horses Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Is horse racing worth saving?
The discussion of the future of horse racing seems to be popping up more regularly these days. The greater regularity of the topic probably started in 2019, when Santa Anita Park in Southern California had an unprecedented rash of horses suffering fatal injuries, with 42 horses dying and shutting do...
Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...
Dallas Cowboys show a shocking-yet-predictable level of self-awareness
The best part about the Dallas Cowboys is making fun of them. Whether it’s Dak Prescott trying his best to follow in the footsteps of Tony Romo as the quarterback most likely to trip before the finish line, or the annual “Zeke Elliot is back story” after he shows up without a visible gut, it’s supre...
Horse racing should be put out of its misery
In yet another measure of how irrelevant horse racing has gotten, Kentucky Derby “winner” Medina Spirit collapsed and died at Santa Anita yesterday. He had a heart attack after a workout, which 3-year-old horses don’t tend to do. It does happen, though, but is rare. ...
Bob Baffert’s attorney gets eviscerated on CNN
After Kentucky Derby winner* Medina Spirit failed his first drug test, his trainer, Bob Baffert, did the media rounds to blame cancel culture and everybody besides himself for his horse’s unusually high levels of betamethasone....
Bob Baffert cries wolf again
You have to ask if there’s anything left of horse racing to kill. Perhaps it’s entrenched so deeply into irrelevance, outside of four or five days a year, that just about nothing can make it worse. This is an industry basically surviving on the courtesy of state governments, really....
Undefeated favorite Essential Quality has everyone asking: Wait — how many gray horses have won the Kentucky Derby?
There’s this phrase in thoroughbred racing, it goes one of two ways: “always bet the grays” or “never bet the grays.” [Ed. note: My uncles were firmly in the “never” category — R.O.]...
Paul Dolan says the quiet part loud for Cleveland, proving all Dolans are morons
Things are never as good as they seem, and so it has proven with Cleveland’s MLB team’s name change. The hunch was that they would always wait until 2022 to actually change the name, much like how the Washington Football Team couldn’t find another one for this year. The excuse they’ll trot out is th...
What Are the Odds That 23,000 People Attending a Horse Race Is a Bad Idea?
Churchill Downs announced today that 23,000 people will be able to attend September’s Kentucky Derby in accordance with the track’s health and safety plan....
Horse Euthanized At Santa Anita Just Two Days Into Racing Season
Just two days into Santa Anita’s horse racing season, a 3-year-old colt named Emtech had to be euthanized after suffering two broken front forelimbs during the eighth race of the day on Saturday, track officials told KABC. Emtech’s jockey, two-time Kentucky Derby winner Mario Gutierrez, was tossed ...
The Man Who Would Kill Horse Racing
In a garden-variety suburb outside Albany—a recent July morning, but it could have been any morning—Patrick Battuello woke up at five, brewed a cup of coffee, and then sat at his computer to review the previous day’s horse races. He’s done this every day for the last six years. This was a Monday, an...
Another Dead Horse At Santa Anita
A 4-year-old gelding was euthanized at Santa Anita after breaking its pelvis during training, according to a statement released by the track’s owner, the Stronach Group. The horse, named Zeke, pulled up on the training track on Monday and was put down Tuesday. Per the statement:...
American Pharoah, Welcome To The Resistance (Or Maybe Not)
Between this and the doping, I don’t think I can let my children watch horse racing anymore. At a meeting of House Republicans in Baltimore on Friday, Mike Pence offered a vaguely perturbing, folksy anecdote about Triple Crown winner American Pharoah once biting him on the arm, turning it into a dop...
Report: Triple Crown Winner Justify Failed Drug Test Ahead Of Kentucky Derby
Explosive news out of the world of horse racing today: Justify, the colt that ruined the mystique of one of sports’ all-time legendary feats last summer, reportedly tested positive for a performance enhancing substance in the weeks ahead of the Kentucky Derby. Under the rules in place at the time, J...
30th Horse Dies At Santa Anita; Hall Of Fame Trainer Banned From Track
A four-year-old gelding named American Currency was euthanized after sustaining an injury on Santa Anita’s training track on Saturday. It was the first time that a horse died as a result of a training track injury, and the 30th death of the racing season at Santa Anita. It was also the fourth death ...
29th Horse Dies At Santa Anita One Day After Officials Tell Track To Stop Holding Races
A three-year-old filly named Truffalino died Sunday after collapsing suddenly on the turf at Santa Anita. Truffalino, who didn’t suffer any visible limb injuries, is not to be confused with Formal Dude, who sustained a fractured pelvis near the finish line of another race at Santa Anita on Saturday ...
This Lady Running Like A Horse Is Really, Really Good At Running Like A Horse
This is Ayla Kirstine, a Norwegian woman who went viral on German Twitter this week for running like a horse. You may have questions—“Why is she running like a horse?” would be a good one—though you cannot deny that this pferdmädchen is extremely good at running, and even jumping, like a horse....
Horse Seeks Justice In Court
Maximum Security and his entourage of humans are not going to take his controversial Kentucky Derby disqualification lying down, even after those scoundrels down at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission summarily denied the bay colt’s formal protest earlier this week. To a lesser horse, this would be...
The Kentucky Derby Was Decided By Some Video Replay Bullshit
For a brief moment on Saturday, Luis Saez felt an immense happiness that can only overcome someone that has achieved one of the greatest accomplishments of their life. He had won the Kentucky Derby with his horse, Maximum Security, by one-and-a-half lengths and spoke about how the victory was a drea...