Mike Brunker

News has been glum lately at the historic Southern California racetrack, which has been plagued by short fields and a sickening stretch that has seen 19 horses die since opening day on Dec. 26.

“You never know what is going to come through that door,” Rick Harrison of “Pawn Stars” fame says. He was never more spot on than when a man showed up recently with Affirmed’s Triple Crown trophy in hand.

Vic Stauffer, a Las Vegas resident and race-caller at Oaklawn Park, shares the lessons he’s learned from five tries in the tournament.

As winner of the 2019 NHC Tour, David Gutfreund, 57, stands to collect a record $6 million in bonuses in addition to the first-place prize of $800,000 if he can outlast roughly 670 other handicappers in the three-day contest.

A harness race at The Raceway at Western Fair in Ontario in which the $46 winner paid more than the exacta highlights a continuing problem with parimutuel wagering that needs to finally be addressed.

The Stronach family’s ugly legal battle will hang over Gulfstream Park’s marquee day of racing on Saturday, which will be capped by the richest race in North America: the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

The Hall of Fame jockey fractured a vertebrae in his neck in a training accident last summer at Del Mar that left him paralyzed for a short time. Less than six months later, he’s just weeks away from resuming riding.

A reader shares the “best” about horse racing, and a couple of others offer suggestions about what they’d like to read more about in the Review-Journal’s racing column in the year ahead.

I asked for your thoughts on horse racing’s worst problems as we turn the calendar to 2019 and boy did you respond. I heard from ardent horseplayers, workers in the industry and even a few people who don’t give a damn about the sport.

Readers are invited to submit their biggest complaints about racing as well as what they love about the sport for use in two year-end columns looking at the good and bad aspects of the Sport of Kings.

After battling through injury and grief, David Cohen, who grew up in Las Vegas and graduated from Bonanza High School, returned this week to collect the Comeback Jockey of the Year Award at the annual Jockeys’ Guild Assembly.

The Stronach Group hires a new head of its entertainment division to “engage the next generation of horse racing fans,” but sports betting fans present a much bigger opportunity for the sport to begin rebuilding its fan base.