Horse Racing News

Paynter continued his remarkable comeback Tuesday when posting his first workout since returning to trainer Bob Baffert's barn in late December, completing three furlongs in :36 at Santa Anita. It was the third-fastest of 12 workers at the distance.

Game On Dude and Ron the Greek, horses with contrasting styles but both possessing a victory in the Santa Anita Handicap, are the clear standouts in the marquee event for handicap horses March 2 at Santa Anita Park.

The top three from the January 26 Grade 3 Santa Ysabel and the top two from the January 21 Grade 2 Santa Ynez will join three others in the Santa Anita starting gate Saturday for the Grade 1, $250,000 Las Virgenes.

Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher lost a major contender for the 2013 Kentucky Derby when the impressive Violence suffered a career-ending injury last weekend.

Overanalyze, another in trainer Todd Pletcher's seemingly endless arsenal of classic prospects, will have is sophomore unveiling in Saturday's Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham at Aqueduct.

Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow has filed a federal lawsuit trying to overturn his 10-year ban from racing in New York for drug violations.

Grade 1 winner Violence, among the early favorites for this year's Kentucky Derby, sustained a fracture to his right front medial sesamoid and is off the Triple Crown trail.

For a second time at Santa Anita this winter, Sahara Sky has been the beneficiary of a pace meltdown in one of the track's historic sprint stakes.

A 135-1 shot took the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots Feb. 23, Matthew W. Bryan's Ive Struck a Nerve closing late in the furlong grounds and catapulting himself onto the road to the Kentucky Derby.

Fast-improving Orb was golden in his stakes debut for trainer Shug McGaughey in the $400,000 Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth, coming from off the pace to run down odds-on choice Violence for a narrow victory Feb. 23 at Gulfstream Park.