Race Track Articles

Leading racehorse trainers discuss what's best for horse racing? - synthetic racetrack surfaces or traditional dirt tracks

 Are synthetic surfaces the future?

Darrell Vienna and Eoin Harty discuss

Darrell Vienna currently serves as Southern California vice president of California Thoroughbred trainers, and is a former board member of the California Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association. He has trained in California since 1976.

Eoin Harty is a fifth-generation trainer from Ireland who lives in Southern California. He has trained champion two-year-old filly Tempera, Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed, and Travers winner Colonel John.

Butch Lehr - the Churchill Downs racetrack superintendent in profile

The home of the Kentucky Derby has gone through numerous management changes during its 136-year history, but for more than 40 years Raymond ‘Butch’ Lehr has worked at Churchill Downs to become one of the sport’s most respected track superintendents.

Gerhard schöningh - the white knight of Hoppegarten racecourse

Hoppegarten racecourse went up for sale in 2007 and, after 18 months of lengthy negotiations, it was bought by London-based financier Gerhard Schöningh. regarded as the saviour of Hoppegarten, Schöningh aims to return the famous old racecourse to its former pre-war glory and to attract as many west berliners through the turnstiles as he can. 

Weight allowances - do fillies and mares get a raw deal?

How many would disagree if I said that the weight-for-age scales currently being used in horseracing is full of flaws? How many would disagree if I said that these scales, meant to give horses of different ages an equal chance, in many cases do exactly the opposite? Quite a few, I suspect, since I heard no protesting voices after looking into this matter in a previous Trainer article. Protesting voices are not in short supply in horseracing circles. So, will there be any when I share the essence of my more recent ponderings that the current system of filly and mare allowances leaves a lot to be desired?

The Advance of Turkish Horse Racing

 For centuries extending back to the Roman Empire, Turkey and its cosmopolitan center now known as Istanbul have been the crossroads of civilisations, straddling Europe and Asia and connecting the commerce, art and religions of the world. Today Turkey is diligently working to also achieve recognition as a significant new crossroads for horseracing.

Harmonising the rulebook - how can racing be improved?

A harmonised rulebook across the globe would benefit racing, writes Katie Roebuck, but with the world unable to agree on more pressing issues such as climate change or the economic crisis, how easy would it be to implement?

Watering Racecourses - how do clerks of the course decide what is needed?

We have all heard the old proverb “there are three important factors in horseracing: the ground, the ground and the ground”.

German Racing - an industry in dire straits

It will be an easy task to manage horses for the duration of this winter season in Germany: there are hardly any races anymore. In March there will only be three fixtures in the whole country.

VIVA ESPAÑA - a summer of sporting achievements

This summer of 2008 has been great for Spanish sporting achievement. The national football team had a historic win in the Euro 2008 tournament, 44 years on from its previous international championship success, and Rafael Nadal was crowned with his fourth consecutive French Open, the title at Wimbledon, and Olympic Gold. However, an even more remarkable exploit signalled the coming-of-age of Spain’s racing industry – Equiano stunned the international racing community when outsprinting the world’s elite speedsters to take the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. The colt became the first ever Spanish-trained Group 1 winner in Britain, and his handler Mauricio Delcher Sánchez was hailed as a hero at La Zarzuela racecourse and training centre at Madrid. 

Postcard from Senonnes, the training track near Nantes and Angers

Situated in France in the Mayenne region (not far from Nantes and Angers), Senonnes is a training centre in full development. There are 24 trainers and 450 horses. Some horses you may know have been trained here, for example:

Declaration time – anomalies around the world

JUST when I thought that things in the administrative world could not get any worse, they did, though it took a trip to South Africa to discover the elements of an entry and declaration system that, at face value, makes any problems faced by European racehorse owners and trainers look like a little local difficulty.

International News Round Up - stories from the world of racing

Kempton Park will become England’s fourth “all weather” venue when racing returns to the right-handed Sunbury oval on Saturday March 25th. Over £18.8 million has been spent on converting the track to a floodlit facility, which will also continue to stage National Hunt racing.

The Lone Star phenomenon - built for big things

Maybe it’s because of the long, flat stretches of landscape that, when shimmering in the summer heat, have potential for mirage. Or maybe it’s just the capacious grandeur of a land vast as imagination. But whatever the reason, Texas always has inspired dreams and ideas so big and robust they couldn’t sit comfortably anywhere else.

Timing Horses - how to interpret sectional as well as total race times

The many accounts of Secretariat's victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes always bring tears to my eyes. To read of the effects that a single horserace can have on a whole generation of racing fans is massively humbling for anybody involved in the sport.