Jockey Tyler Conner was transported to a nearby trauma center following a one-horse spill in the seventh race at Colonial Downs on Thursday. Remaining races on the card were canceled following the incident.
Conner was turning for home aboard 3-year-old gelding Stanza when another runner in the race crossed into his path and caused Stanza to stumble and fall. Conner fell to the ground and could not get up under his own power, requiring medical attention on the track.
The physical demolition of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., began on Thursday with the razing of the track’s barns along Winner Avenue, Maryland officials said.
The start of the demolition marks the beginning of an estimated two and half year project to build a new grandstand and barn area on the Pimlico property. Demolition of the site’s existing buildings is expected to proceed over the next six months, with reconstruction beginning early in 2026, according to a construction schedule maintained by the Maryland Stadium Authority.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ewing was back on the work tab Thursday for the first time since launching his career with a sensational 12-length maiden special weight victory here earlier this month, breezing four furlongs over the main track in 48.64 seconds. Trainer Mark Casse implored his rider via walkie-talkie to slow the speedy 2-year-old down throughout the work.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Donegal Momentum, who stumbled badly yet did complete the course in the Grade 3 Kelso Stakes on July 3, will not run in the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Aug. 2, trainer Tom Morley said earlier this week.
Morley said that Donegal Momentum pulled a gluteal muscle on his right side as the result of the incident, of which he’s unclear what happened. Morley shipped Donegal Momentum back to Belmont Park to train as he believes the training track there “is a bit kinder on the horses.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sovereignty is not the only Grade 1-winning horse trainer Bill Mott will be running on Saturday’s card at Saratoga.
Arthur’s Ride, winner of last summer’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes here, returns from a nine-month layoff in a multi-conditioned allowance going 1 1/8 miles in race 4 on Saturday’s 12-race card. It will be Arthur’s Ride’s first race since he finished 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
The Kentucky Oaks, the premier spring race for 3-year-old fillies that anchors the card at Churchill Downs one day prior to the Kentucky Derby, will be run between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time next year, the latest the race has ever been run.
The schedule change will result in the Oaks broadcast being aired during a time slot craved by advertisers and on NBC’s main broadcast network, rather than NBC Sports or the USA Network, two NBC affiliates where the broadcast has appeared in the past. That will provide an almost certain boost to ratings and revenue.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Tiago Pereira, who sustained facial injuries in a one-horse spill at Del Mar on Saturday, was released from a local hospital on Tuesday and will be sidelined until the fall, according to his agent, Craig Stephen.
Pereira underwent surgery on Monday to have three plates inserted in the right side of his face, Stephen said.
“He’s doing much better,” Stephen said on Wednesday. “He said he’ll be good.
“He’ll be out 10 to 12 weeks, maybe longer, maybe less. It depends on how he recovers.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – The opening two days of the Del Mar summer meeting last Friday and Saturday gave trainer Peter Miller a much-needed boost, and the hope the eight-week season will revive a quiet stretch for his prominent stable.
Miller has won eight training titles at Del Mar since 2012 – four at summer meetings and four in the fall. He has not won a training title at Del Mar since the summer of 2021 when he won 26 races. From 2022 through last year, he finished summer meetings ranked third, fourth and sixth.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Johannes, a finalist for the Eclipse Award in the male turf division in 2024, is scheduled to make his 2025 debut in the Grade 1, $750,000 Fourstardave Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2, trainer Tim Yakteen said Tuesday.
The Grade 1 status of the Fourstardave, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, made the Fourstardave the choice over this weekend’s Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar, Yakteen said.
