Taking a page from their Churchill Downs counterparts, the Breeders’ Cup took a long-awaited, beneficial step for horseplayers, instituting future wagering on the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Breeders’ Cup future wager not only borrows a page from Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pools, it cribs the […]
First, the good news for Belmont Park and its just-concluded Spring/Summer Meet. The track enjoyed a 2% increase in average daily handle over 2021. The average daily handle came in at $13,437,509 for the 44-day meet that ended Sunday. According to the New York Racing Association, the average daily handle […]
Chad Brown added to his record-extending seventh consecutive Belmont Park Spring/Summer training title when the conditioner racked up 47 victories. Brown’s 47 victories eclipsed David Jacobson’s 2013 mark of 44 set over a 56-day meet. Brown’s 47 came in 44 days. “My team should be very proud of themselves and […]
You can scratch one Triple Crown race winner from future 2022 races, after Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal suffered bone bruising coming out of that victory that will cost him a large chunk of the rest of 2022. Mo Donegal came out of his three-length Belmont Stakes victory with the […]
This spring, I endured the true ups and downs of being a horseplayer, which – as anyone who has ever placed a bet on the creatures who can’t explain themselves can attest – is a true manic-depressive exercise. First, the manic. Last week, I enjoyed one of the biggest highlights […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
While Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike has taken all of the attention over the past two weeks, We the People took 2/1 morning line favorite status for the Triple Crown’s final jewel. Post positions were drawn and morning line odds established for Saturday’s 154th Belmont Stakes. That 1 1/2-mile “Test […]
Jon White wants you to know this Kentucky Derby prognostication stuff can get rather tricky. He once picked Point Given to win the 2001 Derby because he simply was the best horse in the field. Point Given picked the first Saturday in May that year to run the worst race […]
Welcome to Kentucky Derby 148, a.k.a. The Chaos Derby. And we’re not talking about the usual infield escapades that happen as the Derby returns to it’s pre-pandemic crowds north of 150,000. Unpredictability? Depth? A Derby where surprises almost wouldn’t be surprising? This edition of America’s most popular race has it […]
As training days go, Todd Pletcher would take a lot more weekends like this. Days where he puts out a potential Kentucky Derby winner and a potential Kentucky Oaks winner. The Hall of Fame trainer’s Derby contender? Mo Donegal, who provided Pletcher with his record-tying seventh Wood Memorial title and […]
With four weeks remaining until the May 7 Kentucky Derby, horseplayers stuck by Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter, making him the 9/2 favorite in the fifth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool. That pool closed Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET, prior to the running of the final 170-point Kentucky […]
The Grade 2 Wood Memorial boasts a winner’s roll that any race in America would proudly sell its soul to own. There’s Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Foolish Pleasure, Genuine Risk, Count Fleet, Omaha and Gallant Fox, to name a few. Yes, with 20 Kentucky Derby winners, Aqueduct’s marquee stop on the Kentucky […]
The fifth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool opens on Thursday with Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter the 5/1 favorite among the 23 individual and “All Other 3-Year-Olds” (aka The Field) choices. But, a newcomer to the pool should take plenty of money. That would be Messier, who makes […]
Emmanuel is on many Kentucky Derby watch lists as one of the colts to watch in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. Horseplayers watched him win his first two starts by a combined 11 ¼ lengths. They watched him get bet down to 18/1 in Circa Sports’ Derby futures and […]
In a 24-hour span, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. epitomized the topsy-turvy, runaway rollercoaster nature of his chosen sport, claiming his 3,000th victory one day after receiving a five-day suspension for reckless riding. Ortiz captured his 3,000th victory Thursday at Gulfstream Park, piloting Order and Law to the winner’s circle in the […]
There was a familiar look to the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) Pool 3 that emphasized the Bob Baffert factor is alive and well – and that Smile Happy doesn’t have to run to draw money. Once again, “All Other 3-Year-Olds†– a.k.a. the field – closed as the betting […]
Dale Romans was talking about his horse, Giant Game. But he spoke for all his fellow trainers in Saturday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull when he distilled the meaning of this Kentucky Derby prep. “Like we say every year, this is the time for the 2-year-olds to turn into men and grow […]
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