Add Rock Your World to the 2022 first-year stallion crop after the Santa Anita Derby winner was suddenly retired from racing on Monday. The son of standout sire Candy Ride will stand at Spendthrift Farm for $10,000. Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey said he’ll be featured in the farm’s “Share […]
Tag: Rock Your World
Santa Anita Rainbow Pick Six Pool Pushing $5 Million on Closing Day
Santa Anita Park provides the next potentially rich, rollover setting Sunday, amassing a 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot pool with a mandatory payout approaching $5 million. The mandatory payout comes on the 16th and final day of Santa Anita Park’s Autumn Meet. It kicks in provided a single-ticket winner […]
Rock Your World Circles Back to Turf for Santa Anita’s Twilight Derby
First, Rock Your World tore up the turf. Then, he tore up the dirt – for one race. Now, the 3-year-old returns to the turf in Sunday’s Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita Park. The 1 1/8-mile Twilight and its deep, 11-horses field is the featured event on Santa […]
Medina Spirit Edges Rock Your World in the Shared Belief
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit returned to racing for the first time in 3 ½ months on Sunday, capturing the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. Along the way, Medina Spirit turned a trick no other Bob Baffert-trained horse has ever done. “For what this horse has gone through, he’s […]
Derby Champion Medina Spirit May Return Saturday for Shared Belief
Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, who hasn’t run since finishing third in the May 15 Preakness Stakes, could be back this Saturday for the Grade 3 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. According to the Daily Racing Form, the Bob Baffert-trainee’s return is contingent on a Monday workout for the […]
Rock Your World Pops Up as Surprising Pacific Classic Nominee
The last two times we saw Rock Your World, he rocked no one’s world. Which is why it rocked Del Mar’s world when the Santa Anita Derby winner was one of 15 horses nominated for the Aug. 21 Grade 1 Pacific Classic. Those nominations closed for Del Mar’s flagship race […]
Essential Quality Seizes His Moment, Wins 2021 Belmont Stakes
As the 153rd Belmont Stakes hit its stretch crescendo, Essential Quality would not be denied. At the end of this Triple Crown season, Essential Quality would not be denied his Triple Crown race victory. He would not be denied his place in history and trainer Brad Cox would not be […]
Back to Being a Real Test: Breaking Down the 2021 Belmont Stakes
The 153rd Belmont Stakes wraps up an unpredictable 2021 Triple Crown season with what should be the best race of the three for horseplayers. If 12/1 Medina Spirit winning the Kentucky Derby was a shock to the handicapper’s system, what was 11/1 Rombauer winning the Preakness Stakes? Two horses considered […]
Essential Quality Returns to Triple Crown Trail as Belmont Stakes Favorite
Essential Quality duplicated the favorite status he enjoyed for the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago, taking 2/1 morning-line favorite odds into Saturday’s 153rd Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. Tuesday morning’s Belmont Stakes draw put the Brad Cox-trained, Tapit progeny in post 2. He’s one of four Grade 1 winners and […]
Belmont Musical Jockeys: Prat Trades Rombauer for Hot Rod Charlie
Trainer Doug O’Neill, who proved his nimbleness by quickly securing Flavien Prat’s jockey services for the Kentucky Derby, proved them once again for the Belmont Stakes. He said Prat will ride the Derby’s third-place runner in the June 5 Belmont Stakes. That, of course, means Michael McCarthy needs to find […]
Medina Spirit Comes Out of Derby Well, Likely for Preakness
Less than a day after Medina Spirit’s remarkable Kentucky Derby victory, trainer Bob Baffert said he’s on track for the May 15 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Tentatively. “He came out of it well. It takes about a week to determine, so I’m going to come back next weekend and see,†[…]
The 2021 Derby: 12/1 Medina Spirit wins Baffert His Record Seventh
The primary lesson coming out of the 2021 Kentucky Derby is as simple as it is frustrating for everyone not named Bob Baffert. Even when Baffert brings his third-string horse to Churchill Downs, he wins Derbies. That would be Medina Spirit, who gave Baffert his seventh Derby victory Saturday, passing […]
Almost Back to Normalcy: Breaking Down the 2021 Kentucky Derby
Welcome to the 2021 Kentucky Derby. And welcome back to what a normal Kentucky Derby looks like. Almost. The crowds? Well, they’re back – about 40,000. That’s a quarter of what normally turns Churchill Downs into a sporting bacchanalia. But there’s people in the stands. We’ll take it. The horses? […]
Rock Your World Rolls Into Derby From an Unconventional Trail
Before April 3, Rock Your World occupied a very small world in Southern California horse racing. He was a good 3-year-old turf colt with a couple of nice grass wins under his hooves, including a solid, 2 ¼-length victory in the Listed Pasadena Stakes. But trainer John Sadler had a […]
Essential Quality Opens as 2/1 Favorite for 147th Kentucky Derby
As expected, Essential Quality checked in as the 2/1 morning-line favorite for the 147th Kentucky Derby. And Tuesday’s post-position Derby draw sends the undefeated colt and his favorite status into post 14 for Saturday’s 2021 Triple Crown opener. As he watched the posts fill up on Tuesday morning, this put […]
The Derby Strike System: Does Your Horse Strike Gold or Strike Out?
That Jon White would come up with something like the Derby Strike System (DSS) makes sense when you consider its creator spent hours surreptitiously handicapping races during his high school classes. “I’d hide it from my teachers. But I’d hide it from my fellow students as well,†said White, Santa […]
Derby Musical Jockeys: Rosario Replaces Rispoli on Rock Your World
In a case that’s flipping what-have-you-done-for-me-lately on its ear, jockey Joel Rosario will replace Umberto Rispoli aboard Rock Your World for next week’s Kentucky Derby. Rock Your World’s trainer, John Sadler, discussed the decision on the Thoroughbred Los Angeles radio show on Sunday morning. He took full responsibility for the […]
On Record Day, Rock Your World Rocks, Rolls His Way to Kentucky Derby
Rock Your World rocked the Santa Anita Derby, which rocked bettors into producing Santa Anita Park’s largest all-sources pari-mutuel Santa Anita Derby handle in 14 years. On a day where fans returned to the Southern California track for the first time in more than a year, the 8,246 attendees on […]
Medina Spirit, Bob Baffert Cast Their Spell in Santa Anita Derby
About the only thing faster than Life Is Good on the track was the rush of horses piling into the Santa Anita Derby the moment the Bob Baffert supercolt departed the Kentucky Derby Trail with an ankle injury. Now, all of a sudden, horses like Dream Shake, Parnelli, Law Professor […]
Essential Quality Closes as Your Favorite in KDFW’s Final Pool
The fifth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool closed Sunday afternoon with Essential Quality the 4/1 favorite to win the May 1 Run for the Roses. Unbeaten Essential Quality makes his final Derby tune-up in Saturday’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes during Keeneland’s opening weekend. He opened the weekend […]