without a winner since October, McNamara found himself so unexpectedly far out in front on Serpentine that no rivals could be heard.

Serpentine sprang a huge surprise to give trainer Aidan O'Brien a record eighth Epsom Derby on Saturday in front of deserted stands due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although trainers are permitted on course 50-year-old O'Brien was not there to experience history in the making and watched from his stables in Ireland. Serpentine led from start to finish to give Emmet McNamara his first win in the race at 25/1 leaving the better fancied contenders toiling in his wake.

Serpentine produced an electrifying display of front-running to claim a shock win at the Epsom Derby on Saturday as Aidan O'Brien became the most successful trainer in the history of the famous flat race. The 25-1 shot opened up a huge lead on the field and they could not respond as Serpentine, ridden by Emmet McNamara, never looked like being caught. Had there been, they might have been stunned into silence as Serpentine only won his first race a week ago.

Love added the Oaks to the 1000 Guineas in sublime style on Saturday at a deserted Epsom to become the first since her Aidan O'Brien stablemate Minding in 2016 to do the classic double. Once Ryan Moore hit the front there was no contest as she pulled away to win by nine lengths from another O'Brien runner Ennisytymon. Frankie Dettori's strongly-fancied ride Frankly Darling flattered to deceive but never threatened and had to be content with third.

The Epsom Derby may be taking place without the traditional funfair as jockey Jim Crowley told AFP but if he wins the blue riband of the turf on Emissary later on Saturday he will not care a jot. It will also be the first time the Oaks and the Derby take place on the same day after both races were postponed from their original date in June. Both the races could land either riding legend Frankie Dettori's way or Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien.

The Epsom Derby and Oaks will be run on the same day for the first time in history on Saturday after being postponed from June due to the coronavirus pandemic. The favourite may have got a bad draw but having Frankie Dettori on board counters that setback. The 49-year-old Italian is in fine fettle -- as six winners at Royal Ascot showed -- and victory on board English King would seal the full house of having won every English classic at least three times.

Trainer Andrew Balding grew up surrounded by memorabilia of his father Ian's 1971 Epsom Derby champion Mill Reef and on Saturday he hopes Kameko will emulate him in winning the "Holy Grail" of racing. The 47-year-old can go one better than his father if successful as Kameko comes to the race on the back of winning the mile classic the 2000 Guineas. Mill Reef had finished second to another turf legend, Brigadier Gerard.

Hugo Palmer can follow in the footsteps of trainers like George Carver, Geoff Wragg and William Haggas if he wins the Epsom Derby at the first attempt with his runner Emissary on Saturday. The 39-year-old says he has been fortunate in the Derby being postponed from its original June date, because of the coronavirus pandemic, as Emissary would not have been ready.

With the opening of the thoroughbred season at Monmouth Park days away, chief executive Dennis Drazin knows the odds are against the track making a profit. Monmouth Park is starting off with an unexpected daily double. New York held the Belmont Stakes on June 20 without fans.

Love, who won the 1000 Guineas in June, is bidding to become the first filly since the O'Brien-trained Minding in 2016 to complete the 1000 Guineas-Oaks double. O'Brien, the most successful current trainer at the Oaks with seven victories, has three other fillies in the mix - Irish 1,000 Guineas champion Peaceful, and Ennistymon and Passion who placed second and third respectively at the Ribblesdale Stakes. Frankly Darling, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori, is the second favourite at 9/4, and will look to follow up an impressive victory at the Ribblesdale Stakes with a triumph at Epsom.

The winning owners of the Derby and the Oaks could be present this Saturday at Epsom after strict coronavirus restrictions were eased on Monday by the British Horseracing Authority. Owners have been barred from attending racecourses since racing resumed on June 1 for the first time since its suspension on March 17. The protocol robbed Queen Elizabeth II the chance of seeing her horse Tactical win at Royal Ascot this month.

Officials have lifted a precautionary quarantine on a barn at Belmont Park after test results for a horse suspected of having equine herpesvirus Type 1 were negative. The New York Racing Association said Sunday all horses in Barn 37 were found to not have fever and were asymptomatic. The precautionary quarantine had been put in place a day earlier after a 4-year-old colt exhibited fever and neurological symptoms.

A barn at Belmont Park has been placed under a precautionary quarantine because of a suspected case of equine herpesvirus Type 1. New York Racing Association officials say a 4-year-old colt trained by Chris Englehart exhibited fever and neurological symptoms associated with EHV-1 on Saturday and is being treated by a private veterinarian. The colt named Freudnme last raced at Finger Lakes in upstate New York in June 2019.

Belmont winner Tiz the Law will stand at Coolmoore America’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky when his racing career is over. The 3-year-old colt will continue to be owned by Sackatoga Stable while he races. Tiz the Law has won five of six career starts, including last week’s Belmont Stakes that opened the reconfigured Triple Crown series.

A limited number of spectators will be allowed to attend the 146th Kentucky Derby on September 5, officials at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, announced Thursday. The Derby typically jams more than 100,000 people into the track for the usual opening jewel in American flat racing's Triple Crown. Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes last Saturday, contested without spectators in New York, to open this year's Triple Crown series with the Derby to be the middle race of the treble, followed by the postponed Preakness on October 3 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Churchill Downs officials have gotten their wish, announcing Thursday that when the rescheduled Kentucky Derby is run in September there will be spectators in the stands - just more spread out than usual. The historic track got the go-ahead to run the Derby and Oaks this fall with spectators under strict guidelines to limit crowd density for the marquee Triple Crown race that annually attracts more than 150,000. The 146th running of the Oaks for fillies and the Derby had been postponed from May 1-2 to Sept. 4-5 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our team is deeply committed to holding the very best Kentucky Derby ever, and we will take all necessary steps to protect the health and safety of all who attend and participate in the Derby," said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Kevin Flanery in a statement. The Belmont was run last Saturday without spectators in Elmont, New York and won by Tiz the Law.

Churchill Downs announced a revised Fan Code of Conduct with advice to wash hands and wear masks.

Santa Anita had 17 people test positive for the coronavirus during its recently completed meet, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said. The Arcadia racetrack was on Monday's list of nonresidential settings with five or more confirmed cases of the disease. The list includes food and retail stores, meat processing plants and educational settings.

Liam Treadwell, an English jockey who rode a horse with odds of 100-1 to victory in the Grand National Steeplechase in 2009, has died. Police attended the home of Treadwell after his death, which is being treated as unexplained, Britain's Press Association reported. Treadwell was riding in the Grand National for the first time when he guided Mon Mome to one of the most surprising wins in the history of the grueling race in 2009.

English jump jockey Liam Treadwell, who rode 100/1 outsider Mon Mome to victory in the 2009 Grand National, has died at the age of 34, it was announced on Tuesday. "We're deeply saddened to hear about the passing of 2009 Grand National-winning jockey Liam Treadwell," said a post on the Twitter feed of Aintree Racecourse, the Liverpool course that is home to the feted race. Treadwell returned to the saddle after initially retiring from professional riding in February 2018.

Ascot took a financial hit by putting on Royal Ascot behind closed doors and lessons were learned for the Epsom Derby and Oaks, the next highlights of the racing calendar. Royal Ascot went ahead without its crowds and well-dressed punters but the final winner's name, Who Dares Wins, seemed apt as most commentators concluded it had been a success in difficult circumstances with stringent health constraints. A winner for Queen Elizabeth II, Stradivarius's third successive Ascot Gold Cup and Nando Parrado -- at 150/1 the longest-priced winner in Royal Ascot's history -- were some of the on-track highlights.

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -- A horse injured after crossing the finish line of a race at Santa Anita was euthanized, making it the 15th fatality at the track since late December.

Tiz the Law has been good and lucky, two ingredients essential to success in horse racing. In 11 weeks, he'll get a chance to avenge that defeat over the same track in the Kentucky Derby. Tiz the Law has an ambitious summer and fall campaign ahead of him if all goes according to plan.

For Tiz the Law trainer Barclay Tagg, no finer way to round out a career Triple Crown. Everything was strange about this Belmont Stakes, except the winner. Heavily favored Tiz the Law won an unprecedented Belmont, claiming victory Saturday at the first race of a rejiggered Triple Crown schedule that barred fans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tiz the Law richly lived up to his favorite's billing, sweeping to victory in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday to launch a topsy-turvy Triple Crown year. Trained by 82-year-old Barclay Tagg and ridden by Manny Franco, Tiz the Law became the first New York-bred horse to win the Belmont since Forester in 1882. There was no roar to greet him as he surged across the finish line since the cavernous grandstand at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, -- where the race can draw more than 100,000, stood empty amid ongoing coronvirus restrictions.

Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in front of empty stands on Saturday, clinching the first leg of horse racing's Triple Crown. The colt was followed by Dr Post and Max Player at the New York event, which is usually the last leg of the three races that make up the Triple Crown.

The heavy favorite took home the title at the 152nd Belmont Stakes, which served as the opening leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in its history.

Gamine led all the way in winning the $300,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 18 3/4 lengths at Belmont on Saturday. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Gamine ran one mile in 1:32.55, fastest in the 90-year history of the race. Gamine earned 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.

Betting counters were closed and an eerie silence settled over the ivy-coated plaza inside Belmont Park on Saturday as jockeys and horses gathered for the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes, which will be contested in front of empty stands. The Belmont, traditionally the third leg in the Triple Crown, will be raced first this year after the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes were postponed until later in the year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Masked park attendants mingled on a humid, 85-degree Fahrenheit day as concession stands that usually do brisk business selling chilled beverages remained shut.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Hall of Famer Bill Mott has become the seventh trainer in historywith 5,000 wins.

Kevin Stott was turned down as a teenager by Tottenham Hotspur but any disappointment he may have still felt was washed away with a double on the biggest racing stage of all at Royal Ascot on Saturday. The Danish jockey denied the two biggest names in the sport -- Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori -- in winning the Group One Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Hello Youmzain. Stott burst into tears as the achievement sank in but still recovered his composure to then add the prestigious handicap, the Wokingham Stakes, half an hour later on Hey Jonesy for the same trainer, Kevin Ryan.

Frankie Dettori rounded off his week with a treble, including finally winning the only Group One at Royal Ascot to have eluded him with victory in the Coronation Stakes on Irish raider Alpine Star. The 49-year-old Italian's haul, which also included another Group One for trainer John Gosden in the St James's Palace Stakes with Palace Pier, gave him six winners for an overall Royal Ascot tally of 73. Dettori punched the air and his trademark flying dismount followed after Saturday's triumph, despite there being no spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic to admire it.

Nando Parrado became the longest priced winner in the history of Royal Ascot on Saturday when he won the Coventry Stakes at 150/1. The Clive Cox-trained winner -- named after one of the survivors of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes that was the subject of a best-selling book and subsequent film -- powered home under Adam Kirby. Cox said he had persuaded the owners Marie and Paul McCartan to run him after they had doubts earlier in the week.

The Belmont Stakes is Saturday, and it offers a chance to see the sport’s inherent beauty and exhilarating energy.

Saturday's Belmont Stakes is one of those times. Tiz the Law is the best horse in the Belmont, period. Tiz the Law is undefeated in four races on fast tracks; the only blemish on his record is a third-place showing on a sloppy Churchill Downs surface in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes back in November.

Tiz The Law should be tough to beat in a very different Belmont Stakes.