If there was ever a time to put the chalk down and engage in the wagering version of dumpster diving, a Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar is that time. Saratoga may be the Graveyard of Champions, but the last time there was a Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, chalky tombstones […]
When you watch Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and hear the name Gear Jockey, you need to understand the grinding wheels of opportunity-meets-preparation that it took to bring him to the Del Mar starting gate. Gear Jockey needed a scratch to get him into the Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. […]
The last time Hot Rod Charlie arrived at the Breeders’ Cup, he was a 94/1 afterthought in a Juvenile field that included favored Jackie’s Warrior, eventual winner Essential Quality and the highly regarded Keepmeinmind, among other “name†2-year-olds. Name? Hot Rod Charlie had only that cool moniker going for him. […]
Dr. Schivel gets his name from the alias of iconic Batman villain Mr. Freeze, a touch and an half of irony, considering the deep freeze Mark Glatt put the 3-year-old on when he inherited him last fall. Dr. Schivel had just captured the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. That put […]
Make no mistake, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf may anchor Friday’s opening day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. But the adventures of Charlie Appleby’s Modern Games and Albahr in that race might as well be the chorus when it comes to “Future Stars Friday,†as Breeders’ Cup […]
Knicks Go and Essential Quality are stablemates, travel mates from East Coast to West Coast and now – after Monday’s post-position draws – they are gate neighbors for Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. Essential Quality will start from post 4 in the nine-horse Classic field as […]
Hot Rod Charlie, Art Collector, Medina Spirit and Stilleto Boy all come into the Breeders’ Cup Classic off career-best speed figures on all three barometers. Essential Quality and Max Player enter the fray off career-best marks on two tables. So what to make of this year’s 10-horse field in what […]
The Breeders’ Cup unveiled its 2021 wagering menu on Wednesday, adding a new All-Turf Pick 4 and a third Pick 5 to Saturday’s betting smorgasbord. Along with the wagering menu, officials for the Nov. 5-6 racing festival at Del Mar announced the official race order. Friday’s first day features 10 […]
After a nearly month-long “review process†on Bob Baffert’s status, Breeders’ Cup officials announced on Sunday that the Hall of Fame trainer can enter this year’s Nov. 5-6 event at Del Mar, with certain conditions. Those conditions include extra testing of his entries, which Baffert will pay for, along with […]
Mo Forza built himself quite the career running under your radar. One of the best turf milers in the country – or the world, according to trainer Peter Miller – is also one of the best horses you’ve probably never bet. If you have, you’re undoubtedly relishing the windfall this […]
Del Mar closed its 82nd summer season with a track record for daily average handle, watching horseplayers wager an average of nearly $18.4 million each day of the 31-day meet. That surpassed last year’s daily average of $17.3 million, which came without fans in the stands thanks to the pandemic. […]
Sunday’s penultimate day of Del Mar’s summer season not only brought a six-figure rollover to the track’s elusive Jackpot Pick 6, but the re-emergence of one of the country’s sprinting stars in Flightline. While horseplayers were setting the betting table for what figures to be a $6 million-plus pot for […]
The Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity is another one of those races carrying a heavy Bob Baffert flavor. The Hall of Fame trainer won the Futurity a record 14 times, including seven consecutive victories between 1996 and 2002. That’s not surprising when you consider it’s one of the top 2-year-old […]
Trainer Leonard Powell’s comments about Flashiest entering a deep Del Mar Derby field is more an indictment on Flashiest’s last race than an indictment on Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. “The Saratoga trip didn’t work out as we had planned, definitely not,†Powell told Del Mar. “Maybe if he […]
Del Mar renewed its emphasis on turf racing for its Bing Crosby Season, announcing a stakes schedule going deep on the seaside track’s Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Aside from the Nov. 5-6 Breeders’ Cup returning to Del Mar for the first time since 2017, the track features 18 stakes races. […]
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit returned to racing for the first time in 3 ½ months on Sunday, capturing the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. Along the way, Medina Spirit turned a trick no other Bob Baffert-trained horse has ever done. “For what this horse has gone through, he’s […]
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, who hasn’t run since finishing third in the May 15 Preakness Stakes, could be back this Saturday for the Grade 3 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. According to the Daily Racing Form, the Bob Baffert-trainee’s return is contingent on a Monday workout for the […]
Fueled by an eight-figure Jackpot Pick 6 pool, Del Mar set a single-day handle record Saturday, drawing $36,005,613 in wagers. The windfall washed down on Del Mar’s 11-race Pacific Classic card. In doing so, it destroyed the previous record of $25,870,431 set on Pacific Classic day in 2018. Much of […]
This week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5 truly lives up to its name, putting out an all-graded stakes wager from Saratoga and Del Mar. The sequence includes three Grade 1s and two Grade 2s from the two tracks, located on opposite ends of the US. As usual, […]
On the surface, Del Mar’s eight-race Thursday card appears drama-free from a stakes standpoint. But, there’s plenty of inherent drama stemming from a $1,645,118 carry-over to the track’s 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 wager. That wager enters its 17th day without a winner, rolling over for 16 consecutive days into Thursday. […]
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