Horse Racing

2:46 PM ET LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This year’s Kentucky Derby suddenly became wide open after morning-line favorite Omaha Beach was scratched on Wednesday with a breathing issue. Omaha Beach’s trainer, Richard Mandella, said it was a “bitter pill to swallow,” but they’ll move forward and address the issue with surgery on Thursday. Omaha Beach has

2:29 PM ET LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Trainer Richard Mandella said Omaha Beach, who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Wednesday, will have surgery at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital on Thursday to correct a breathing issue that forced him out of the race. Omaha Beach, who was the morning line favorite for the Derby,

7:00 PM ET ESPN News Services Morning-line favorite Omaha Beach has been scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby because of a breathing problem, trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday. “He was coughing, which made us suspicious, and we scoped him,” Mandella told reporters Wednesday night. “It’s not anything we can fix to have him run on Saturday,

12:31 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Omaha Beach is the 4-1 early favorite for the Kentucky Derby after drawing the No. 12 post position. Bob Baffert-trained Game Winner is the 5-1 second choice from the No. 16 post in the 20-horse field that was drawn Tuesday for Saturday’s first leg of the Triple

1:38 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bellafina is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the 145th Kentucky Oaks after drawing the No. 4 post position in the marquee race for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. Champagne Anyone and Restless Rider are the 6-1 co-second choices from the Nos. 10 and 14 posts of

11:23 PM ET Associated Press HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — A jockey has been suspended 60 days for misusing his whip — not on a horse — but on another rider in a race at an Arkansas track. A stewards’ ruling posted Thursday on the Association of Racing Commissioners International website alleges that David Cohen “deliberately”

10:06 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Santa Anita will race three days a week instead of four over the next four weeks because the track has lost some of its horse population to out-of-state venues. Several stables have shipped horses to Kentucky to run at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, leaving Santa Anita with

1:54 AM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Churchill Downs will invest $8 million for an on-site equine medical center as part of several other measures to improve safety for horses and riders. The medical center is expected to open next March and will include a quarantine facility. Next month’s Kentucky Derby will have a

5:37 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Santa Anita will continue racing through the end of the current meet on June 23, despite objections from animal rights activists who urged the California Horse Racing Board to shutter the historic track. Chairman Chuck Winner said at the racing board’s monthly meeting Thursday that he sees

12:17 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Several major tracks, including all three sites of the Triple Crown, have agreed to phase out the use of an anti-bleeding medication starting next year, followed by the elimination of Lasix in stakes races in 2021. Among the tracks that have come together on the divisive medication