When the Arkansas Derby runs on Saturday, I think we will have what I like to call the “false positive.” We will see a very nice runner, The Factor, whose style does not fit Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. Martin Garcia is teaming up with Bob Baffert, and they do extremely good […]
Injuries and upsets in major preps have muddled my list of Top 10 Kentucky Derby contenders. Here’s the revised lineup from the bottom to the new No. 1: Stay Thirsty: The Gotham winner flopped in the Florida Derby, but the son of Bernardini wasn’t the only stakes winner to stub his hoof this spring. He […]
There are some big guns aiming for Sunday’s $1 million Florida Derby. Winners of the Fountain of Youth (FOY) have won Gulfstream Park’s showcase event more times than the other two traditional preps combined during the past 20 years. That’s a good omen for Soldat, who captured the 65th FOY at 1 1/8th miles by […]
Last year’s initial rankings of my Top 10 Kentucky Derby contenders included all three winners of Triple Crown races from Derby winning Super Saver at No. 10 to Preakness champ Lookin’ at Lucky at No. 2. It also rated Belmont victor Drosselmeyer at No. 9. So here we go again from the bottom to the […]
Likely heavy favorite Uncle Mo will face five outclassed rivals in the $100,000 Timely Writer at Gulfstream Park. The 2-year-old Eclipse champion, trained by Todd Pletcher, has been working well in South Florida at Palm Meadows since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 4 ¼ lengths, with jockey John R. Velazquez aboard at Churchill Downs […]
Tapizar is attempting to become the first winner of the $100,000 Sham to repeat in the $250,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes — one of three Saturday races on the Road to the Roses. While the Sham is only 11 years old, the Santa Catalina Stakes, renamed in 2007 for the prominent racehorse owner that passed […]