Horse Racing

9:53 PM ET Associated Press SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Saratoga Race Course completed its 40-day meet, and its all-sources handle topped $700 million for the second consecutive year despite being conducted without fans. Total handle was $702.5 million, just off last year’s mark of $705.3 million, with average daily handle of $17.5 million. Only a

11:54 AM ET Betting on the 146th Kentucky Derby was down sharply over the weekend, dropping 52% from last year’s record amount wagered. With no fans allowed at the track due to the coronavirus pandemic, Churchill Downs reported that $79.4 million was bet in the parimutuel pool on this year’s Kentucky Derby. Last year’s Derby

7:14 PM ET Authentic dueled with Tiz the Law in the final turn and upset the heavy favorite to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. Ridden by John Velazquez, Authentic led from start to finish and gave trainer Bob Baffert his record-tying sixth Derby champion. Authentic covered 1¼ mile in 2:00.61, the seventh-fastest time ever

5:00 AM ET LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A friendly security guard checked my temperature and pointed toward an opening in an unmarked green fence, and just like that, I was alone in Churchill Downs. It was Derby week, and yet everything was so quiet I could hear the cicadas. That’s what the world’s most famous racetrack

6:38 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Long shot Shedaresthedevil won the Kentucky Oaks in record time, overtaking favorite Gamine at the top of the stretch and holding off Swiss Skydiver for a 1½-length victory Friday in the 146th Kentucky Oaks for fillies at Churchill Downs. Shedaresthedevil was fresh off a Grade 3 stakes

12:25 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The field for the Kentucky Derby has been reduced to 16 after Finnick the Fierce was scratched on Friday. The one-eyed gelding may have an issue with his foot. He’s missing his right eye because of a congenital cataract. The Derby on Saturday will have its fewest

5:00 AM ET Between July 2018 and June 2019, 49 horses died at the Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California. Some broke down in training — a snapped leg bone, an irreversible injury. Others died publicly during a race. These incidents confirmed what horse racing people already knew: Sometimes … horses die. But when the

5:41 PM ET King Guillermo, the colt owned by former major league All-Star Victor Martinez, is a scratch for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. The horse came down with a fever Wednesday, leading to Thursday’s announcement. “To race in a race like the Derby we need him at 100 percent,” Avila said in a statement. “We aren’t

6:00 PM ET Associated Press SOUTHWELL, England — Jump racing was suspended at a British racecourse on Thursday following the death of eight horses at the venue since July 1. The British Horseracing Authority already was working with the owners of Southwell racecourse to look into the circumstances behind six equine fatalities there from July

8:15 AM ET Postponed from its traditional running on the first Saturday in May for the first time since 1945 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Kentucky Derby will take place on the first Saturday of September. Tiz the Law is the morning-line favorite (3-5) and is unbeaten in four starts this year. That includes