The Malibu Stakes is the bow on the 2020 racing season. It gives horseplayers and racing fans a deserving end to this year’s wild, unpredictable runaway roller coaster that was Horseracing 2020. There’s Nashville, he of the freakish speed. There’s Charlatan, he of the one-time Kentucky Derby favorite status. There’s […]
Santa Anita Park’s opening day marks the return of this year’s Pegasus World Cup champion for the first time in 10 months. And poor Mucho Gusto; he’s not remotely the headline attraction. For that, he can thank Nashville, Charlatan, and Independence Hall, who all smashed and grabbed Mucho Gusto’s spotlight […]
Not even one of the most exciting Preakness finishes in memory prevented a 48.7% drop in betting handle from 2019’s record figure, according to Equibase. Pimlico’s 12-race Preakness handle checked in at $51,252,631, a nearly 50% drop from last year’s $99,852,653 record handle. That 2019 handle came on a 14-race […]
It’s October 2020, which in this bizarre of all bizarre years, means it’s Preakness Stakes time. That there is no Triple Crown at stake does not mean there is nothing at stake in the third and final jewel of a wild, 15-week Triple Crown campaign. The 2020 American Classics trail […]
While Preakness Stakes favorite Authentic was wrapping up his final pre-race workout, the 9/5 favorite for Saturday’s 145th Preakness drew post 9 at Monday morning’s post draw in Baltimore. In what’s already been a wild and unpredictable Triple Crown season, at least one reliable standby remains true. The Kentucky Derby […]
Enter Max Player and Excession to the Preakness Stakes field. Along with Country Grammer, the two Steve Asmussen-trainees bring the field for the third and final jewel of the 2020 Triple Crown to 10 horses. They join Pneumatic, bringing Asmussen’s Preakness contingent to an appropriate three. The Hall of Fame […]
To the surprise of few, standout 3-year-old Tiz the Law will bypass the Preakness Stakes and train for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, according to his primary owner, Jack Knowlton. The managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, the Saratoga Springs-area consortium which owns Tiz the Law, Knowlton confirmed his prize colt will […]
Circa Sports in Las Vegas unveiled its Preakness Stakes futures odds this weekend and, not surprisingly, Kentucky Derby winner Authentic finds himself the opening favorite at +225. This is better than what the foreign books offer. The best odds offered overseas are 3/2. Meanwhile, Authentic celebrated his futures board-topping debut […]
Historians 100 years from now will note the 2020 Kentucky Derby took place the first Saturday in September, instead of the first Saturday in May. They’ll note that, due to the coronavirus pandemic, America’s annual racing bacchanalia was shy of bacchanalia because Churchill Downs was shy of spectators. Barring any […]
The fact nobody has ever won the Kentucky Derby from post 17 didn’t dissuade Churchill Downs morning line oddsmaker, Mike Battaglia, from making Tiz the Law a 3/5 favorite for Saturday’s 146th Kentucky Derby. The Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes champion drew post 17 in the 18-horse field, the smallest […]
When it comes to handicapping the Kentucky Derby, the speedy rule of thumb used to be simple. Bring your thumb down to the horses who ran at least a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, and begin your handicapping from there. That’s an easy place to start, considering 25 of the last […]
Thousand Words is now out of the Kentucky Derby futures shadow. And Cezanne is now out of the Derby futures picture. Those are the oddsmakers’ takeaways from last weekend’s Derby Prep – the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. Thousand Words, who spent the spring disappointing and the summer disappearing […]
Honor A.P. is safely in the Kentucky Derby. So safe, he’s one of the favorites. Thousand Words is not-so-safely on the Derby bubble. And Cezanne is nowhere near the Churchill Downs gate, nor the bubble. That’s the scenario all three would-be Derby contenders face entering Saturday’s Shared Belief Stakes at […]
Uncle Chuck and his Bob Baffert stablemate, Thousand Words, headline a small, but eclectic field at Saturday’s Grade 3 $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby. And, should one of the two Baffert charges win, they’ll not only bring in 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, but bring Baffert his fourth consecutive Los Alamitos […]
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