Tag: Smooth Like Strait

Smooth Like Strait and Umberto Rispoli won last year's Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. The 5-year-old horse returns with Flavien Prat aboard as the 4/5 favorite for the Memorial Day race at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Smooth Like Strait Looks Like the Right Fit in Shoemaker Mile

- 3 min read

That Smooth Like Strait is the 4/5 morning line favorite for Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park is understandable on several levels. Thirteen of them, to be precise. That’s the string of graded stakes races the 5-year-old turf terror brings into the second of Santa Anita’s three […]

Smooth Like Strait won the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile for his only 2021 victory. He is the favorite for Friday's Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Smooth Like Strait Makes His Way East for Maker’s Mark Mile

- 2 min read

Smooth Like Strait ventured outside his California barn once last year: for the Grade 1 Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He ventures forth again for Friday’s Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland, the featured race on that track’s Good Friday card. And according to his trainer, Mike […]

Mo Forza won back-to-back Del Mar Miles, illustrating why he is one of the best turf milers in North America. He seeks validation there as the 6/5 favorite in Saturday's City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Coolmore)

Standout Miler Mo Forza Likely the Best Turf Horse Under Your Radar

- 3 min read

Mo Forza built himself quite the career running under your radar. One of the best turf milers in the country – or the world, according to trainer Peter Miller – is also one of the best horses you’ve probably never bet. If you have, you’re undoubtedly relishing the windfall this […]

Set Piece, shown here winning the Prairie Bayou last New Year's Eve, took a big step toward breaking into the front rank of older male turf horses with his Grade 2 Wise Dan win Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

This Set Piece Scores Yet Again, Could Wise Dan be that Breakout Race?

- 2 min read

Hidden on the Stephen Foster undercard last weekend at Churchill Downs was a horse who probably flew below your radar: Set Piece. He didn’t fly below bettor’s radars in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes, however, going off as the 8/5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for older horses. […]

Smooth Like Strait is the 4/5 favorite for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on Santa Anita Park's Memorial Day card. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Say the Word About the Shoemaker Mile’s Consistent Contenders

- 3 min read

If it’s possible to ride into a Grade 1 race in form – riding into that race with two losses – Smooth Like Strait comes into this year’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park in perfect form. Yes, Smooth Like Strait finished third in his last start, the […]

Aunt Pearl and Florent Geroux went gate-to-wire in last fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She is the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Edgewood on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. (Image: Coady Photography)

Don’t Overlook These Kentucky Oaks, Kentucky Derby Undercards

- 5 min read

The Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby undercards offer turf stars Colonel Liam and Smooth Like Strait. They offer filly stars Gamine, Shedaresthedevil, Sanenus, Aunt Pearl, and Envoutante. They also offer Maxfield, Roadster, and Max Player. And they offer one-time Derby hopefuls Jackie’s Warrior, Prevalence, and Gretzky the Great. It’s easy […]

Highly Motivated makes his anticipated 2021 debut in Saturday's Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Weekend Stakes: History at Santa Anita, Derby Preps on Both Coasts

- 4 min read

This weekend’s stakes lineup features one of the most iconic races in American horse racing, the Santa Anita Handicap. But even that event, technically Santa Anita Park’s Saturday headliner, may get overshadowed on its own card by a Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep, the San Felipe Stakes. Featuring two of […]

Domestic Spending beat Gufo, Decorated Invader and Get Smokin in August's Saratoga Derby. He comes west and faces all three foes again in Saturday's Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. (Image: Coglianese Photos/NYRA)

Del Mar’s Hollywood Derby Provides a Good, Old-Fashioned Turf War

- 4 min read

The first thing savvy racing fans notice about Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar is the clash between East and West horses, trainers and jockeys. If there was ever a turf war over where North America’s best turf runners reside, well, the Hollywood Derby should provide the answer. […]