Trainer Dale Romans is weighing which Grade 1 on Thanksgiving weekend will be Shackleford’s final outing before the 4-year-old son of Forestry is retired to stud at Darby Dan Farm. Shackleford is returning to Churchill Downs where the Clark Handicap will be staged for the 138th time on Nov. 23. “We might run him in the Clark,” Romans […]
Winners of last weekend’s two top Breeders’ Cup Challenge races have several things in common, including being victorious in each Grade 1 contest for the second consecutive year. Flat Out surged to a head victory in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup over the pacesetting Stay Thirsty, his first triumph since defeating Drosselmeyer last […]
The 94th running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational on Saturday will feature a half dozen winners of stake races. Woodrow Wilson was president, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 660 and Sir Barton became the first Triple Crown winner when Belmont Park inaugurated the Gold Cup. The year was 1919. The winner: Purchase. The purse: […]
The Travers is horse racing history personified – dating back to when Saratoga Race Course was in its second year and Honest Abe Lincoln was president of the divided United States. The so-called “Mid-Summer Derby” is the oldest stakes race for 3-year-olds in our great land. The racetrack is located in Saratoga Springs, about 160 […]
Fifteen Breeders’ Cup contests, one more than last year, is just too many to wager on even if they’re spread over two days. Like 2010, I will concentrate on classy horses with good recent form and wager on seven races. The weather could be a factor, at least on Friday, but the forecasters have been […]
On Wednesday August 24 the field for the 142nd Travers Stakes was drawn at Saratoga Race Course. In a racing season that has seen the same group of top 3-year-olds winning one big race only to fall short next time out, racing fans are looking for a definitive performance by one of the top choices […]
Winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness will battle Saturday in the 143rd Belmont Stakes for the first time in six years. In 2005 Preakness champ Afleet Alex triumphed while Derby upsetter Giacomo finished seventh. Animal Kingdom, the 2 ¾-length winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby under jockey John Velazquez, is attempting to become the […]
As you read, I am watching Andy Serling, of the NYRA, as he interviews some of the big connections for the Belmont Stakes. The questions were to the point, and very informative. This takes me back to the old Derby draw, and giving fans what they wanted to know. This makes me think: In the […]
This is one tough Kentucky Derby to figure out, sort of like 2009. And there’s a good chance of rain on Saturday for the 137th edition. Remember over the past three decades only four favorites have won — all in the 21st Century. Big Brown was the last in ’08; Street Sense,’07; Smarty Jones, ’04; […]
If you’re thinking about the horse-for-the-course angle in the Kentucky Derby, better have something more in your handicapping toolbox. More than two dozen horses that previously won as a 2-year-old at Churchill Downs failed in the Derby. The average finish of about 50 runners with at least one race on the main track was off […]