Phil D’Amato already has the Santa Anita Winter/Spring Meet training title wrapped up. Now, he has the single-season meet record for victories to go along with it. D’Amato won his record 57th race of the 74-day Winter/Spring Meet Friday, sending Carpe Vinum to a 2 ¼-length victory in the day’s […]
Between a lack of stable success and a suspension to Irad Ortiz Jr., this has not been the greatest of weeks for Ortiz and trainer Wesley Ward at Royal Ascot. But all it takes is Campanelle winning her third consecutive Royal Ascot meet race to flip the plot. That comes […]
Monmouth Park joins the New York Racing Association’s weekly Cross Country Pick 5 this week, spotlighting a contentious Grade 3 race featuring Grade 1 winner Hot Rod Charlie. That would be the Salvator Mile, one of three Monmouth Park races from Haskell Stakes Preview Day on the five-race wager. Two […]
Even with one ‘d,’ The Ridler was named after the Batman villain, courtesy of a birthmark in the shape of a backwards question mark on his face. Given what The Ridler did on Day 3 at Royal Ascot, question marks are appropriate. Leaving the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes starting gate […]
Hot Rod Charlie is the marquee name on Monmouth Park’s inaugural Haskell Stakes Preview Day, which stands to reason when you consider he’s making his first start in nearly three months. But in a Grade 3 race? The Salvator Mile? Isn’t that a tad slumming for a horse with more […]
If we’re going to put a label on Stradivarius, the obvious one would be “crafty veteran.” It’s the perfect description for an 8-year-old staying legend who’s on the cusp of furthering his legacy. The three-time defending champion of the Gold Cup, Royal Ascot’s marquee race, will attempt to join Yeats […]
Skippylongstocking opened his career 1-for-7. He couldn’t crack 88 on the Equibase Speed Figure chart and went into Saturday’s 154th Belmont Stakes one of two double-digit long shots with his 11.80/1 surpassed only by Golden Glider’s 14.60/1. Now, he’s a Triple Crown-placed colt. The son of 2016 Preakness Stakes winner […]
They’re not wasting any time in giving the well-heeled racing fans at Royal Ascot the meet’s main attraction. On Tuesday’s first day of the 2022 Royal Ascot meet, those fans get Golden Pal vs. Nature Strip in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes. Only the top North American turf sprinter […]
Todd Pletcher didn’t know what was more satisfying to him as a trainer: winning the Belmont Stakes with Mo Donegal for one of his top clients, Mike Repole, or winning the Belmont for the fourth time to tie fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. “Yesterday was why you do […]
The Belmont Stakes was the race Mike Repole wanted more than any other. It was the race the entrepreneur he called “his Kentucky Derby.†The race the native New Yorker loved so much that he watched the replay numerous times of his best finisher in the race: Stay Thirsty, in […]
This time, courtesy of a slow break, Flightline managed “only†a six-length victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. But his reputation as a superhorse is alive and quite well. The latest convert? Jockey Junior Alvarado, who rode 2.75/1 second choice Speaker’s Corner to third in the Met Mile, one […]
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 […]
When Flavien Prat hopped off Flightline last December, after he had just dismantled the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths, the veteran jockey had what could be described as a religious experience. As any jockey can tell you when they’ve ridden a superhorse, the words sometimes don’t come […]
Forgive yourself if you look at Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park thinking you’re looking at a sneak preview of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff five months early. There’s defending Ogden Phipps champion Letruska, who made last year’s race look like a glorified workout. Her 2 3/4-length gate-to-wire victory […]
With a two-day Pick 6 as its centerpiece, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) unveiled a smorgasbord of special wagers for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that begins Thursday. NYRA rolled out six two-day wagers that encompass the Festival’s biggest races. There are 17 stakes races over the three days, […]
Unwrapping Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes, one of eight Grade 1 races on the weekend’s Belmont Stakes card, means finding the answer to two questions: can Echo Zulu – your 3/5 Acorn favorite — cut back? And, can the reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Filly rebound from her first loss? Echo Zulu […]
Last month, Highland Chief passed his first stateside Grade 1 test with a flourish, beating four other rivals, including Champion Turf Male Yibir, to win the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont Park. A nice score to be sure, especially as the 19/1 longest shot in the field. Now, […]
The Jack Christopher Comeback Tour makes its next stop at the Grade 1 Woody Stephens, setting down once again on a Triple Crown undercard race. The seven-furlong Woody Stephens will be one of the eight Grade 1s on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes undercard. It’s not to be confused with the Grade […]
Among the many marquee horses you’ll see at this weekend’s Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is reigning Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Jackie’s Warrior, the marquee name in Friday’s Grade 2 True North. The True North is one of five stakes on Friday’s 11-race card. That card is headlined by the Grade 1 […]
Santa Anita Park’s Autumn Meet gets off to its traditional fast start in terms of stakes and Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races. The Southern California track is offering 11 stakes — seven of those graded — over the first weekend of the 18-day meet. All told, Santa Anita will card 26 […]
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