Steve Asmussen—Churchill Downs’ all-time win leader and only the second trainer to achieve 9,000 career victories—is the 2020 recipient of the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners’ Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award. 

South America’s richest race moving from March to October 2021.

NYRA’s daily national television telecasts and its NYRA Bets wagering platform have played a crucial role in keeping racing afloat since NYRA resumed racing June 3 after an 80-day hiatus due to the pandemic.

As the days count down to the Dec. 5 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1), the final grade 1 stakes of the year in New York serves a stark reminder of how quickly opportunities can come and go and how disappointing it can be to miss any top-level race.

After rolling to victory in the Tempted Stakes Nov. 6 at Aqueduct, Shadwell Stable’s Malathaat will stretch out to two turns for the first time in her graded stakes debut Dec. 5 in the $150,000 Demoiselle Stakes (G2) back at the Jamaica, N.Y., track.

The 50th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony, honoring Thoroughbred racing’s champions of 2020, will be held Jan. 28 as a virtual event due to COVID-19, with portions hosted from historic Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, it was announced Dec. 2.

Laurel Park announced a $2.65 million winter stakes schedule Dec. 2 highlighted by the $250,000 General George Stakes (G3) and the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3).

After losing Authentic, Improbable, and Maximum Security to retirement after the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) last month at Keeneland, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is readying to run current leaders from his restocked stable.

Teresa Viola Racing Stables and St. Elias Stable’s Nonna Madeline shortens up to one mile for the Dec. 5 Go for Wand Handicap (G3) for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Few offerings draw prospective purchasers to the Park Paddocks ring quite like the draft of Juddmonte fillies and those lots again took center stage during another solid session of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale Dec. 2. 

The son of Tapit will stand at the new Mountain Springs Farm near Palmyra, Pa.

Live bidding will open at 8 a.m. ET Dec.10.

Frankie Dettori has won the title of 2020 World’s Best Jockey, meaning the legendary rider has received the award for three consecutive years. Dettori, who also won in 2015, has been named World’s Best Jockey four of the past six years. 

After more than three decades as the voice of Parx Racing, announcer Keith Jones will be stepping away from the microphone at the end of the year.

Epsom Downs and Leicester Racecourses are set to be repurposed as vaccination hubs after a COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the UK’s medical regulator Dec. 2.

Following consecutive meets this fall at Santa Anita Park and Del Mar, in which there were no equine fatalities from training or racing, Southern California racing moves to Los Alamitos Race Course for an afternoon meeting that begins Dec. 4.

Los Alamitos Race Course will allow California Horse Racing Board-licensed owners with horses entered to race to attend its winter meet, which begins Dec. 4. Owners will be permitted to bring up to two adult guests.

The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council voted Dec. 1 for a proposal that calls for horses prescribed clenbuterol for therapeutic purposes to be placed on the veterinarian’s list for 21 days and require those horses to test negative to be removed.

Applications will be accepted through January 15, 2021. Accepted trainers will be announced on February 15, 2021.

The close of one chapter invariably begets the start of another further up the racing and breeding chain, and that was certainly the case at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale on Dec. 1.