The sport of horse racing found itself in another legal tangle on Thursday when Jeff Drown, the owner of Grade 2 Remsen Stakes runner-up Zandon, filed a protest with the New York State Gaming Commission over a rejected post-race inquiry against race winner Mo Donegal. Drown filed the protest after […]
It’s only an allowance sprint, not Nashville’s usual company. But the standout sprinter returns for the first time in nearly a year Friday afternoon, taking on six rivals in an Oaklawn Park 5 1/2-furlong dash. You’ll find Nashville on the rail in Oaklawn’s eighth race. As of now, he’s the […]
Del Mar took in record handle of more than $943 million in 2021, but that buries the lead of what became the most important feature of the suburban San Diego track during the two-session, 2021 racing season. The track endured just one fatality in 426 races, encompassing 3,552 starters, making […]
The sporting world beyond horse racing was shocked Monday morning when 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit suddenly died of an apparent heart attack after a morning workout at Santa Anita Park. The Bob Baffert-trained 3-year-old had just finished a five-furlong work in 1:01.40 when he collapsed. Santa Anita’s onsite […]
The attorneys for Medina Spirit’s owner and trainer, Amr Zedan and Bob Baffert, issued statements late Friday claiming that tests performed by a New York laboratory confirmed their position that the Kentucky Derby winner’s positive test for the corticosteroid betamethasone came from the ointment Otomax and not an injection. Baffert’s […]
As the latest stop on the Kentucky Derby trail, Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct introduces new faces to the Derby trail. But while you’re getting to know 8/5 favorite Mo Donegal and 5/2 second choice Zandon, re-acquaint yourself with another pertinent name. That would be Thunder Gulch. He’s […]
The questions for Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct make the final Grade 1 race of the year in New York one of the saltiest fields on Aqueduct’s stakes schedule. Before we pose them for horseplayers, a history lesson is in order. Named after the 1994 champion of […]
Following Sea spent much of his 3-year-old season as a colt seeking a breakout victory that would vault him into the front rank of his class. His last chance to garner that as a sophomore comes in Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. The Cigar Mile is the signature […]
Not surprisingly, Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos has that distinct Bob Baffert flavor to it. That flavor manifests itself with the Hall of Fame trainer sending out three 2-year-old fillies in what is the final Grade 1 of the year for juvenile fillies. To illustrate Baffert’s dominance […]
The Southern California jockey colony just got significantly deeper with the announcement that Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez is moving his tack to Santa Anita for the upcoming 2021-22 Winter/Spring Meet. This marks the first time in Velazquez’s decorated 32-year career he’s riding full-time in Southern California. A stalwart of […]
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 […]
Any reports of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Corniche moving out of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s barn are premature — as of now. According to the Daily Racing Form, the odds-on favorite to win the Eclipse Award as 2-Year-Old Champion will return to Baffert’s California base after a freshening […]
Gun Runner continued his climb up the stallion rankings this weekend, setting the record for all-time progeny earnings for a first-crop sire. The Three Chimneys’ stallion climbed over the $3.8 million mark when Shotgun Hottie captured a $92,000 maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs on Sunday. That sent Gun […]
Courtesy of a $10,000 bet by Houston area furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack McIngvale, Smile Happy closed as the individual 8/1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1. McIngvale dropped the bet down around 5 p.m. ET, knocking Smile Happy’s odds from 15/1 to 9/1. Even with […]
Mike Stidham sent Princess Grace west in search of a hopeful Grade 1 coronation in Sunday’s Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar, whereupon he stabled her at Barn X. Now, the question is, can the four-time graded stakes winner can avoid a Brand X performance in her Grade 1 debut? Princess […]
Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella sends 4/1 second-choice Subconscious out in today’s Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. But even he knows where most of the attention is during Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Meet closing weekend. And that’s Brown. Chad Brown. Trainer of turf terrors and eastern feaster of this weekend’s […]
Traffic on the Kentucky Derby trail picks up again Saturday with a full cast of 14 entered in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club, the headlining race on Churchill Downs’ Saturday card. Up for grabs are 10-4-2-1 Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers, along with another Derby prospect […]
In August, Steve Asmussen took the mantle as North America’s winningest career trainer. On Thanksgiving Day, he went from macro record-setter to micro record-setter, winning what is believed to be a record five races on one card at Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs officials said records prior to 1991 are incomplete, […]
That Rockemperor is the 8/5 favorite in Friday’s Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar makes sense if you look at the Rockemperor who won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park. If you look at the Rockemperor who finished a troubled eighth in the Breeders’ […]
The Grade 1 Clark Stakes provides the final opportunity for Maxfield to grab a Grade 1 win. It’s an opportunity for Midnight Bourbon to shake his seconditis and grab his first Grade 1. And it provides a great opportunity for Dr. Post and King Fury to grab validation in their […]
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