Stories related to: thoroughbred

When Big Brown enters the gate for the Belmont Stakes next week, one member of the crowd won't be on pins and needles: Rick Dutrow is confident his horse will win, reports USA Today . "I feel that he will do it. It's actually a foregone conclusion for me," the trainer said yesterday of his colt's Triple Crown chances. More »

Eight Belles' owner is still shocked and saddened by the death of his filly, put down at the end of the Kentucky Derby—but believes she belonged in the race, reports the Palm Beach Post . Rick Porter switched from celebrating his horse's thrilling second-place finish to mourning her death within minutes. "It's the bottom of the barrel," he said yesterday. "It's just a horrible feeling." More »

NBC cut away from Eight Belles’ devastating breakdown and euthanasia at Churchill Downs yesterday, but we need to take a good hard look at the very real cost of the sport of kings, writes Sally Jenkins in the Washington Post. Eight Belles is a primetime example of the average two horses per day that suffer career-ending injuries on the track—the result of years of breeding for speed, without the requisite sturdiness. More »

The world's most expensive racehorse finished third in his rookie race at Belmont Park yesterday. The Green Monkey, really a horse that sold for $16 million at Saratoga's auction last year, had been kept off the track for months by a series of injuries, the AP reports. "In a perfect world, he would win," said the Green Monkey's trainer. More »