The chief executive of Ascot, Britain’s most popular racetrack, said he expects more financial pain from the global COVID-19 pandemic, and that he doesn’t expect a return to normalcy until 2022. Guy Henderson, Ascot’s CEO, said he anticipates a “significant pre-tax loss in 2021†as one-time pandemic insurance payments cease, […]
In a moment fitting perfectly into 2020’s surreal archives, Newcastle’s final race on Saturday turned into a Monty Python skit after the race’s starter prematurely started the race while one horse was still being reloaded into the gate. The false start resulted in seven of the race’s 13 horses being […]
Santa Anita Park unveiled a betting menu for its upcoming Winter/Spring Meet that includes North America’s lowest takeout on win-place-show bets, and its popular 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot wager. The iconic Southern California track announced a 15.43% takeout on all $2 win, place, and show wagers. That’s the […]
Bob Baffert rarely tastes defeat in the Starlet Stakes, which makes him the perfect trainer to put the crown back on Princess Noor’s head in Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet at Los Alamitos. To do that, Princess Noor will not only have to beat two of her Baffert stablemates in the […]
Even with COVID-19 wreaking scheduling havoc among many of the country’s marquee races, the traditional Thanksgiving weekend races provide comfort-food wagering opportunities for horseplayers, and intriguing races for food coma-recovering fans to savor. Churchill Downs plays host to one of the best end-of-year races anywhere, along with another glimpse at […]
He is almost certain to be overbet, based on his 3-year-old campaign. But in Friday’s Grade 1 Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs, the question is, will we see the sophomore sensation Code of Honor or the jittery, junior Code of Honor? Code of Honor owns the biggest name of the […]
One week after closing its turf course, Churchill Downs Racetrack announced plans to build a new $10 million turf course designed to increase the track’s durability – along with the number of turf races. Don’t expect the project to be ready anytime soon. Track officials announced that construction will begin […]
It took exactly 75-½ seconds for Life Is Good to live up to his name, throw his hoof into the Kentucky Derby futures picture, and become the latest horse rocketing up William Hill Nevada’s Kentucky Derby Futures Board. After the Into Mischief progeny destroyed an over-classed quartet of maidens by […]
Into Mischief illustrated again why he is the most sought-after sire in North America when his suddenly hot 2-year-old, Life Is Good, won his Del Mar debut Sunday. With the victory, Into Mischief broke the North American single-season progeny earnings record. When Life Is Good romped home by 9-½ lengths […]
There is no Maximum Security or Improbable to trouble Midcourt this time. This time, being Saturday’s Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar, where Midcourt is the trouble. Midcourt is the one to beat in the $100,000 Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes. The 1-1/8-mile jaunt for older horses sends a condensed […]
Two of the contenders for Saturday’s Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct are 7-year-olds. One of the other favorites is 6-years-old, confirming that the 60th Red Smith Handicap is the race where older horses head before heading out to pasture. Or not. There’s 7-year-old Sadler’s Joy taking on his fellow 7-year-old […]
One of the biggest horse sales in North America, the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, ended its 10-day run Wednesday with a modest, COVID-19-related drop in sales from 2019. At the same time, nine horses sold for at least $1 million each. The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale is one […]
With new health plans in place, Tampa Bay Downs announced Wednesday it will admit spectators for its 2020-21 winter/spring meet that begins Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. This season is the track’s 95th-anniversary campaign. Headlining that campaign is the 41st Tampa Bay Derby, the track’s marquee event, and a […]
Spielberg going On the Road to Del Mar in the Bob Hope Stakes. It sounds like a Hollywood mashup, instead of the next hurdle on the heralded 2-year-old’s racing itinerary. The Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes is Sunday’s featured race at Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Meet. The $100,000 race sends […]
Five days after Tiz the Law came home a disappointing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, ownership group Sackatoga Stable announced that Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez replaces Manny Franco in the irons for the colt’s 2021 season. That season begins at the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at […]
A bill expanding and legalizing fixed-odds wagering on New Jersey horse races emerged from committees in that state’s senate – a little more than a week after being introduced in New Jersey’s state legislature. The bill, allowing permanent fixed odds on races, enjoys bipartisan support in the state legislature. The […]
With Kentucky Derby champion Authentic, standout filly Gamine, and Knicks Go all winning Breeders’ Cup races in record time – and without general public tickets available – the Breeders’ Cup World Championships managed its sixth-highest all-sources handle since 2007. That was the year the Breeders’ Cup expanded to two days. […]
If you’re grasping to understand how good the field is for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic truly is, it’s easiest to picture what an All-Star horse race would look like. The Mid-fall Classic, as it were. If the Mid-fall Classic offered a $6 million purse, two Triple Crown race winners, […]
This may not be Secretariat vs. Sham, Affirmed vs. Alydar, or Sunday Silence vs. Easy Goer. But, Monomoy Girl vs. Swiss Skydiver in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff promises to be one of the best one-on-one racing duels of the year. If nothing else, it promises to give bettors a relative […]
Bob Baffert has six entries, including three in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Aidan O’Brien counters with 10 entries. And just like that with Wednesday’s pre-entries, lineups for the 14 Breeders’ Cup World Championships races are falling into place. All told, 201 horses pre-entered into the Nov. 6-7 racing festival at […]
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