Tom Law

After suffering two narrow defeats in graded stakes company at Saratoga Race Course – first a three-quarter-length loss to Bricks And Mortar in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame and again by a neck to Voodoo Song in the Grade 3 Saranac – Yoshida earned a graded win of his own in Saturday’s Hill Prince at Belmont Park.

When his daughter Lauren expressed interest in delving into Thoroughbred ownership, longtime owner Ralph Evans set out to find a useful New York-bred.

Welcome to October. Now less than four weeks to go until the Breeders’ Cup World Championships and it’s no surprise the preps come fast and furious this weekend. The Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud covers all the action from here and abroad, Ascot to Newmarket and Belmont to Santa Anita.

Bill and Riley Mott rolled up to the Oklahoma Training Track’s clocker’s stand in a golf cart as training hours wound down with only a smattering of horses out late Monday morning at Saratoga. A few minutes later two of Mott’s trainees rolled past, Mr. Meister coming by first at a decent gallop with Good Samaritan a few seconds later at a slightly easier clip.

Kiaran McLaughlin thought Takaful could be a Grade 1 winner ever since the colt debuted an 8-length winner as a 2-year-old in a Belmont Park maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs. Eleven months later, Takaful lived up to McLaughlin’s hopes when he won the $350,000 Vosburgh Stakes, the first of four graded stakes on Saturday’s program at Belmont.

It’s about 6 p.m. Saturday evening and Belmont Park is quiet. As the sun began to dip toward the horizon, its last rays shined through the windows in the back of the grandstand, blanketing the facility in an orange glow. The last of 10 races on the program, the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, was complete and the facility emptied out, leaving the apron nearly barren. Among the stragglers were Chad Brown, trainer of winner Beach Patrol, and a small gaggle of reporters.

Now this is a serious Saturday. Breeders’ Cup prep races from coast-to-coast and The Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud takes a look at all the action from Belmont Park, Santa Anita Park, Churchill Downs, Laurel Park and beyond.  Don’t forget racing overseas, which kicks off the day with strong cards at Newmarket, Gowran … Read more

Time to get serious. The Breeders’ Cup World Championships is a mere six weeks from Saturday and that means it’s time for final preps on the road to Del Mar. We’ve got those preps and more covered in this week’s edition of The Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud.

More than two weeks removed from the close of the 2017 Saratoga Race Course meeting and we’re slowly getting back to normal in upstate New York, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. No sooner did the 2017 season end did our team get to work at the Keeneland September sale, catching up on life in general or taking a much needed break from it all in the mountains.

Memories of summer days at the races are starting to fade with signs of fall everywhere you turn. The Keeneland September yearling sale is nearing its midpoint, college football is in full swing and tree leaves are starting to change color.