The Championships, Australia’s version of the Breeders’ Cup, begin tonight at Royal Randwick in Sydney with one of the most anticipated rematches in Australian racing. That’s Nature Strip vs. Eduardo in the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes, the eighth race on Friday night’s card. The TJ Smith Stakes is one […]
Oaklawn Mile Brings Three Familiar Names With Familiar Stories
The field for Saturday’s Listed Stakes Oaklawn Mile brings three familiar candidates with eclectic stories of redemption to a race that punches far above its weight class. There’s By My Standards, who makes his 2021 debut as the 5/2 favorite at the site of one of his 2020 victories. Hard […]
Mystic Guide Joins Mishriff Atop World’s Best Racehorse Rankings
Mystic Guide had to travel halfway around the globe to earn his spot in the latest Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. Mishriff merely had to travel back to the turf to keep his. The two share the top spot in the latest Longines rankings, both earning a 122 rating. That […]
Turf Terror Hit the Road Goes East in Search of Maker’s Mark Mile
Hit the Road allows Dan Blacker to call himself a Grade 1-winning trainer. He also allows Blacker the luxury of having “the right horse†for a course, like in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile. And, Hit the Road allows Blacker the luxury of hitting the road – taking his […]
Could Sir Alex Ferguson Bring ‘Fergie Time’ to Grand National?
The sight of Sir Alex Ferguson anywhere in the Liverpool city limits is one guaranteed to boil the blood of any Liverpudlian. The man once considered evil incarnate when he was leading Manchester United to 13 Premier League titles in 26 seasons – often at the expense of Liverpool – […]
Ankle Injury Makes Greatest Honour Latest Derby Trail Casualty
Greatest Honour, one of the front-line Kentucky Derby favorites and a rare Shug McGaughey Derby prospect, departed the Derby trail Wednesday with apparent ankle issues. McGaughey told Horse Racing Nation that Greatest Honour came out of his third-place finish in the Florida Derby “a little banged up.†The Hall of […]
After COVID Hiatus, Pennsylvania Derby Returns to the Fall Schedule
The two marquee events on Parx Racing’s schedule – the Pennsylvania Derby and the Cotillion Stakes – are returning to the Pennsylvania track’s schedule after a year’s hiatus. The track announced its 2021 fall stakes schedule on Tuesday. The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, one of the fall’s signature 3-year-old races, […]
New York Mobile Sports Wagering Coming, Horse Racing Not Going Along
A bid to include horse racing in New York’s mobile sports wagering law didn’t make it into the final draft agreed upon by state legislators and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The mobile sports wagering agreement, which will become part of a state budget plan, allows online wagering on college […]
Blackmore Takes Aim at Clearing Grand National Gender Hedge
Less than a month after she earned top jockey honors at the Cheltenham Festival, Rachael Blackmore could blaze another riding trail by becoming the first woman to pilot a Grand National champion. Could this be the year Blackmore … or Bryony Frost … or Tabitha Worsley clears that gender hedge? […]
Hot Jocks: Rosario and Saez Become Kings of Keeneland Riders
When horseplayers looking for another angle or trend fixate on Keeneland, they’ll discover Joel Rosario and Luis Saez are the go-to riders — at least in the early going. Over the first two days of Keeneland’s Spring Meet, Rosario (seven) and Saez (six) combined to win 13 races. The pair […]
This Bourbonic Plague Caught the Biggest Upset in Wood Memorial History
It had to be a typo that Todd Pletcher’s Bourbonic entered the Wood Memorial starting gate at 72/1. Surely, the trainer with the most Kentucky Derby starters in history couldn’t have a moon shot like this in a race he’s won five times. It was no typo. Bourbonic left the […]
On Record Day, Rock Your World Rocks, Rolls His Way to Kentucky Derby
Rock Your World rocked the Santa Anita Derby, which rocked bettors into producing Santa Anita Park’s largest all-sources pari-mutuel Santa Anita Derby handle in 14 years. On a day where fans returned to the Southern California track for the first time in more than a year, the 8,246 attendees on […]
Who’s Up Next? Keeneland Plays Host to First 2-Year-Old Races of 2021
Lost in the wash of Keeneland’s opening day of its Spring Meet and Saturday’s three key Kentucky Derby preps across the country was a milestone on the racing calendar. Keeneland opened its 2021 Spring Meet with the first 2-year-old race of 2021. That honor went to Gulfstream Park last year. […]
Medina Spirit, Bob Baffert Cast Their Spell in Santa Anita Derby
About the only thing faster than Life Is Good on the track was the rush of horses piling into the Santa Anita Derby the moment the Bob Baffert supercolt departed the Kentucky Derby Trail with an ankle injury. Now, all of a sudden, horses like Dream Shake, Parnelli, Law Professor […]
This Year’s Blue Grass Stakes Come Loaded With Essential Quality
The biggest problem horseplayers have with the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes is not figuring out who will win. That essential question will likely be answered by 3/5 favorite Essential Quality. No. The biggest issue here is figuring out how to profit off a race where one horse is so […]
Wood Memorial Replaces Recent Derby History With Wide-Open Plot
Let’s dispense with the Wood Memorial history out of the gate. There are 13 Triple Crown winners, and this Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep claims four of them: Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, Seattle Slew, and Secretariat. Eleven horses pulled off the Wood Memorial/Kentucky Derby double. You’ve probably heard of a […]
Ashland Oaks Grows Another Filly Rivalry: Malathaat vs. Simply Ravishing
The Grade 1 Ashland Oaks is following the path of this year’s Kentucky Oaks prep races, which involves pitting two standouts against each other in a makeshift regional rivalry. You had Travel Column and Clairiere in the Fair Grounds Oaks in Louisiana. Beautiful Gift and Moraz tangle at Santa Anita […]
The Carter Handicap Knows Its Place on the Wood Memorial Undercard
The Carter Handicap is that rare Grade 1 race sitting on an undercard featuring no other Grade 1s. But there it sits, the sixth race on Aqueduct’s Saturday card, almost an afterthought on Wood Memorial Day at the Big A. The $300,000, seven-furlong Carter, however, holds court as the first […]
Champion Sprinter Gamine Makes 2021 Debut in a Grade 3
The monstrous shadow of Gamine will emerge from her five-month vacation on Sunday when the Champion Female Sprinter of 2020 makes her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita Park. She will likely make it as the odds-on favorite for the six-furlong Las Flores. The […]
For Rombauer, the Grass is Greener in Baffert-Free Blue Grass
In his past life, John Fradkin, the owner of Kentucky Derby Trail runner Rombauer, was a successful institutional bond salesman for Citigroup. This means he understands the risk/reward dynamic as well as anyone. This, in turn, explains why Fradkin took the long way home for Rombauer. Instead of running him […]