The aptly named Grade 1 Test Stakes applies to six of the seven 3-year-old fillies in the field. And it’s a test that — according to Matareya — none of the six are likely to pass. That’s due to Matareya, the leader in this class. She brings her 4-for-4 record […]
Helium last won a race on March 6, 2021. That came at 15.40/1 in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs. That was eight starts and nearly 17 months ago. It was before he ran in the 2021 Kentucky Derby and before he was gelded. And it provides […]
The shifting, quaking earth under the 3-year-old division slid once again Saturday, when 6/5 favorite Epicenter put away Zandon, Tawny Port and Early Voting, winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga by 1 ½ lengths. Put aside for the moment that Epicenter passed the $2 million mark in career […]
The Grade 2 San Diego Handicap is considered the major prep for Del Mar’s flagship race: the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. But you can be forgiven if you mistake this nine-horse field for what lies ahead Labor Day weekend in the Pacific Classic. And that’s not only because defending Pacific […]
Cyberknife not only left the heralded Haskell Stakes duel between Jack Christopher and Taiba in the dust, he left both horses behind – along with the Monmouth Park track record for 1 1/8 miles. Also left behind was Jack Christopher’s aura of invincibility, along with Chad Brown’s chances of sweeping […]
This time last year, Caravel was about to win the Grade 3 Caress Stakes for owner/trainer Elizabeth Merryman. Coming out of that victory, her third consecutive score, Caravel was about to go to Bobby Flay. The celebrity chef and racing aficionado bought a majority share of the filly before that […]
As you’re trying to fit the fluid and shifting 3-year-old colt/gelding class into their places, consider Saturday’s Grade 3 Indiana Derby as one of those bridge events between the Triple Crown season and the higher-profile sophomore races later this summer. Nobody’s confusing the Indiana Derby, or its junior-varsity derby counterparts […]
Belmont Park’s two Grade 1s share the stage with the biggest day on Horseshoe Indianapolis’ schedule to create this week’s all-stakes Cross Country Pick 5. The New York Racing Association starts this week’s Cross Country Pick 5 at home with the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational. The 10-filly field of […]
Bucking the recent trend of California riders heading East, Florent Geroux will ride at Del Mar this summer, according to his agent Doug Bredar. Bredar made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday morning. Geroux followed along, retweeting Del Mar’s announcement that announced the jockey is “Beach bound.” Geroux spent the spring […]
The Grade 2 Stephen Foster is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In†Challenge Series race. But its importance goes beyond merely sending its winner to the flagship $6 million Classic. This year’s Stephen Foster brings us what we need in racing: a good rivalry. In this case, that’s 2/1 […]
This week’s Cross Country Pick 5 truly makes the East Coast and Midwest rounds, hitting four tracks with an all-stakes sequence culminating in a wide-open Ohio Derby. Along with that second of two races from JACK Thistledown, this week’s Cross Country Pick 5 encompasses races from Belmont Park, Monmouth Park […]
The Grade 3 Ohio Derby takes its turn in the racing spotlight at an ideal time, fitting in after the Triple Crown and before the lucrative Del Mar and Saratoga meets begin in mid-July. And it does so carrying three Kentucky Derby veterans making their first starts since that May […]
The center of the horse racing universe will migrate north to Minnesota’s Canterbury Park on Wednesday, where the annual Mystic Lake Northern Stars Turf Festival offers five stakes and a rich smorgasbord of betting options. Those options include an all-turf stakes Pick 5 that offers an industry-low 10% takeout. That […]
Welcome to Kentucky Derby 148, a.k.a. The Chaos Derby. And we’re not talking about the usual infield escapades that happen as the Derby returns to it’s pre-pandemic crowds north of 150,000. Unpredictability? Depth? A Derby where surprises almost wouldn’t be surprising? This edition of America’s most popular race has it […]
Keeneland enjoyed its third consecutive year of record Spring Meet handle, bringing in an all-sources handle of $219,284,979 for its just-concluded Spring Meet. That handle was the largest total in the Kentucky track’s history. The more than $219 million from the 15-day meet that ended Friday represented a 33.16% increase […]
Wesley Ward’s decorated duo of Golden Pal and Campanelle headline a 16-horse American contingent of nominees for this year’s Royal Ascot Group 1 races. A customary presence at the mid-June meet, Ward is one of four American trainers nominating horses to one of the eight Group 1 races. Graham Motion, […]
The numbers tell you how competitive Saturday’s Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap is from a wagering standpoint. Because this is a race where just about everyone can win. How competitive is the anchor stakes race on Oaklawn Park’s 12-race card? Six of the eight older horses in the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn […]
The last stop on the 2022 Kentucky Derby trail and a Royal Ascot winner making her season debut headline this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5 wager. This week’s Cross Country Pick 5 features races from Keeneland and Aqueduct. Two of the five races are stakes events. That […]
Saturday’s penultimate wave of Kentucky Derby prep races brought four horses into the Derby field and taught us plenty about several others who either evolved into Derby contenders or devolved into Derby pretenders. There was White Abarrio, winning the Florida Derby in stellar fashion to punch his ticket to the […]
In 1984, D. Wayne Lukas decided on a whim to bring back his filly Althea for the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. That this was unconventional – even for those times of running horses far more often than happens now – can’t be understated. That’s because Althea ran the week before, […]
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