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Turfling
America
Friday 25 September 2026
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The lead
Vekoma colt tops Book 5A finale at 260,000 dollars
Keeneland wrapped Book 5A on Thursday with a fourth straight day of gains across the board. The tenth session put 311 horses through the ring for 14,219,000 dollars, up 13.16 percent on the same session a year ago, when 298 yearlings brought 12,565,000 dollars. The average rose 8.43 percent to 45,720 dollars and the median 6.67 percent to 32,000 (Thoroughbred Daily News).
Pin Oak Stud gave 260,000 dollars for the session topper, hip 3466, a Vekoma colt consigned by VanMeter Sales and prepared by Judy Hicks at Brookstown Farm. He is the third foal of a winning Take Charge Indy mare. Ken McPeek led the buyers with five, among them a Maclean’s Music colt and a Complexity filly at 210,000 dollars each. Ten days of selling have grossed 525,899,500 dollars from 2,338 head, 5.14 percent up on last year (Thoroughbred Daily News).
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Things to know today
| 1 |
A necropsy has found no clear cause for the bleeding that killed Potente. The University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory report, obtained by the Paulick Report, recorded a moderate amount of hemorrhage and swelling around the left femoral nerve, no fractures in the dissected pelvis or spinal column, and no anticoagulants in the liver on a screen of eight compounds. The Grade 2 San Felipe winner was euthanised in July (Paulick Report) |
| 2 |
Red Bullet has died at 29, of complications from colic on 7 August, as a pensioner in Ocala. The son of Unbridled won the 2000 Preakness under Jerry Bailey, beating Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus by three and three quarter lengths, and retired with six wins from 14 starts and 1,161,920 dollars. He sired 107 winners and was pensioned after the 2011 breeding season (Paulick Report) |
| 3 |
Napoleon Solo is being pointed at the Breeders’ Cup Classic rather than the Dirt Mile, Chad Summers told the Daily Racing Form. The Preakness winner worked four furlongs in 48.02 at Belmont Park on Thursday and will be cross pre-entered in both races when pre-entries are announced on 21 October. John Velazquez, second aboard him in the Travers, keeps the ride (Paulick Report) |
| 4 |
Nine head from the complete dispersal of Aaron and Marie Jones sell in Book 1 of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale on 3 November, consigned by Taylor Made. Five broodmares are in foal to Candy Ride, Goal Oriented, Into Mischief and Tapit, with four weanlings by Into Mischief, Nyquist and Tapit. Marie Jones died on 5 August. The couple bred Hall of Famer Ashado, leading sire Speightstown and Belmont winner Drosselmeyer (Paulick Report) |
| 5 |
Rated by Merit has been retired and will stand the 2027 season at Ocala Stud for 3,500 dollars. The St Elias Stable homebred swept the 2024 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series undefeated at two, winning the three legs by a combined 16 lengths for Michael Yates, then took the 2025 Discovery Handicap for Chad Brown wire to wire in 1:33 2/5 to go five for five (Paulick Report) |
| 6 |
A new nonprofit called the Jockey Relief Alliance has been formed to help active riders through short term injury and unexpected hardship. Kenny Katz is president and Theresa Byrnes Cordas vice president, with Tana Slifko as treasurer and Maureen Brown as secretary. It expects to open applications by Thanksgiving and says it is not affiliated with Jockeys and Jeans (Paulick Report) |
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The Jockey Club has renamed a two year old colt who won at Horseshoe Indianapolis on 21 September, after a formal complaint that the name Austrian Painter was an offensive reference to Adolf Hitler. The Registrar found it ineligible under Rule 6.F.9.d, which bars names likely to be offensive on grounds including creed, ethnicity, religion and politics. The colt is now Merrylegs (Paulick Report) |
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New World Screwworm has been confirmed by the United States Department of Agriculture in a leg wound on a working ranch horse in Grant County, New Mexico, the second confirmed equine case of the current incursion. US Equestrian warns its protocols may change repeatedly in the coming months and can include wound checks on arrival at licensed competitions (Paulick Report) |
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International
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Australasia
Peter V’landys to leave Racing NSW after 22 years
Peter V’landys is leaving Racing NSW when his contract expires on 30 November, closing 22 years as the state’s chief racing executive, a job he took in 2004. He has been endorsed as the National Rugby League’s first executive chairman, a role he will combine with the chairmanship of the Australian Rugby League Commission he has held since 2019. He took leave from Racing NSW in July, when chief operating officer Graeme Hinton became acting chief executive and has since said publicly that he would like the job permanently. The New South Wales government is still considering Brad Hazzard’s examination of the Thoroughbred Racing Act (The Straight)
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Europe
Tattersalls Ireland Part 2 passes two million euros
Spending on the third and final day of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale breached two million euros on Thursday, only the second time Part 2 has done so since it was introduced in 2014. The catalogue of 220 horses was 33 percent bigger than last year while the aggregate grew by 9 percent. The average of 11,719 euros and the median of 9,000 euros were each the second highest the sale has recorded, short only of last year’s figures, and the clearance rate reached 85 percent (The Irish Field)
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Markets overnight
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Dow 51,349.98, down 161.61 points or 0.3% (Associated Press) |
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S&P 500 7,704.13, down 1.90 points (Associated Press) |
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Nasdaq Composite 26,939.37, up 3.34 points (Associated Press) |
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10-year Treasury yield 5.16%, up 5 basis points (Investrade market review) |
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US Dollar Index 101.25, from 101.10 at the previous close (Yahoo Finance) |
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Gold futures 4,298.00 dollars, down 0.47% (Investrade market review) |
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WTI crude 94.61 dollars, up 2.66% (Investrade market review) |
As of the Thursday 24 September close. Every figure is linked to the page it was read from. Bitcoin is omitted today because no completed daily close for 24 September could be sourced, only intraday snapshots. Nothing here is estimated, rounded from memory or carried forward.
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The week ahead
| Fri 25 Sep |
Keeneland September opens Book 5B, the eleventh of twelve sessions |
| Fri 25 Sep |
The Beldame at Belmont Park, Grade 2 |
| Sat 26 Sep |
Keeneland September closes after twelve sessions |
| Sat 26 Sep |
The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park, Grade 1, with the Gallant Bloom, Flower Bowl and Vosburgh |
| Sat 26 Sep |
The Goffs Million at the Curragh |
| Tue 29 Sep |
The Keeneland November catalogue goes online |
| Sun 4 Oct |
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp |
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This week
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Turfling
Reported from official race-day materials, racecourse and regulator publications, and sales results, verified against trade press. Where a fact originates elsewhere, we say so. Market data as of the most recent US close, sourced separately from racing content and linked at each figure. Drafted with AI assistance. Picks are percentages, never odds. Not affiliated with any track, tote board, regulator or wagering product.
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