The Mr. D. Stakes is the race made famous by another name – the Arlington Million. When you’re the first horse race offering a seven-figure purse, you want that “Million†in the title. At this point in what is a bittersweet, likely final running of the race formerly known as […]
Tag: horse racing
Knicks Go Fast-Breaks Into Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings
Knicks Go picked a good time to win his fourth career Grade 1 race, using last Saturday’s Whitney Stakes victory to claim the top spot among American horses in the latest edition of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings for 2021. In the rankings compiled by the International Federation of […]
We’ve Seen Got Stormy Pour Past Her Rivals Before
Plucky mare Got Stormy takes on the boys in a Grade 1 race headlining Saratoga’s Saturday card and, yes, this scenario sounds more than a bit familiar. Just change the principals, the surface, and the starring distaff runner, but yes, next verse, similar to the first. Last week, we saw […]
Disgraced Trainer Navarro Pleads Guilty to Horse Doping Charge
Trainer Jorge Navarro, one of the central figures in the blood doping and drug adulteration scandal that rocked horse racing in a long-running scheme starting in 2016, changed his plea to guilty Wednesday. In doing so, Navarro could spend up to five years in prison. Navarro changed his plea from […]
Staking A Claim: The Name of Del Mar’s Racing Game This Summer
One of Del Mar’s mottos is “cool as ever,†a saying that doesn’t apply to the claiming department for this summer season. The track where the “turf meets the surf,†to borrow another Del Mar phrase, became the track where the claim game is hotter than ever. For the first […]
Sore Foot Grounds Stellar Sophomore Mandaloun for Remainder of Year
Asterisk-wearing Kentucky Derby runner-up and Haskell Stakes winner Mandaloun will miss the remainder of the 2021 season, due to a sore hindfoot. The Daily Racing Form first reported the news. It quoted Juddmonte Farms racing manager Garrett O’Rourke, who said Mandaloun’s X-rays came back negative for any major damage. He […]
Del Mar’s Jackpot Pick 6 Runs North of $1.1 Million
The star of Del Mar’s Thursday card isn’t any of the Thoroughbreds on the track. It’s the Jackpot Pick 6, which ventured north of $1 million after bettors failed to crack the single-ticket code for 12 consecutive days. Thursday’s Single Ticket Jackpot Pick 6 sits at $1,127,460. It sits there […]
Whitney Day Produces Record Handle, Another Knicks Go Romp
Knicks Go, Bella Sofia and State of Rest enjoyed Grade 1 victories on Saratoga’s Whitney Day card. And the New York Racing Association enjoyed a record, all-sources handle for that Whitney Day card. That record all-sources handle came in at $36,820,234, surpassing last year’s take of $35,796,435 that came without […]
Churchill Downs Announces September, Fall Meets Stakes Schedule
Churchill Downs will offer only one Grade 1 event during its September and Fall Meets. But, even as interesting as the Grade 1 Clark Stakes is on the day after Thanksgiving, there are other races further down the class food chain worth some serious attention. Those races are the track’s […]
Steve Asmussen Gallops Past North America’s Training Record
Steve Asmussen used Saturday’s Whitney Day at Saratoga as his record-breaking canvas, becoming North America’s winningest Thoroughbred trainer by claiming his 9,446th career race. That leapfrogged the 14-year-old mark of 9,445 set by the late Dale Baird. Stellar Tap did the honors for the Hall of Fame trainer. Owned by […]
The Whitney: Quality Over Quantity Makes This the Year’s Best Race
The cliché “quality over quantity†washes over this year’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga like the wake from Knicks Go’s last race. It floods the zone like Maxfield’s last two outings and Silver State’s last trip around Belmont Park. If you’re going to send only five horses around Saratoga’s […]
Will Bolshoi Ballet Allow O’Brien to say ‘Eight is Enough’ at Saratoga?
Bolshoi Ballet will attempt to rectify an oversight that’s as mystifying as it is counterintuitive by becoming Aidan O’Brien’s first winning horse at Saratoga. It defies logic that O’Brien, Europe’s most decorated trainer and one of the best horsemen in the world, has never sent a horse to the Spa’s […]
New Jersey Governor Signs Fixed-Odds Wagering Bill
After a 45-day delay, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy finally signed the Fixed Odds Wagering Act into law, opening the windows for fixed-odds wagering on horse racing in the state. Don’t make a beeline for the Jersey Shore just yet, however. Implementation requires regulatory approval from the New Jersey Racing […]
West Virginia Derby Returns, Bringing Bourbonic and Mr. Wireless Back
The West Virginia Derby is back after a year’s hiatus. And so are Mr. Wireless and Bourbonic, who headline Saturday’s Grade 3 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park. The two 3-year-olds provide the recognizable names for the 1 1/8-mile race, which skipped 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Those created logistical […]
Star 3-Year-Old Dayoutoftheoffice Makes it Permanent, Retires Suddenly
Dayoutoftheoffice, one of the best juvenile fillies of 2020 and a Grade 1 winner, retired Wednesday, three days before she was set to run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga. The winner of last year’s Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park, Dayoutoftheoffice just clocked a bullet 59-second […]
Jesus’ Team Puts Himself in the Perfectly Named Stakes Race, the Alydar
That Jesus’ Team is running in a race named after Alydar is rather apt; a case of history going in circles rather than a straight line. First things first, however. Friday’s Alydar, named after the horse who finished second to Affirmed in all three legs of the 1978 Triple Crown, […]
Record Handle Chases Manitoba Derby Day Jackpot Pick 5
Nobody picked a unique winning ticket for Monday’s Manitoba Derby Day Jackpot Pick 5, which didn’t prevent horseplayers from wagering a record $2,542,309 on Assiniboia Downs’ Manitoba Derby Day card. The cash avalanche included a record $1,488,795 coming in on the Jackpot Pick 5. That cash chased a $1 million […]
How Strong is This? Life Is Good Returning Against Jackie’s Warrior
It takes a lot to upstage the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, but undefeated Life Is Good facing standout one-turn artist Jackie’s Warrior in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Handicap could be the best race on the Aug. 28 Travers Day card at Saratoga. According to the Daily Racing […]
Recovering Monomoy Girl Doubtful for Breeders’ Cup Distaff Defense
While she returned under tack to WinStar Farm, defending Breeders’ Cup Distaff champion Monomoy Girl is doubtful for this year’s Breeders’ Cup. The two-time event champion and current Champion Older Female has been out since mid-April, recovering from muscle strains and hamstring issues. BloodHorse reported that Monomoy Girl isn’t expected […]
Even at 34/1, Lexitonian Answers Critics, Validates Trainer’s Expectations
Even when Lexitonian needed easing in a race, Jack Sisterson never eased his expectations. And when his 5-year-old had a bad race, Sisterson knew he wasn’t a bad horse. And, when Lexitonian left the Saratoga starting gate in Saturday’s Grade 1 Vanderbilt Stakes as the biggest price on the board […]