The first instinct when looking at Saturday’s Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar is to see who’s not here for California’s richest sprint race ($400,000). There’s no Brickyard Ride. No Cezanne. No Dr. Schivel, the defending Bing Crosby champion, who finished second by an eyelash in the Breeders’ […]
Tag: Saffie Joseph Jr.
Jackie’s Warrior is a Blue-Chip Horse for the Blueblood Vanderbilt
Since Jackie’s Warrior is understandably attracting all the attention in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes, trainer Steve Asmussen is searching for more superlatives to describe his star sprinter. He’s officially out of superlatives. And even after looking at Jackie’s Warrior’s resume, Asmussen realizes simple is best. “He’s 4-for-4 […]
Co-Favorite Willy Boi Leaves Them Smiling After Smile Sprint Score
Both Willy Boi and Drain the Clock left the Gulfstream Park gate at 4/5 for Saturday’s Grade 3 Smile Sprint Stakes, the first-among-equals undercard race to the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Invitational on Gulfstream’s Summit of Speed program. And in this battle of chalk-vs.-chalk, Drain the Clock blinked first. Actually, […]
Drain the Clock Running Toward Good Vibes at Smile Sprint
The Grade 3 Smile Sprint is a race Drain the Clock needs right about now. A nice, low-pressure graded stakes race that should allow him to rebuild his confidence in familiar surroundings. Those surroundings are Gulfstream Park, where the six-furlong Smile Sprint is one of the featured races on Gulfstream’s Summit […]
Long Shot Skippylongstocking Turns a Personal Corner at the Belmont
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 […]
Breaking Down the 2022 Preakness Stakes: More Filly Follies?
The 2022 Preakness Stakes comes to you with a paradox, a wagering quandary that pits one 21st century trend against one 2020s trend. The trend this century is the friend to chalk. Since 2000, 10 favorites found the Pimlico Race Course winner’s circle. Oxbow at 15.40/1 in 2013 is the […]
Friday Marks Bettors’ Last Shot at the Stronach 5 Cross Country Wager
Horseplayers get one more crack at the Stronach 5 Friday before The Stronach Group takes away the cross-country Pick 5 wager. Company officials announced Wednesday the Pick 5 wager featuring TSG tracks from California to Maryland will go on hiatus. Mike Rogers, acting president of the Maryland Jockey Club, said […]
Saffie Joseph Jr. Snaps Pletcher’s String, Wins Gulfstream Training Title
The last time Todd Pletcher didn’t win a Gulfstream Park Championship Meet title, Saffie Joseph Jr. wasn’t old enough to drink. He was barely old enough to vote. But one day after Joseph sent White Abarrio to the Grade 1 Florida Derby title, the 35-year-old trainer captured the Gulfstream Championship […]
Kentucky Derby Prep Stretch Run: Who’s Rising, Who’s Falling
Saturday’s penultimate wave of Kentucky Derby prep races brought four horses into the Derby field and taught us plenty about several others who either evolved into Derby contenders or devolved into Derby pretenders. There was White Abarrio, winning the Florida Derby in stellar fashion to punch his ticket to the […]
Florida Derby: The Springboard to Kentucky Derby Glory
Why the Florida Derby is a marquee race on the Kentucky Derby trail, Part the First: Six horses this century graduated from the Grade 1 flagship race at Gulfstream Park to the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle. The six: Monarchos (2001), Barbaro (2006), Big Brown (2008), Orb (2013), Nyquist (2016) and […]
The Sam F. Davis: A Derby Prep Where Also-Rans Matter
Tampa Bay Downs’ first stop on the Kentucky Derby trail, Saturday’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes is one of those races where you’re best served paying more attention to the horses outside the winner’s circle. Take last year. Candy Man Rocket won the race in typical Davis fashion. He […]
White Abarrio Goes from Long Shot to KDFW Individual Co-Favorite
The third of five pools for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) opens Friday at noon ET with the familiar “All Other 3-Year-Olds†– a.k.a. “the field†– as the 5/2 morning-line favorite. But it opened with a new co-individual favorite sharing that status with a familiar favorite. That newcomer […]
Remember These Two Joseph Horses? Drain the Clock, Ny Traffic Return
Get ready to welcome back two familiar names from the Saffie Joseph Jr. barn: Drain the Clock and Ny Traffic, both who return in the next month for campaign-beginning races. And after those two warm-up starts, the pair could meet in the April 9 Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. […]
Strike Hard Gets His Opportunity To Do That In Mucho Macho Man Stakes
If Strike Hard runs the same mile time in Saturday’s Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park he ran in a Dec. 5 Gulfstream allowance, the Florida spur of the Kentucky Derby trail will have a new force. Strike Hard won that allowance by four lengths, covering the mile in […]
Make It Big Gives Trainer Joseph Kentucky Derby Trail Options
Make It Big did exactly that in Friday’s Springboard Mile at Remington Park, winning the Kentucky Derby prep by a half-length as the 6/5 favorite. More importantly, Make It Big gave trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. a new project for the new year: figuring out what’s next for his colt on […]
Gulfstream Park Ready for its Tapeta Championship Meet Close-Up
Gulfstream Park opens its Championship Meet this weekend as the first racetrack to conduct races on three surfaces: dirt, turf, and all-weather, synthetic Tapeta. And given what we saw on the Tapeta during the Florida track’s Fall Meet, horseplayers have expectations as to what they’ll see heading into the winter […]
Jackie’s Warrior, Life Is Good, Drain the Clock: This Jerkens is Wide Open
The H. Allen Jerkens Memorial draws its name from the legendary New York trainer who earned a well-deserved reputation for springing massive upsets. Among Jerkens’ victims were the distinguished likes of Kelso, Buckpasser, Cougar II, and Forego. Then, there was Secretariat. Two Jerkens also-rans defeated the 20th century’s greatest Thoroughbred: […]
Watch the Blue-Blooded Sprinting Talent Clash in the Vanderbilt
The Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes gives you the venerable Whitmore, the ubiquitous Firenze Fire, and the dynamic Mischevious Alex. Enough sprinting talent to throw in a trifecta box at, say, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint this fall at Del Mar. Except that, a few hours after Saratoga turns that […]
Budding Superstar Drain the Clock Looks Sweet in the Short Races
The only race Drain the Clock lost this year came the only time he went two turns. You may have noticed this hiccup, since it came in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on the Kentucky Derby trail last winter. But while you paid attention to Triple Crown trail stalwarts […]
Collaborate Returns His Trainer’s Faith With Statement Victory
As several of his fellow 3-year-olds prepare for Saturday’s Ohio Derby, Collaborate chills in his Gulfstream Park barn, basking in the glow of some long-awaited laurels. Collaborate will likely see some of his sophomore rivals down the line. If he runs like he did in Sunday’s 5 ½-length blitzing of […]