Horse Racing

Melbourne Cup-winning Australian trainer Darren Weir was committed to stand trial Monday on animal cruelty and conspiracy to defraud charges stemming from the 2018 spring racing carnival.

Hollie Doyle is the "boss", according to boyfriend and fellow jockey Tom Marquand, but as far as she is concerned, he is "the romantic".

Tom Marquand and girlfriend Hollie Doyle celebrated a memorable British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday both riding doubles with the former winning the feature Champion Stakes.

The European flat-racing season reaches its climax with British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday after a season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Frankie Dettori says he has "done quite well" in a "surreal season" that has deprived him of the big racecourse crowds he relishes.

Record-breaking mare Enable has been retired from racing a week after coming up short in her bid to win a historic third Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The Pegasus World Cup races will return to Gulfstream Park in 2021.

Four weeks later, filly Swiss Skydiver challenged and beat Authentic in the Preakness. The Triple Crown races run out of order and later in the year produced three different winners and quite the competition for 3-year-old horse of the year. ''It sure made it interesting to have a great debate: Which of the three winners would do it again if they, all three, were head to head?'' said NBC Sports analyst Kenny Rice, one of the few people to witness all three 2020 Triple Crown races in person.

Those hanging around the heavily restricted stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course this week joked around that Authentic would stare down filly Swiss Skydiver whenever she walked past. ''He got a good look at her today,'' jockey Robby Albarado said. Swiss Skydiver added one final memorable moment to cap off a topsy-turvy Triple Crown season, beating favored Authentic by a neck after a stretch duel in the Preakness Stakes run without fans Saturday.

Swiss Skydiver held off Authentic in a thrilling finish Saturday, becoming just the sixth filly to win the Preakness Stakes in a dramatic end to a topsy-turvy Triple Crown year.

Jesus' Team hadn't won against elite competition going into the Preakness, and his owners had to pay extra money just to get him to the starting gate of the Triple Crown race because he wasn't nominated. From that point on, he did the rest, edging out Art Collector for third behind winning filly Swiss Skydiver and favorite Authentic. Jesus' Team hit the board at 40-1 odds Saturday, a major surprise in the 11-horse field.

Maybe next year, the Preakness will be run in May and a huge crowd will fill Pimlico Race Course for the second leg of the Triple Crown. Maybe then, Bob Baffert will secure his record-breaking eighth Preakness victory and jockey John Velazquez will snap his 0-for-10 streak in the race. For now, however, both the Hall of Fame trainer and oft-frustrated jockey must lament a near miss in a no-one-expected-this kind of duel that served as an appropriate finish to an out-of-whack Triple Crown series.

With the win, Swiss Skydiver, ridden by Robby Albarado, became only the sixth filly to win the 1-3/16 mile race at Pimlico and the first since Rachel Alexandra in 2009. Swiss Skydiver, who broke from the fourth post, took the lead in the 11-horse race after the half-mile mark when Albarado made a move towards the rail next to Authentic, who was in front at the time with jockey John Velazquez aboard.

GAIN Equine Nutrition, the Irish horse feed company, said on Friday https://www.gainequinenutrition.com/blog/news/statement-from-gain-equine-nutrition-2 evening that it was investigating "the potential presence of a contaminant in some batches of our equine feed range." In all, 11 horses trained by the family trio have been withdrawn.

Usually the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness was delayed from its usual May date.

Enable, ridden by Frankie Dettori, will bid on Sunday to achieve what the Italian jockey labels the "impossible" and become the first horse to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe three times.

A Louisville guy finally had a Kentucky Derby horse in Art Collector, who would have been one of the favorites. Thing is, a few days before that race, Drury noticed that Art Collector had a very minor foot issue. Saturday's Preakness, the end of this year's most unusual and out-of-typical-order Triple Crown race slate, has a very solid field.

Trainer Tommy Drury and Art Collector get another chance at Triple Crown glory this weekend. Drury will start his first horse in a Triple Crown race when he saddles Art Collector in Saturday's Preakness, which will be the final leg of the Triple Crown for the first time in its 145-year history. Drury was poised to make his Triple Crown debut at the Kentucky Derby until he discovered something was wrong with Art Collector, arguably the best horse he has ever had in his barn.

There will be some speed at the front and that could spell bad news for the favorite.

Each time Bob Baffert won a big race over the past two decades with assistant Jimmy Barnes by his side, the two would share a moment and embrace. Baffert's other Derby horse, Thousand Words, reared up in the paddock and broke Barnes' right wrist, so he was in an ambulance during the race. As soon as Baffert got to the hospital room, Barnes - his arm bandaged up and doctors around him - flashed a big smile and said to him, ''We did it!'' Four weeks later, Baffert is aiming to win a record-breaking eighth Preakness Stakes this Saturday with Authentic or Thousand Words while his right-hand man watches from 3,000 miles away in California.

The champion jockey of British horse racing has tested positive for cocaine. Oisin Murphy returned a positive test for metabolites of the drug in a test undertaken in France on July 19, a statement from the Professional Jockeys Association read on Thursday. Murphy, a 25-year-old rider from Ireland, was informed in August of his positive result and subsequently arranged for a hair sample test at an independent laboratory, which returned a negative result, the PJA said.

Britain's postponed Racing League will launch in 2021, organisers said on Thursday, with a prize pot of nearly £2 million giving the beleaguered sport a "small light of hope".

Frankie Dettori's "favourite girl" Enable has her final tilt at making racing history on Sunday as she strives to become the first horse to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe three times.

Jockeys and exercise riders in California will be working under a more restrictive rule governing the use of whips that goes into effect on Thursday. The amended Rule 1688 was designed by the California Horse Racing Board to further protect horses without compromising the safety of horses and riders, although as written it is not being widely embraced by some riders. Riders cannot use the whip more than six times during a race, excluding showing or waving the whip or tapping the horse on the shoulder.

The owners of the horse racing track in New Orleans have agreed to pay a $2.8 million penalty for letting horse manure and urine into the city's drainage system for at least six years and to spend twice that on ending the discharges, federal prosecutors say. The U.S. Justice Department described the fine to be paid by Churchill Downs Inc., owner of the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, as the largest ever paid by a ''concentrated animal feeding'' operation under the Clean Water Act, news outlets reported. The agreement settles a federal complaint alleging that the Fair Grounds violated that law and the track's state permit more than 250 times between 2012 and 2018.

The House approved a bill Tuesday to create national medication and safety standards for the horse racing industry as lawmakers move to clamp down on use of performance-enhancing drugs that can lead to horse injuries and deaths. Jason Servis, whose champion horse Maximum Security crossed the finish line first at the 2019 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified for interference, was among those charged. McConnell's home state of Kentucky boasts some of the country's top breeding outfits and Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the fabled Triple Crown.

There are some worthy challengers in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.

Swiss Skydiver will become the second filly since Rachel Alexandra won in 2009 to run against males in the Preakness on Saturday. Trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed the decision on Sunday. Jockey Robby Albarado, who won the 2007 Preakness aboard Curlin, will replace Tyler Gaffalione on Swiss Skydiver.

The Bob Baffert-trained colt was set as a 9-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 3/16-mile race, which is traditionally held in May as the second jewel of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown but postponed this year due to the virus. Baffert, who counts seven Preakness Stakes wins among his record 16 victories in Triple Crown races, will also send out Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words, who will break from the fifth post. Authentic, ridden by John Velazquez, led all the way at the Kentucky Derby and held off a late challenge from favourite Tiz the Law down the stretch in the annual Run for the Roses.

Preakness race week began Monday with a draw that lacked the usual fanfare of owners and trainers packing into a crowded tent with an open bar in the infield. Kentucky Derby winner Authentic was installed as the 9-5 morning line favorite and drew the No. 9 post position for the race that will conclude the Triple Crown in this topsy-turvy year. It could also be a near-perfect day for Bob Baffert if the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer captures his record-breaking eighth Preakness, either with Authentic or Thousand Words, who drew the No. 5 post and is 6-1 on the morning line.

Improbable rallied from last to a 4 1/2-length victory over stablemate Maximum Security in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, Improbable ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.01 to earn his third straight Grade 1 victory and fourth overall for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. The victory earned Improbable an automatic berth in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jockeys riding in the Preakness and other races at Pimlico next weekend must undergo a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their first mount.

Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law won’t get his rematch against Authentic at the Preakness after all.

Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law won't run in next month's Preakness, spoiling what would have been a highly anticipated rematch with Kentucky Derby winner Authentic. The Preakness on Oct. 3 at Pimlico concludes this year's reconfigured Triple Crown series, which was run out of order because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Authentic had his first major workout since winning the Kentucky Derby as he prepares for the Preakness next month. The 3-year-old completed five furlongs in 59.20 seconds under jockey Martin Garcia on Saturday at Churchill Downs, where he has remained since his Derby victory on Sept. 5. Authentic's time was the fastest of 38 horses at the distance.

Nine-time Irish champion jockey and 2016 Epsom Derby winner Pat Smullen has died. Horse Racing Ireland said Smullen, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2018, died in a Dublin hospital on Tuesday. Britain's Press Association said Smullen's initial treatment had been positive, but he suffered a relapse.

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -- Honor A. P. has been retired because of an injury suffered in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished fourth.

Opening day of Santa Anita's fall season will be pushed back a week until Sept. 25 because of poor air quality caused by a wildfire burning near the Southern California racetrack. The city of Arcadia, home to Santa Anita, ordered the residents of one neighborhood to evacuate as the fire that began Sept. 6 in the mountains north of the track continued to grow. The fire has cast a shroud of smoke that has given Los Angeles some of its worst air quality in decades.

The Breeders' Cup in November will be held without spectators, joining the Triple Crown races in having only essential personnel and participants on hand because of the coronavirus pandemic. The world championships are set for Nov. 6-7 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. The decision announced Saturday was made after consultation with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Keeneland, local and state government and public health officials as well as independent medical experts.

The song refers to Abraham Lincoln as a "tyrant."

The official state song ''Maryland, My Maryland'' will not be performed before the Preakness next month because the lyrics are perceived by some to be racist. A spokesperson for Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness, said Friday the tradition of playing the song before the race will be scrapped on Oct. 3, when the Triple Crown series comes to Baltimore. The action is a follow-up of a statement by Maryland Jockey Club on June 25 in response to Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones' move to abolish ''Maryland, My Maryland'' as the state song due to its roots to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

A key House committee on Wednesday gave bipartisan approval to legislation to create national standards for the horse racing industry to prevent fatalities and discourage illegal medication practices. The Senate's top Republican said he would press to pass the bill before the year is out. ''Our bill delivers commonsense medication and track safety standards that protect America's horses and jockeys, needed progress that will put this popular and historic sport on track for a strong recovery and a bright future,'' said top sponsor Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., whose district is home to Saratoga Race Course, a premier racetrack.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY. (AP) -- Saratoga Race Course completed its 40-day meet and its all-sources handle topped $700 million for the second consecutive year despite being conducted without fans.

Briefly off the radar to set himself straight, Authentic now might have to get used to having a target on his back. Bob Baffert's latest star achieved that by blowing past Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law to win going away Saturday at Churchill Downs. Tiz the Law's team suggested after the Derby that the colt would be there, with owner Jack Knowlton adding to ''hopefully win that and get some revenge.'' Baffert sounded just as eager Sunday as he digested Authentic's 1 1/4-length victory over the 3-5 favorite at Churchill Downs.

Bob Baffert endured the lowest of lows and highest of highs within minutes in the Kentucky Derby. Then Baffert found himself down again, literally, getting knocked to the grass by a skittish Authentic in the winner's circle.

For John Velazquez, his third Kentucky Derby win was as charming as the first. It was certainly stunning for the Hall of Fame jockey who guided Authentic to a wire-to-wire victory on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Tiz the Law gave it a shot down the stretch, but Authentic won by 1 1/4 lengths.

Authentic held off heavily favored Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law to capture the 146th Kentucky Derby on Saturday, giving trainer Bob Baffert a record-equalling sixth victory in the Run for the Roses.

Authentic took charge early and held off race favorite Tiz the Law down the stretch to win the 146th Kentucky Derby in a wire-to-wire performance that gave Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his sixth victory. Tiz the Law got close entering the stretch before Authentic pulled away to win the race run without spectators at Churchill Downs.

Authentic, ridden by John Velazquez, set the early pace and maintained his speed down the stretch in the 1-1/4 mile classic, which was held without spectators due to the COVID-19 crisis. Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law looked well placed to overhaul the 8-1 shot as they made it around the final turn but could not close the gap and finished second in the 146th running of the race. The win capped an emotional day for Baffert.

The 2020 Kentucky Derby was held four months late and without spectators.