Oklahoma-based trainer Federico Villafranco secured his 1,000th training victory Dec. 13 when Joan Charlton and Michael Lacy’s All Aflutter crossed the finish line first in a claiming race at Remington Park near Oklahoma City, Okla.

To look at her pedigree, anyone would think Star Anise is destined to sprint, but if her performance in the Dec. 14 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) is any measure, she might go a bit farther than that.

Sosie saved the day for the international visitors and Soul Rush put up a good fight for Japan for the second straight year to keep the "international" in the Dec. 14 Hong Kong International Races.

Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising were expected to win the Hong Kong Cup (G1) and Hong Kong Sprint (G1) Dec. 14, but their performances exceeded expectations.

NYRA has canceled live racing Dec. 14 at Aqueduct Racetrack due to a winter storm impacting the New York City area. South Ozone Park remains under a winter weather advisory.

Coming off a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), Litmus Test defeated stablemates Blacksmith and Provenance in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) for a Bob Baffert-trained trifecta.

Haras Rio Iguassu's 5-year-old Obataye surged past five rivals in the final furlong to capture the 1 1/2-mile Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini Internacional (G1) Dec. 13 at Hipodromo de San Isidro, earning a spot in the 2026 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T).

Kevin Doyle's Layabout took the lead late and held off a rally by Tiz Dashing to win the $125,000 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park Dec. 13.

The Bob Hess Jr.-trained Roll On Big Joe caps a cross-country season with a Ring The Bell Stakes win Dec. 13 at Oaklawn Park.

Originally scheduled to begin Dec. 21, racing on Sundays at Tampa Bay Downs will not begin until Jan. 4, with the two missed days to be made up on Thursdays in February.

Touchuponastar has now gone one better in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes than his sire, Star Guitar, winning the $150,000 state-bred race for a fourth year in a row, surpassing Star Guitar's three-peat.

Unraced since the 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), trainer Doug Cowans provides an update on star marathoner Next as he gears up at Turfway Park for a potential final season in 2026.

After missing out on his few opportunities to run the dirt marathon distances in 2025, Next is back in training with Doug Cowans at Turfway Park as they assess a potential final season in 2026.

Tappan Street, last seen in action while upsetting Sovereignty in the $1.02 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29, has been entered to return in a mile allowance optional claimer Dec. 19 at Gulfstream Park.

In the eighth and final race Dec. 12 at Fair Grounds, veteran jockey Jareth Loveberry scored the 2,000th win of his career, guiding the front-running Island Cabana to victory for trainer Justin Jeansonne.

With a Winter Storm Warning and extreme cold and snow in the forecast, officials at Turfway Park have canceled racing for the evening of Dec. 13.

On Racing

Trainer Linda Rice captured a record 165th training win on the New York Racing Association circuit for 2025 when Snide posted a 28-1 upset in the fourth race Dec. 12 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Dylan Browne McMonagle admits it will be hard to top his breakthrough 2025, when he won his first Irish jockeys' championship and scored in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar, but he has no intention of resting on his laurels.

Two starters from the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), 2024 participant Skelly and 2025 runner Banishing, headline the $150,000 Ring The Bell Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 6 furlongs Dec. 13 at Oaklawn Park.

Sara Elbadwi & Paul Verderosa look ahead at the Go for Wand Stakes at Aqueduct & the Ring the Bell Stakes at Oaklawn.

The 2025 International Conference for the Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys Dec. 11-12 in Hong Kong saw science-based research on rider safety and performance medicine translated to ideas that jockeys can use in their day-to-day routines.

Echo Town, winner of the 2020 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1), has been purchased by Tyree Wolesensky and has relocated to her Leadem Farm near Leola, Ark., for the 2026 breeding season.

Next year's Epsom Derby (G1) will be worth £2 million as part of a £6 million investment by the Jockey Club (UK) to reinvigorate Epsom and Britain's premier classic, with the aim of attracting a crowd of 100,000 for the festival by 2030.

The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) Dec. 14 is the first of three big races for Japanese 2-year-olds with connections hoping to find contenders for next year's classics.

The final installment in the 2025 OwnerView webinar series was held on December 9 and covered industry-wide efforts to support individuals in need. The PDJF, Stable Recovery, the RTCA, and the Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation were in focus.

J. Keeler Johnson handicaps the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) at Los Alamitos.

A 2% share in the Aga Khan Studs' leading sire Siyouni topped the Tattersalls Online December Sale when selling to TCT Bloodstock for 175,000 guineas Dec. 11.

A 17-horse field has been entered for the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini Internacional (G1) at Hipodromo de San Isidro Dec. 13 in Argentina, part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.

A review of the 2025 Thoroughbred yearling sales market and an analysis of how the current market compares with heady times during the mid- to late-1980s.

Grandmoral Lodge Racing's Fraser Auret has made a special journey to Hong Kong this week in order to see Ka Ying Rising for the first time since he left his former home in rural New Zealand.

Tampa Bay Downs has imposed a quarantine on barns 25 and 26 after a horse was confirmed to have the neurological form of equine herpesvirus type 1, also known as EHV-1. The track canceled live racing Dec. 21 and Dec. 28.

The grade 1-winning rider, now based in California, on his working holiday in Dubai.

Keeneland has supplemented 42 horses—including King’s Plate Stakes winner Mansetti, along with In a Jif, dam of grade 1 winner Cogburn, and her 2025 colt by Into Mischief—to the 2026 January Horses of All Ages Sale, Jan. 12-13.

Bob Baffert, who has won 14 renditions of the Los Alamitos Futurity, has entered Litmus Test, Provenance, and Blacksmith this year.

Local horses, led by Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising, look like solid bets in at least three of the four races comprising the Longines Hong Kong International Races Dec. 14 at Sha Tin Racecourse.

Porter on Pedigrees

Fasig-Tipton's December Digital Sale closed Dec. 10 with gross sales of $10,607,900 for 421 horses sold. The sale gross is believed to establish a record for an online Thoroughbred auction held worldwide.

With the North American Thoroughbred foal crop continuing to contract, numerous panelists speaking Dec. 10 at the Global Symposium on Racing pointed to regional, multi-state cooperation to help stabilize breeding in states with faltering numbers.

Louisiana superstar Touchuponastar will look for his fourth consecutive win in the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes Dec. 13 at Fair Grounds Racecourse & Slots.

Seeking to ease its financial burden on the Thoroughbred industry, HISA aims to shift half of its income collection away from assessments and toward outside revenue streams by 2030. By 2035, HISA plans to be budget-neutral.

Ryan Moore returned from rehabbing a broken leg to compete in the Longines Hong Kong International Jockeys' Championship and won it in the final race of the series.

The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit alleges that Tamara tested positive for the controlled medication methocarbamol after her victory in the Oct. 4 Chilingworth Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park, a finding that jeopardizes that stakes win.

Reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey Flavien Prat notched three graded stakes wins over the weekend at Aqueduct Racetrack, including the Remsen Stakes (G2), the Cigar Mile (G2), and Comely (G3) Stakes. He was voted Jockey of the Week Dec. 1-7.

Taylor Made Sales Agency announced Dec. 10 that Tom Hamm, who previously served in a leadership role as the company's farm manager, will be returning to Taylor Made. His new role will be as a Thoroughbred adviser, with a focus on digital sales.

The Turfway Park Synthetic Championships consist of four $250,000 races, two 6-furlong events and two at a mile, all on Turfway's Tapeta surface Dec. 13.

Sergei Prokofiev will stand at Anderson Farms in Ontario, where he was bred. The son of Scat Daddy was 2024's leading freshman sire in Great Britain and Ireland.

Beginning next month, the New York Racing Association plans to throttle computer-assisted wagering at one minute until post, limiting these high-volume teams to the same six bets per second ceiling that applies to retail customers.

Dollars and Sense with Frank Angst

Live Oak Plantation's homebred Souper Forces will have his undefeated record tested in the $125,000 Tropical Park Derby being run Dec. 13 at Gulfstream Park. Owner/breeder Charlotte Weber also has homebreds in the Tropical Park Oaks.