Clairiere and Travel Column. Travel Column and Clairiere. The two 3-year-old fillies are becoming linked in many ways as they prepare for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. The two staked their grounds as the top 3-year-olds this spring, seizing attention from last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old, Vequist, along with contenders […]
To Hedge or Not to Hedge: British Bettor Dean’s Six-Figure Decision
Paul Dean is staring at the ultimate hedge on a race with 16 hedges to clear. Will the English bettor take the money and run? Or will he let it ride on the favorite in one of the Cheltenham Festival’s Thursday races? Dean holds a $5, five-race accumulator ticket he […]
Del Mar Officials Plan for Fans at 2021 Summer Meet
Del Mar officials announced Tuesday they will allow a limited number of fans into the seaside track when its summer meet opens in mid-July. Track officials didn’t specify an allotted number of tickets it plans to sell when its 82nd summer meet opens on Friday, July 16. Nor did it […]
Blackmore Makes Cheltenham History on Festival’s Opening Day
In any other year, Rachael Blackmore’s Champion Hurdle victory aboard Honeysuckle would send Cheltenham into delirium. The Gloucestershire city would palpitate with electricity that could power the entire region. But this being anything but an ordinary year, the buzz surrounding Blackmore’s historic feat was saved for the electronic devices used […]
Cheltenham Festival Jumps Into Action Without Customary Crowds
To get a handle on what the Cheltenham Festival is, take the Super Bowl, mix it with the Olympics and the Breeders’ Cup, and add heavy, heavy betting to the brew. Then, spread it out over a four-day, 28-race jumping bacchanalia. Well, hold the bacchanalia this year. This year’s Cheltenham […]
Prevalence Looks, Tastes Like Derby Flavor of the Week
It clearly illustrates the betting public’s thirst for trendy Kentucky Derby picks that Prevalence seized center stage last week for winning a one-mile allowance optional claiming event at Gulfstream Park. Prevalence’s three-length win over the one-turn mile earned him an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. By contrast, Concert Tour’s 4 1/4-length […]
Long Shot Carlos L Produces $108,475 Cross Country Pick 5 Win
By winning Oaklawn Park’s Temperence Hill Stakes on Saturday, 47/1 longshot Carlos L produced one single winner in Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5. That winning ticket earned its lucky and savvy holder a healthy $108,475 payoff from the regular Saturday multi-track, multi-race wager. Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 incorporated three […]
A Beautiful Finish Was in Swiss Skydiver’s Eye in the Beholder
Bring the jury in on Swiss Skydiver. Throw out whatever doubts you may have held on the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly impressing as a 4-year-old. Swiss Skydiver didn’t exactly pick up in 2021 where she left off in 2020 after stumbling out of the gate at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her […]
Prat Ties Legendary Pincay’s Record With Six Consecutive Wins
Flavien Prat is fast making a disappearing act of the Santa Anita Park Winter/Spring Meet jockey title, which became clear when he tied a Santa Anita Park record Friday. Prat won six consecutive races Friday, finishing the feat aboard Disappearing Act in Santa Anita’s seventh race. Prat took Disappearing Act […]
Expect Rebel Stakes to Flow Caddo River’s Way
The Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, which holds court as the lone Kentucky Derby prep of consequence this weekend, has a Grade 1 winner in its field. Bob Baffert doesn’t train 8/1 Get Her Number, the lone Grade 1 winner in Saturday’s Rebel at Oaklawn Park. Nor does Brad Cox. No, […]
Preakness Meet Weekend at Pimlico Packs in 16 Stakes
The Preakness Stakes serves as the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, doubling as the crown jewel of a stacked Preakness Meet stakes weekend at Pimlico Race Course. The Baltimore race track plays host to 16 stakes – 10 of those graded – over the two-day Preakness weekend on May […]
Mishriff Takes Top Spot in Initial 2021 Longines Rankings
Led by Charlatan, American Thoroughbreds took three of the top eight spots, but it was Ireland’s Mishriff who seized the top spot in the 2021 first edition of Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings. The John Gosden-trained 4-year-old earned a 122 rating from the racing officials and handicappers compiling the rankings […]
Laurel Park Cancels Races, Continues Testing After EHV Outbreak
An equine herpesvirus (EHV) outbreak at Laurel Park in Maryland canceled Friday’s racing card and prompted travel restrictions on horses stabled at Laurel and its sister track, Pimlico Race Course. The Paulick Report identified the four barns in question as Laurel’s Barns 1, 4, 10, and 11. Those barns went […]
Concert Tour’s Next Gig on Stardom Path: Rebel Stakes
If Concert Tour was your garden-variety band embarking on a, well, concert tour, he’d be one of those hot new groups from the underground. A group people have heard of, but don’t really know about. He may not have broken through to the main stage yet, but Concert Tour is […]
Record Churchill Downs Spring Meet Purses Come Up Roses
Churchill Downs released its Spring Meet stakes schedule on Monday, led of course, by the May 1 Kentucky Derby. But, along with America’s most famous horse race, come 39 other stakes races worth a track-record $13.44 million. Churchill Downs opens its nine-week spring season on April 24. The 38-day meet […]
Kentucky Derby Futures: When is it Too Late to Jump In?
Here is your Kentucky Derby futures reminder that the typical Derby favorite opens around 5/2 or 3/1 when Mike Battaglia issues the Churchill Downs morning line come Derby Week. We issue this reminder because right now – nearly eight weeks before the May 1 Derby – Life Is Good sits […]
Life Is Good Shows He’s Eight Lengths Good in San Felipe Romp
The hardest part of analyzing Life Is Good’s dismantling of Saturday’s San Felipe Stakes field at Santa Anita Park is determining what was the most impressive element of his victory. Was it the eight-length victory? The legitimate fractions of 23.63 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 46.83 for the first […]
Maxfield Puts Maximum Attention on Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap was the race that put Seabiscuit into the Depression-era public conscience. It was the first race offering a $100,000 purse, earning it the nickname “The Hundred Grander,†back when that was real money. Now, Maxfield is putting the Santa Anita Handicap back on the racing map. […]
San Felipe Stakes: Where Life Is Good to Bob Baffert
The Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes marks the point of the year where Bob Baffert’s endless 3-year-old depth finally makes him compete with himself. Yes, he’s sent out Life Is Good and Medina Spirit in the Sham. Yes, we saw Concert Tour nip Freedom Fighter in the San Vicente. But […]
Tampa Bay Derby Seeks a Sweet Path Out of Derby Prep Shadows
The Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby is one of those Kentucky Derby preps that often gets lost in the shuffle. Part of that is the giant shadow Tampa Bay Downs fights from its southern Florida neighbor, Gulfstream Park. Part of that is the fact only two horses emerged from the […]