J. Keeler Johnson handicaps a quartet of stakes on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Industry Voices: Owner John Stewart races as Resolute Racing.

The first Friday of Gulfstream Park’s 2024-25 Championship Meet Nov. 29 features the 11th running of the Pulpit Stakes.  

Of all the horses he has ever owned, none have been as meaningful to Robert LaPenta as one who is racing for him now and is winless in two career starts.

Lest anyone think the seventh race at Churchill Downs Nov. 27 was just a routine maiden race, one only needed to glance in the paddock for those in attendance. Track executives were back to welcome trainer Bob Baffert after a three-year suspension.

It could be a day of firsts for the connections of Bravo Centurion (AUS) when Western Australia’s hottest horse aims to repel the eastern invasion and extend his picket fence in the Nov. 30 Winterbottom Stakes (G1). 

The 10-hour session saw 249 foals offered and 204 found a buyer at a healthy clip of 82%. Turnover was up 8% year-on-year at 8,996,000 guineas while the average price rose by 7% to 44,098 guineas.

A second horse in Barn 4 at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course tested positive for strangles, a contagious upper respiratory bacterial infection. A 14-day quarantine is now in place at this barn.

Trainer Bob Baffert called Nov. 27 a “glorious day” as his first starter at Churchill Downs following a three-year suspension from the track, Barnes, was victorious.

Laurel Park is scheduled to resume racing on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, after canceling racing over track surface concerns when it was last scheduled to race Nov. 22-23.