While Cezanne has never traveled outside of California, he does have a role model to call upon for what kind of springboard to great seasons the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile can present. A role model doubling as a former stablemate: Improbable. Two years ago, the Bob Baffert-trained Improbable was a […]
Seeking to keep their top Western horses home – while luring Eastern horses west – Santa Anita Park and Del Mar created the $1 Million Wild West Bonus. That bonus goes to the connections of any horse who sweeps the three Southern California elite races for older horses, the Santa […]
Authentic rarely won his big races by big margins. But, he won his final “race†– the Eclipse Award for 2020 Horse of the Year – by a Secretariat at the Belmont-esque 31 lengths on the track. The Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic champion garnered 224 out of a […]
Horse of the Year candidates Authentic, Improbable, and Monomoy Girl headline the finalists for the 2020 Eclipse Awards, announced Saturday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), and the Daily Racing Form. The Eclipse Awards get their name from the iconic 18th-century racehorse and […]
Yes, it’s time for the Eclipse Awards, which in 2020, were brought to you by a scrambled Triple Crown schedule, along with tracks closing, reopening – and closing. Also featured were few – if any – fans in the stands and a rash of retirements. But the horses running in […]
Proving those who can do, can teach, Marshall Gramm, an economics professor at Rhodes College in Tennessee nailed an Authentic-Improbable exacta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The $170,250 score gave him the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge title. With the late bet, which vaulted Gramm over 429 other top handicappers, […]
Three days after finishing off the board for only the second time in his career, Maximum Security retired from racing. The Eclipse Award 3-year-old Champion of 2019 heads to Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud, where he’ll begin his stud career in 2021 standing for $20,000. The move comes after Maximum Security […]
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, […]
As you parse the speed figures for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, you understand there is truth in advertising to this year’s edition of the Breeders’ Cup’s flagship race. Putting aside the eight Grade 1 winners in the 10-horse field, these speed figures should make this Classic well … an instant […]
The last time Bob Baffert turned loose a Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite at Keeneland, that horse – American Pharoah – won him his second of three consecutive Classics. Now, Baffert has more than an outside chance of winning his fourth. He has three outside chances. That’s because his three mainstays, […]
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 […]
One day after opening the first domestic Breeders’ Cup Classic futures board, Circa Sports puts Improbable as the favorite to capture the $6 million Breeders’ Cup’s marquee event on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. Improbable opened at +380, then moved up slightly to +410. His best odds overseas are 4/1. The […]
Between them, Maximum Security and Improbable are 5-for-6 in 2020, which makes a race called the Awesome Again Stakes the perfect meeting place for two of the top older horses in the nation, if not the world. The two Bob Baffert charges take each other on for the first time […]
Santa Anita Park’s postponed opening created a bettor’s bonanza this weekend. The Southern California track will open with 12 stakes races – 11 of those graded stakes events. Officials pushed opening weekend at the iconic track back a week due to air-quality concerns from the nearby Bobcat Fire. One of […]
For the first time in the Breeders’ Cup’s nearly 40-year history, a Triple Crown race will be part of its “Win and You’re In†Challenge Series of races. The 145th Preakness Stakes became one of 44 Challenge Series races offering spots in the Breeders’ Cup field over the next two […]
Thanks to the coronavirus, this was not a typical Whitney Day crowd at Saratoga, because there was no Whitney Day crowd. Even so, that didn’t prevent the track from setting an all-sources handle record of $35,796,435. That bested the previous record of $31,835,863, set last year when Saratoga welcomed 40,791 […]
It’s appropriate that in a race named after one of America’s most prominent families, the field consists of five millionaires. Yes, Saturday’s $1,200,000 Grade 1 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, one of the most prestigious races for older horses in North America, features only five horses. But quality abounds. […]
Curious about 3-year-old colts? Saratoga has a stakes for that. How about fillies and mares? It has a race for them as well, including the best mare in the world. Older, accomplished horses? Well, they have not one, but two stakes races for them, too. Saturday at Saratoga is Mecca […]
Go long and far, or go short and stay home. When it came to deciding where prize colt McKinzie would run next, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert opted for the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar over the 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Instead, Baffert sends Improbable […]
The Hollywood Gold Cup gets its name back, the name it held for 76 years until 2014. It gets three-time champion: 19-year-old Lava Man, back to lead the post parade. And one of the most respected races for older horses gets an eclectic field of Grade 1 winners and placers […]
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