Latest news with #racingCommunity
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Sport
- Bloomberg
Bet Against Journalism in Belmont Stakes: David Papadopoulos
If you missed the Preakness Stakes, call up the NBC replay. I've been watching thoroughbreds run for a long, long time. I'd never seen one do what Journalism did that day. With a quarter mile to go, he squeezed his big frame through an impossibly narrow hole and then, after careening off rivals and losing all momentum, unleashed a sudden, frantic rally to nail the leader in the shadow of the finish line.
New York Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Forget Speed. Finish Strong.
Before the field had hit the far turn at the Preakness Stakes last month, most eyes had moved on from a colt named Journalism. He broke out well enough, but trapped on the rail, boxed in tight, the favored horse faded in the pack just as the race began to burn. The fastest surged forward. Journalism didn't flinch. He waited, holding back, hunting space with coiled patience. Then something shifted. There was no sudden explosion of speed, no frantic scramble. Just a patient, defiant unfolding. Trying to split horses near the quarter pole, Journalism took a hard bump from the right, faltering into another horse, then somehow squeezed through a seam in the chaos. When he finally found daylight, he had five lengths to make up and just seconds to do it. Surging down the track, stretching his strides, he reeled in the leader and won by a half length. It was a throwback, a reminder that patience isn't weakness and that some victories are earned not by charging to the front but by knowing exactly when to move. Journalism is now headed to the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga, N.Y. The Belmont race is shorter than usual this year, just 1¼ miles, because it's at the Saratoga track while the 1½-mile Belmont Park in Queens gets a face-lift. Even without a Triple Crown on the line this year, the Belmont holds its weight — a final trial where most names fade and one is etched into memory. In an era wound tight with urgency, Journalism is the horse we forgot how to ride. He did not chase the breakneck pace. He moved with patience, let the chaos pass and proved capable of charging through gaps no wider than a saddle horn. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Kyprios gives Aidan O'Brien a major injury scare as hot favourite for Ascot Gold Cup limps out of Leopardstown winning enclosure
Seamless on the course, headaches in the winner's enclosure. Kyprios did what everyone expected him to do as he extended his winning run to a perfect 10 but Aidan O'Brien left Leopardstown concerned about his old friend. Life has not been straightforward for this wonderfully talented seven-year-old, who came back from a condition that threatened his life in 2023 to win every Cup race last season, and there was some angst for O'Brien again after Kyprios had tootled away with the Levmoss Stakes at Leopardstown. The race was everything O'Brien had hoped it would be, a solid workout without any threat to his supremacy. There was a reason he was sent off 1/14 – nobody in the betting ring availed themselves of those odds – and the gallop had put him on course for Royal Ascot. But then, as he was posing for a picture with connections, O'Brien noticed that Kyprios had taken a couple of tentative steps. He didn't know whether it was something or nothing but it was enough to ensure that his mind was occupied on the way back to Tipperary. 'He might have just sprung a shoe,' said O'Brien. 'Listen, with this horse's history, he is scanned and checked before every race. If it's his shoe, we can fix that but we will see what happens when we look at him. We will find out. But no chances will be taken with him.' What a concern. Kyprios, the king of the stayers, was last beaten in October 2023, some 82 weeks ago, and in peak form, nothing would stop him collecting a third Gold Cup at the Royal meeting next month. Clearly, though, it cannot be taken for granted that he will make the starting line. 'He is a great horse and has been unbelievable,' said O'Brien. 'His constitution is incredible. Ryan (Moore) was very happy with him and that will have put him right for Ascot but maybe he has stood on his shoe. We will have to see.' The evening had started for O'Brien on the best possible footing. Italy, another son of Coolmore's increasingly influential stallion Wootton Bassett, had left those close to him thinking that he had plenty of gears and he showed that through a taking final furlong. He had been sent-off the 4/9 favourite, so it was anticipated he would break his maiden at the first time of asking, but he was given a fright when Thesecretadversary slipped away around the home turn and went clear. It was taking, then, just how Italy mowed down the front runner. 'This fella has got a bit of quality about him,' said O'Brien. 'Wayne (Lordan) gave him a lovely ride and he will have learned plenty from it. We would think he'd be a horse for the Tyros Stakes back here. We like him.' There are more runners for him to follow today. In the UK, O'Brien has a number of chances on a high-class Newbury card, chief among them Ides Of March in the Carnarvon Stakes (1.25pm); there is no Ballydoyle representative in the Lockinge Stakes, however, with Rosallion a hot favourite. 'It's probably the best Lockinge we've seen for a long time,' said the colt's trainer Richard Hannon, of last season's Irish 2000 Guineas winner. 'But I'm just hopeful that he returns the same horse he was last season. If he is, then he should have a good year.'
News.com.au
12-05-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Horse racing world mourns death of Group 1-winning trainer Ben Smith, aged 42
The Newcastle racing community is in mourning after the passing of trainer Ben Smith. He was 42. Newcastle police are investigating the cause of Smith's death but it is understood there are no suspicious circumstances. Smith was nearing the end of a 13-month ban after he and one of his horses tested positive to banned substances and his death has shocked his many friends in the racing industry. Smith was a rising star in the NSW training ranks and won Group 1 races in 2018 with In Her Time (The Galaxy) and El Dorado Dreaming (ATC Sires Produce Stakes). In Her Time was being readied for the world's richest turf race, the 2018 The Everest, when Smith's training career was put on hold after he was hit with a three year-nine month ban after being found guilty of cobalt and conduct charges by Racing NSW stewards. Smith resumed his training in late 2022 but again struck trouble with stewards and was hit with a 13-month ban in May last year, when he and one of his horses tested positive to banned substances. Racing NSW stewards charged Smith with two separate offences, one of which was for the use of a banned substance while handling a horse. He was given a 12-month ban, reduced to nine months for the offence, while he received a further four-month suspension after one of his runners, Arale, tested positive for an anti-inflammatory drug. A pre-race blood sample from Arale found the mare to have meloxicam in her system after she won at Canterbury last year. Arale was subsequently disqualified from the race. Smith trained 17 winners in his comeback 2023-24 season and appeared to have his career back on track before incurring a second lengthy stewards ban.
