Five weeks ago, members of trainer Cherie DeVaux’s family piled into a white passenger van and another vehicle and traveled hundreds of miles from New York to Kentucky to cheer on Cherie’s top 3-year-old Golden Tempo to Kentucky Derby glory.
For 173 years, horses have been jumping around the Upperville showgrounds in Virginia. That’s 21 years longer than the Kentucky Derby has existed.
Despite its long history, this year Upperville is embracing something entirely new. Sixty Thoroughbreds participated in the inaugural $25,000 Upperville Thoroughbred Hunter Derby. For a breed most commonly associated with racetracks rather than show rings, the event felt like the start of something much bigger than a horse show.
It would make for an extremely difficult trivia question: What is the connection between rappers Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty, and Rauw Alejandro, as well as Leonardo da Vinci?
One of the most popular weeks of the year for fans of and bettors on horse racing is here, and the focus is squarely on New York as the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival begins Wednesday, June 3, highlighted by the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets Saturday, June 6.
The Jockey Club announced in February that Charlotte Clement de Bona would assume the position of chief strategy and transformation officer, a newly created role at the organization.
