The first thing you need to remember about the Belmont Stakes is forget the long-believed idea the “Test of the Champion†is easy for closers to pass. It isn’t. It sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Send horses 1 ½ miles – the longest distance any of them will ever run and […]
Tag: Essential Quality
Knicks Go Rides Off With 2021 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year
True to his running style, Knicks Go broke out to a big lead and proved uncatchable, capturing the Eclipse Award for 2021 Horse of the Year when the Eclipse Awards were announced Thursday night at Santa Anita Park. The now-6-year-old horse received 228 votes out a possible 235 first-place votes […]
Few Surprises Revealed as Eclipse Award Finalists Announced
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and the Daily Racing Form announced the finalists for the 2021 Eclipse Awards on Saturday. The list of finalists did not include Horse of the Year candidates, for which Knicks Go is a virtual certainty. Instead, finalists in 16 of […]
What’s Next After Breeders’ Cup? Knicks Go vs. Life Is Good For Starters
How does Knicks Go vs. Life Is Good for the Pegasus World Cup sound? Like the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner isn’t quite ready for his stud career yet? Trainer Brad Cox told the Breeders’ Cup notes team that the Classic winner and all-but-anointed Horse of the Year has one more […]
Breeders’ Cup Day 2: Land of Knicks Go, Rising Sun and Falling Favorites
Now that the Breeders’ Cup Classic performed its designated coronation, you can start engraving Knicks Go’s name on the Horse of the Year trophy now. Avoid the rush, which Knicks Go splendidly did at Del Mar Saturday evening. He broke out to his patented early lead and turned aside all […]
Breeders’ Cup Classic: An All-Star Field With Numerous Possibilities
The first thing worth understanding about the Breeders’ Cup Classic is that it’s not kind to favorites. Unless you qualify for legend status, like Ferdinand, Alysheba, A.P. Indy, Cigar, Skip Away, Ghostzapper, Zenyatta and American Pharoah do. Last year’s winner, Authentic, was 5/1. Your favorite, meanwhile, was 3.20/1 Tiz the […]
Hot Rod Charlie’s Breeders’ Cup Journey: From Footnote to Headliner
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. […]
Breeders’ Cup Speed Figures: Classic Questions, Possibilities Abound
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 […]
Essential Quality, Maxfield Headed to Stallion Careers After Final Races
Essential Quality and Maxfield, two of the biggest North American routing names of the last two-plus seasons, are both retiring to the breeding shed after their next races. Darley America, Godolphin’s North American affiliate, announced the pair will join the breeding and racing giant’s Jonabell, Kentucky, farm for the 2022 […]
Essential Quality, Knicks Go Take Two Roads to Breeders’ Cup Classic
Those of you wanting to see Essential Quality run again must wait until the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Want to see Knicks Go? Trainer Brad Cox is a bit more accommodating. He’ll turn the 5-year-old loose in the Oct. 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. Cox told the Daily […]
Saratoga Closes the Gates On a Record Handle, Memorable Moments
Saratoga cracked $800 million in all-sources wagering handle for the first time in its storied history, ending its most successful summer meet with $815,508,063 in all-sources handle. That represented a 15.6% increase over the track’s previous record of $705,343,949 set in 2019. Saratoga set its new record last Wednesday, with […]
Essential Quality Leads Chalk Parade to Travers Day Winner’s Circle
On a chalky betting day where favorites beat a path to the Saratoga winner’s circle, the New York Racing Association announced an all-sources Travers Day handle of $51,381,515. That came from a paid crowd of 44,507, which generated an on-track handle of $9,406,526. This provided an obvious boost from last […]
The Travers: Can Anyone Catch History-Making Essential Quality?
Brad Cox and Essential Quality are simultaneously chasing Travers Stakes history and running from it at the same time. This counterintuitive feat illustrates Cox’s training prowess, Essential Quality’s running prowess, and the Travers’ recent prowess as a destroyer of favorites. Cox, who trains the prohibitive 4/5 favorite for Saturday’s headline […]
Saturday at Saratoga: One of Racing’s Biggest Days of 2021
The names of those racing on Saturday’s Travers Day at Saratoga sound like a Thoroughbred all-star team: Essential Quality, Gamine, Letruska, Tribhuvan, Jackie’s Warrior, Life Is Good, Whitmore, Swiss Skydiver. All of them – and others you may have heard of – are set to run in one of Saratoga’s […]
Cross Country Pick 5 Takes to the Stakes This Week
Four stakes races up and down the graded-stakes ladder highlight this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. The horizontal exotic once again brings you races from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s Woodbine. The minimum bet for the three-track, five-race wager is 50 cents. The Cross Country Pick […]
Essential Quality Looks Like a Real Jim Dandy Favorite Here
Proving not all graded stakes winners are viewed equally, Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga features five graded stakes winners in the six-horse field. None of them are viewed through the prism of expectations as Essential Quality. The Belmont Stakes champion comes in as the 1/2 favorite in the […]
Talented, Barely Tested Masqueparade Ready for His Jim Dandy Close-Up
Masqueparade is a graded-stakes winner who impressively captured his last three races, turned away two Kentucky Derby horses, and who has more than a hint of the flavor du jour about him. And yet, trainer Al Stall Jr. has no illusions about what awaits his Ohio Derby winner in Saturday’s […]
Essential Quality, Hot Rod Charlie Ready For More After Belmont Stakes
Even after Hot Rod Charlie reeled off record early fractions, and even after Essential Quality caught and passed him in the stretch, both leading protagonists from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes came out of their 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion†in fine form. “He looks amazing. It doesn’t look like he […]
When the Music Stopped, Kirby and 16/1 Adayar Win Epsom Derby
Adam Kirby wasn’t supposed to be on Epsom Derby surprise winner Adayar. And Adayar wasn’t supposed to sniff the Epsom Derby winner’s circle. Not at 16/1, and not as Godolphin’s third-string colt. But in a replay of the Kentucky Derby here in the US, colts don’t realize they’re not supposed […]
Essential Quality Seizes His Moment, Wins 2021 Belmont Stakes
As the 153rd Belmont Stakes hit its stretch crescendo, Essential Quality would not be denied. At the end of this Triple Crown season, Essential Quality would not be denied his Triple Crown race victory. He would not be denied his place in history and trainer Brad Cox would not be […]