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2019 Racing Preview: Who Will Get Hot, Who Will Get Cold?
A new year of racing is on the horizon, and in preparation, it can be a useful exercise for handicappers to project which jockeys, trainers, and horses are poised for banner years or quiet years compared to 2018.
Having an idea of what to expect d ...
Racing
Thoughts on Santa Super Saturday Pick 4 at Fair Grounds
A premium will be on sharp handicapping throughout the terrific 14-race Santa Super Saturday card at Fair Grounds, where many of the races are devoted to up-and-coming two-year-old talent.
We'll try and build up the bankroll on the front half o ...
Racing
Tis the season...
With the Christmas Day and New Year's Day holidays rapidly approaching, voting members of the National Turf Writers Association and United States Harness Writers Association have been busy filling out their respective ballots for divisional champions ...
Racing
Juveniles to watch on Santa Super Saturday at Fair Grounds
A huge day of racing will take place on Saturday at Fair Grounds . Fourteen races will be contested in total, with six of those of the stakes variety. Juveniles will also have a strong presence on the card as eight of the 14 are for two-year-olds.
...
Racing
2018 Year in Review: Horse Racing's Top 5 Biggest Upsets
Country Chick Posts 123-1 Upset at Kentucky Downs
She had finished last in her lone previous start over the tricky turf course at Kentucky Downs . Her lone win had come at Belterra Park, and she was entering off a fourth-place fi ...
Racing
Why I'm Betting Aqueduct Specialists in the Gravesend Stakes
Aqueduct can be a bit of a tricky racetrack—slow, tiring, and distinctly different from the other tracks in New York—which is why I’ll lean toward proven Aqueduct specialists when handicapping Sunday’s $100,000 Gravesend Stakes .
First and fo ...
Racing
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2018-19 Road to the Kentucky Derby Year-End Review
With the running of the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun in Japan on December 19th, the final Kentucky Derby prep race of 2018 entered the history books, giving us an opportunity to look back on the season before the calendar turns over and we continue h ...
Racing
Profit Perspective For Quartet Of Tracks With Power Plays; Across-The-Board Features Aim High In Prices
Here is the penultimate preview blog of 2018 as our winter campaign for profits ensues with selected features and Power Plays, including horses we have been pinpointing for positive trips. The options for high-paying contenders are never certain (we ...
Racing
Year in Review: Who Was the Top Jockey in 2018?
It seems like a simple question: Who was the top jockey in North America in 2018?
By basic metrics such as overall wins and earnings, the answer is similarly simple: Irad Ortiz, Jr. As of December 17th, the 26-year-old rider leads all jockeys by ...
Racing
Year in Review: My Favorite Moment (That Wasn't a Race)
For the most part, the most memorable moments in any given year of horse racing will be individual races that stand out as exciting, brilliant, or competitive. That’s understandable, right? It’s called horse racing, and the races are bound to take c ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10: No Changes (For Now)
As the racing year winds down, the final Kentucky Derby prep races of the season are wrapping up.
On Sunday, Long Range Toddy forged to a narrow victory in the Remington Springboard Mile , earning 10 qualification points toward the 2019 Der ...
Racing
Derby, Oaks Contenders Star on Stakes-Packed Saturday at Fair Grounds
Up-and-coming two-year-olds with an eye on the 2019 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks are among the many talented horses entered in the six stakes races scheduled for December 22nd at Fair Grounds .
It’s yet another action-packed Saturda ...
Racing
Rating the First Round of 2019 Kentucky Derby Preps
Remington Springboard Mile
The Clever Trevor Stakes winner Long Range Toddy held off the Sleepy Hollow Stakes winner Bankit to win by a head and record his third straight victory . Meanwhile, the Spendthrift Juvenile Stallion Stakes winner Dunp ...
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Contender Profile: Long Range Toddy
If you’re looking for a 2019 Kentucky Derby contender with the pedigree to excel running 1 ¼ miles on the first Saturday in May, then you’ll be excited to check out Long Range Toddy , who burst onto the Derby scene with a hard-fought victory in ...
Racing
Long Range Toddy Hangs On in Remington Springboard Mile
In a race packed with traffic-filled trips, big middle moves, and dramatic late rallies, Long Range Toddy managed to defy the overall race trends and emerge victorious in the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile on December 16th at Remington P ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Long Range Toddy
Willis Horton's Long Range Toddy angled out at the top of the stretch and gamely held late to take the $400,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park on Sunday evening. The two-year-old colt earned his second straight black-type tally while ear ...
Racing
Rosecroft offers solid Sunday card on closing night
While two days of steady rains may have left the racing surface "good" for Sunday's closing night card at Rosecroft Raceway on Sunday, the departure of inclement weather before post time allowed onlookers to avoid having the enthusiasm surrounding th ...
Racing
Year in Review: The Best Horse of 2018
Already I’m looking ahead to 2019, when Almond Eye is expected to take on the world in races like the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I). In the latter race, Almond Eye could even square off against the two-time Arc ...
Racing
Power Plays’ Contenders Contribute To Exotic-Winning Tickets; Exacta Partner Pumps Up $46 Payoff
Our suggested contenders were very much in the thick of all the exotic action this week.
Here is how the week panned out:
Thursday, Dec. 13
Another extended Power Plays at Philly presented a single, low-priced winner, included in four of fiv ...
Racing
Year in Review: The Best Race of 2018
From start to finish, the Preakness was exciting, dramatic, and contested. Pre-race downpours had left the Pimlico main track sloppy and sealed, and as post time approached dense fog settled in, making it difficult to discern the horses even on telev ...
Racing
How to play the all-stakes Pick 4 Sunday at Remington Park
The closing day card of the 2018 Remington Park season is Sunday, and it concludes with a $100,000 guaranteed all-stakes Pick 4. Leg three is the $400,000 Springboard Mile , the final point-scoring opportunity of the year in the 2019 Road to the K ...
Racing
Graded stakes plays for Gulfstream Park
A big day of stakes action will be held at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Five graded events in total will be held, and I have some opinions on each of them.
H arlan’s Holiday (G3)
AUDIBLE (#1) (2-5) is obvious for Todd Pletcher in the 1 1/1 ...
Racing
Playing Saturday’s All-Stakes Pick 4 at Gulfstream Park
An extremely competitive edition of the Ft. Lauderdale (G2) anchors Saturday’s All-Stakes Pick 4 at Gulfstream Park. Here are my thoughts on the sequence:
Rampart (G3)
Electric Forest (#1) will take some beating for Chad Brown but I’m not kee ...
Racing
2018 Horse of the Year Vote Could Shape Racing's Future
When crossed the wire first in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) to complete a rare sweep of the coveted Triple Crown , most racing fans assumed that the battle for 2018 Horse of the Year honors had already been won.
In the years since form ...
Racing
Galilean Looms Large in King Glorious Stakes
There’s no such thing as a “can’t lose” proposition in the sport of horse racing, though if we’re being honest, #2 Galilean looks to be pretty close to a certain winner of Sunday’s $100,000 King Glorious Stakes at Los Alamitos .
This one-mil ...
Racing
Three-year-olds pose serious threat in Carlos Pellegrini
South America's most important race, the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini (G1), will be run Saturday at San Isidro Racecourse outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, and this year's renewal will have some added significance.
For the first time, the Pellegri ...
Racing
Dover Downs offers solid Thursday card
Amid the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping throughout the land, harness racing fans perhaps took a respite from encountering the mall drama by taking a glimpse at the solid program that Dover Downs had to offer on Thursday. In the penultimate ra ...
Racing
Award Winner Looks Prize-Worthy in Gulfstream Maiden Race
It’s well known that Todd Pletcher is tough to beat at Gulfstream Park , where he has been the leading trainer at the winter/spring Championship Meet on fifteen occasions.
Pletcher is particularly tough with his two-year-olds and three-year-old ...
Racing
Triple Crown winner Justify and trainer Bob Baffert (NYRA/Alysse Jacobs/Adam Coglianese Photography)
Eclipse Award: Trainers
The race for the Eclipse Award for trainers looks like a two-person duel – four-time winner Bob Baffert against Chad Brown , who has won it the past two years.
It’s a lot closer than you think.
Training a Triple Crown winner would seem l ...
Racing
Hi Happy winning the Pan American Stakes (gr. II) - Photo by Lauren King/Adam Coglianese Photography
Handicapping the Gulfstream Park All-Stakes Pick 4
With 43 horses spread across four races, the all-stakes Pick 4 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park is shaping up to be a great sequence with lots of options for handicappers to consider.
One of the challenges of playing sequences like this is keepi ...
Racing
Selected Features From Both Coasts; Exotic Escapades; Pacing For Profits With Power Plays
Continuing with our winter campaign for profits we offer more selected features and Power Plays with many options for play and plenty of promising high-paying contenders.
TwinSpires harness blog’s exclusive horses-to-watch (H2W) list is again at y ...
Racing
Keying Audible in the Harlan's Holiday Stakes
On a stakes-packed day of racing at Gulfstream Park , one of the highlights is the $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes (gr. III) , a 1 1/16-mile event that serves as a logical steppingstone toward the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (gr. I) ...
Racing
Betting Out-of-State Shippers in the Remington Springboard Mile
Since its inaugural running in 2009, the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park has been rising steadily in prestige, attracting better horses and stronger fields to the extent that it was added to the Road to the Kentu ...
Racing
Talented 2yos Take Center Stage at Tampa Bay Downs
With the 2019 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) looming on the distant horizon, Tampa Bay Downs will kick off their annual schedule of stakes races for young Derby and Oaks contenders with the Inaugural Stakes and Sandp ...
Racing
Eclipse Award: Jockeys
Some years, the Eclipse Awards do not require a lot of research as some horse or person is far ahead of everyone else. We know the Horse of the Year vote will be closer than normal between Triple Crown winner Justify versus Breeders’ Cup Cla ...
Racing
Tips and Trends for Handicapping Marathons
Marathon horse races held over 1 ¾ miles or farther aren’t all that common in North America, and when they are on the agenda, some handicappers find themselves puzzled by the unusual challenge of handicapping such long-distance races.
What do you ...
Education
Sundays offer plenty of harness action
While many sports enthusiasts remained glued to the television sets on Sunday afternoon and evening watching the numerous NFL games available, harness racing fans were eager to catch the action at a trio of five-eighths mile ovals in three different ...
Racing
Mendelssohn poised to be a good thing in the breeding shed
If any horse this year has earned his retirement and a subsequent lifetime of "work" in the breeding shed, it's MENDELSSOHN . He made six cross-Atlantic trips to America this year and one to Dubai, which is as long as his trips to America. And t ...
Racing
Santa Anita Park Preview
Like I wrote in an earlier blog, Frank's a people person. He engages with fellow horseplayers because like us, he has a passion for the sport. He loves horse racing, which is why from his first day on the job he should be an instant success. Don't ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10: Game Winner Challenged By His Stablemate?
For the first time this season, a horse has emerged to challenge Game Winner for the top spot in my Kentucky Derby Top 10, a position that the son of Candy Ride has tenaciously held since September.
Ultimately, Game Winner narrowly retained ...
Racing
Baffert's Got Another Strong Derby Hand
It's almost become a foregone conclusion that the great Bob Baffert heads into the New Year with the top 3-year-olds on the planet. No exception to 2019. Bob's stable has at least 4 Derby contenders already with more on the way. Just as a reminder t ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Improbable
Improbable moved his sterling mark to three wins from as many outings with an impressive, five-length score in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) on Saturday.
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Contender Profile: Improbable
That tremendous move, coupled with a final sixteenth in :06.39, carried Improbable to a five-length victory and elicited praise from Baffert and WinStar Farm representative Elliot Walden. “Improbable has a long stride like Justify,” Baffert told Los ...
Racing
Watch Out, Game Winner: Improbable Impresses in Los Alamitos Futurity
Mucho Gusto, himself a promising colt with a victory in the Bob Hope Stakes (gr. III) under his belt, stayed on well to finish clearly second best, three lengths clear of the late-running Extra Hope . Coming home fourth was the Bob Hope runner-up S ...
Racing
Yonkers and Meadowlands hosts solid Saturday night cards
While much of the northeast and Mid-Atlantic region was spared the premature winter storm that made its presence known throughout the midwest before trekking east, Yonkers and the Meadowlands both hosted solid programs that were filled with overnight ...
Racing
Yonkers $83 Winner Best Of Year To Date; $25 Cold Exacta Strike; Favorites Sour Features
In the final days of 2018 our horses-to-watch list (H2W) came up with another huge winner. The huge priced winner came on a slow-wagering weekend otherwise, with the best of our results, including a cold exacta, partner-exactas with crowd favorites a ...
Racing
Grass Championships Wide-Open at the 2018 Eclipse Awards
Aside from Stormy Liberal, Oscar Performance won the Woodbine Mile (gr. I) and the Poker Stakes (gr. III) but was soundly beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Mile; Robert Bruce won the Fort Marcy (gr. III) and the Arlington Million (gr. I) but finished m ...
Racing
Savagery an intriguing prospect in Los Alamitos Futurity
The American Graded Stakes Committee announced recently that the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) would be downgraded next year to Grade 2 status. Trainer Bob Baffert has won the 1 1/16-mile event 10 times and has two of the strong choices in Saturday’s ...
Racing
Dover Downs offers another solid Thursday card
One week after it hosted the last major stakes race for three-year-iold colt pacers on the calendar, Dover Downs offered a solid card filled with over night races and presented while many local racegoers were watching with a heavy heart. Longtime Do ...
Racing
Betting a Cold Exacta in the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint Stakes
While some handicappers understandably shy away from betting heavy favorites, under the right circumstances, I’m more than happy to back a short-priced contender if I think I can make a nice score in the exotic wagers.
Such is the case in Saturday ...
Racing
How to Bet the Valedictory Stakes
Want to take on a difficult handicapping challenge this weekend? Then come join me in analyzing Sunday’s $125,000 Valedictory Stakes (gr. III) at Woodbine .
The uncommon (and very testing) 1 ¾-mile distance would make this race tricky to hand ...
Racing
Exotic Philly Power Plays; Money-Makers At Meadowlands; Pushing Northfield’s ‘Button’
So goes the 2018 stakes season on all levels. Still, harness racing through the holiday season is chock full of opportunities, some that contribute greatly to bankrolls on the brink of red ink. So our campaign for profits continues through the New Ye ...
Racing
Betting a Baffert Exacta in the Los Alamitos Futurity
Just how many times has the Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) , which will be renewed for the 38th time on December 8th?
Well, technically, Baffert has never lost the Los Alamitos Futurity. Since th ...
Racing
Keying Mother Mother in the Starlet Stakes
At first glance, the December 8th $300,000 Starlet Stakes (gr. I) at Los Alamitos isn’t the most appealing race from a betting perspective—with just six starters, payoffs could be on the small side.
But then again, the 1 1/16-mile Road to th ...
Racing
Six Juvenile Stakes Races Scheduled for December 8th at Gulfstream Park
As part of an action-packed afternoon of racing on December 8th, Gulfstream Park will host not only the Clasico Internacional del Caribe series (showcasing some of the best horses from Latin America and the Caribbean), but also a half-dozen st ...
Racing
Hong Kong does it right
Recently, I was added to the media mailing list of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC). With their four big international races coming up this weekend, my mailbox is being filled up each day. Keep them coming!
What is striking about their media missi ...
Racing
Betting Regional Class Advantages, Part 2
In a recent article here on TwinSpires, we discussed how regional class advantages can exist throughout the sport of horse racing and produce to profitable wagering opportunities.
Analysis
Multiple Breeds Take Center Stage on Louisiana Champions Day
The upcoming Saturday race card at Fair Grounds offers something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of dirt or turf races, sprints or route, juveniles or older horses, and Thoroughbreds or Quarter Horses.
On a day billed as “Louisiana Champion ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10: Maximus Mischief On the Rise
Although no new names have joined my Kentucky Derby Top 10 following the weekend of December 1-2, that doesn’t mean my rankings have gone completely unchanged.
To the contrary, Maximus Mischief has moved up following an eye-catching victo ...
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Contender Profile: Maximus Mischief
Understandably, some handicappers will continue to point toward Maximus Mischief’s pedigree as a reason why he won’t excel running 1 ¼ miles on the first Saturday in May. But rare is the two-year-old who can run a pair of sub-:24 quarters during the ...
Racing
Rosecroft Raceway hosts third annual Potomac Pace
Amid balmy, misty conditions on Sunday evening, Rosecroft Raceway hosted the third edition of the $100,000 Potomac Pace on a stellar card that also included a $25,000 Maryland Invitational and a special invite featuring Foiled Again as part of his fa ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Maximus Mischief
Although Maximus Mischief stayed 1 1/8 miles to win the Remsen (G2), pedigree suggests that could be his maximum trip.
Bred by Martha Jane Mulholland in Kentucky, the $340,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile is a son of Into Mischief, a top ...
Racing
Jockey Profile: Joe Talamo
Horseplayers who play Southern California tracks Santa Anita Park and Del Mar know that one of the most reliable jockeys on the grounds is Joe Talamo. Joe almost never rides the best horse, but he always does a great job. Unless Talamo's mounts have ...
Racing
Trainer Profile: Rudy R. Rodriguez
Many horseplayers still aren't aware that Rudy Rodriguez's one of the top trainers in the nation. Rudy has saddled plenty of graded stakes winners. But because most of horses win claiming, allowance, and non-graded stakes, he doesn't get the attentio ...
Racing
Maximus Mischief Handles Class, Distance Tests in Remsen Stakes
Trained by Robert “Butch” Reid, Jr. and owned by Cash is King LLC and LC Racing, the victory earned Maximus Mischief $137,500 and 10 Kentucky Derby qualification points, but seeing him run such a professional race while stretching out in distance was ...
Racing
Glamour-Boy Pacers’ Season Fizzles; Pair Of $10 Winners Best Of Few
It’s that time of the year when we pick and choose races for features and offer promising prices from all pools, win, place, show and exotics. Here is how the first week of the last month of this year panned out:
Thursday, Nov. 29
The Progres ...
Racing
Rosecroft set to host solid Sunday card
Tomorrow evening while many sports enthusiasts are still watching the action from across the National Football League, harness racing fans will turn their attention to Rosecroft Raceway as the Maryland five-eighths mile oval hosts the $100,000 Potoma ...
Racing
Thoughts on Saturday’s stakes at Aqueduct
Aqueduct offers four stakes with the potential for odds-on favorites -- Enliven, Marley’s Feedom, Maximus Mischief and Mendelssohn – in the Demoiselle (G2), Go for Wand (G2), Remsen (G2) and Cigar Mile (G1). I won’t be surprised to see any win, but ...
Racing
Horses to watch on 2018 Claiming Crown Day at Gulfstream
The 20th Claiming Crown highlights Saturday's opening of the 2018-19 Gulfstream Park Championship Meet. The fields are huge and the betting opportunities plentiful.
Don't forget to opt in to TwinSpires.com's $10,000 Place Payout . Bet $5 to Pl ...
Racing
Dover Downs offers lucrative Thursday card; field set for Sunday program at Rosecroft
Thursday evening Dover Downs offered a lucrative card that featured the last major open stakes race of the schedule for three-year-old colt pacers in addition to four finals for Delaware-bred two-year-olds of both gaits and genders. That afternoon th ...
Racing
Why I'm Keying the Favorites in the Hollywood Derby
With relatively few opportunities remaining for horses to compete against Grade 1 company before the end of 2018, fourteen three-year-olds have turned out to contest Saturday’s $300,000 Hollywood Derby (gr. I) at Del Mar .
But while the huge ...
Racing
Will Mendelssohn Prevail in the Cigar Mile?
More often than not, the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (gr. I) at Aqueduct is won by a horse exiting a Breeders’ Cup race, whether it’s the Classic, the Dirt Mile, or even the Sprint.
It only makes sense. With its Grade 1 ranking, its hefty p ...
Racing
How to Bet the Exotics in the Remsen Stakes
If you’re among the many handicappers who figure to place their betting dollars on #5 Network Effect in Saturday’s $250,000 Remsen Stakes (gr. II) at Aqueduct , I certainly can’t blame you.
What’s not to like? He’s got the powerful team of ...
Racing
Seven Maiden Winners Face Off in Demoiselle Stakes
Looking for a wide-open race to handicap this weekend? Well, considering that none of the seven entrants in Saturday’s $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes (gr. II) at Aqueduct have won more than a maiden race, it could take a bit of skill to determine ...
Racing
Delaware’s Best Fight In Finals; Progress Pace Pick Defies Public; Power Plays
Dover’s signature Progress Pace Final for soph-colt pacers and some state-breds highlight our features this time around, then we head for “Overnight Land,” where exotics and particular events loom profitable. Our first Power Plays combo of the off-se ...
Racing
Claiming Crown Kicks Off Gulfstream Park 2018-2019 Championship Meet
The 2018-2019 Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park will kick off with a bang on December 1st with the 20th running of the Claiming Crown, a series of nine races restricted to current or former claiming race competitors.
With total purse money ...
Racing
Dover Downs set to host solid Thursday card
One week after the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend and the coinciding 'Black Friday' mad dash to the mall for early Christmas shoppers, Dover Downs will offer a solid card on Thursday evening as good blend of talented invaders and local trainees bat ...
Racing
Girls will be Girls
By DICK POWELL
It’s a big deal when females beat males in American horse racing but barely noticeable around the world. Enable won the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) and Magical was right behind her with a huge gap back to the boys. Coming off her w ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Signalman
If Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) winner Signalman has a blue-collar pedigree up front, you don’t have to go far to find influential players along with the Rasmussen Factor.
Signalman was bred by Dr. Gary Knapp’s Monticule, the Kentucky farm respon ...
Racing
Santa Anita’s New Race Caller is Frank Mirahmadi
On Monday, Nov. 26, Santa Anita announced that their new race caller starting on Dec. 26 was Frank Mirahmadi. Frank's a Southern Californian through and through having been born in Beverly Hills and spending plenty of time at the place of his new job ...
Racing
Make Happy dominant, Romantico one to watch in Cattleya Sho
The Cattleya Sho was run on Saturday at Tokyo Racecourse for two-year-olds going 1,600 meters (about one mile) on the dirt. It is a left-handed race around one turn and is part of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby with points being awarded on ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10: Signalman Moves Up
The action on the Road to the Kentucky Derby picked up over the weekend with Signalman claiming a gutsy victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) and the filly Make Happy powering to a decisive win in the Cattleya Sho in Japa ...
Racing
Rosecroft and Pompano host solid Sunday cards
One week before the Maryland oval will host the third edition of the $100,000 Potomac Pace for older pacers, Rosecroft Raceway offered a solid Sunday evening program and Pompano Park contributed to the five-eighths mile features with a trio of stakes ...
Racing
‘All Others’ bet down as favorites in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager
KENTUCKY DERBY SIRE FUTURE WAGER ...
Racing
Game Winner Heads First 2019 Kentucky Derby Top 5 Power Rankings
Game Winner's a solid choice to win the 2019 Kentucky Derby. The Bob Baffert trainee that easily handled his opponents in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile offered 6/1 odds to win the Run for the Roses in the first Kentucky Derby Futures Pool. Makes sense ...
Racing
2018 Break Out Year for Trainer Mike McCarthy
Not many horseplayers know the name Mike McCarthy. The man who trained City of Light to the most impressive victory on this year's Breeders' Cup Champions Saturday hasn't trained for long. While some of his peers have put saddles on horses for 30 yea ...
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Contender Profile: Signalman
Million-dollar yearlings make headlines from the moment they change hands at auction. But what about $32,000 yearlings? They have to wait and let their racing exploits make headlines instead, and suffice to say, Signalman is already making plenty ...
Racing
Betting Regional Class Advantages, Part 1
While the old saying “a good horse can come from anywhere” is certainly true, it’s also true that good horses are more likely to come from some places than others.
A great example comes from California, where a greater emphasis is placed on dirt r ...
Analysis
Signalman Digs Deep in Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes
You can argue that luck played a significant role in allowing Signalman to reach the wire first in Saturday’s $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill Downs . But luck merely put Signalman in the position to win, and it was un ...
Racing
Captain Crunch Devours Frosh Pacers With Delicious Price; Shartin N Soars In The Slop; McWicked With Ease
Stakes season ends but harness racing never ends. Here are the results and some brief notes on our successes and failures from the last stakes weekend of 2018.
Saturday, Nov. 24
The Meadowlands was a mushy mess for the special ...
Racing
Meadowlands, Yonkers offer solid Saturday night cards
A series of steady rains may have left the racing surfaces at both the Meadowlands and Yonkers Raceway sloppy, but they could not dampen the enthusiasm surrounding both cards. In one of the early races on the Meadowlands program, Emoticon Hanover (D ...
Racing
Filly Make Happy Earns Derby Qualification Points in Cattleya Sho
Nevertheless, Make Happy’s victory in the Cattleya Sho brought her record to a perfect 2-for-2; she had previously won a one-mile newcomers race at Tokyo by a staggering ten lengths. Sold for $650,000 earlier this year and now racing for owner Kazuko ...
Racing
Restless Rider the key in Fleur de Lis Pick 4 and Churchill's late Pick 4
Saturday's Golden Rod (G2) and Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs are part of the inaugural Fleur de Lis Pick 4 and Churchill's own Late Pick 4, both of which are intriguing sequences. Here's how we'll be playing both wagers, starting wi ...
Racing
How to Bet the 2018 Kentucky Jockey Club
by SCOTT SHAPIRO
The final graded stakes event of the year in Kentucky drew a full field of two-year-olds in search of 10 “Road to the Kentucky Derby ” leaderboard points to the winner.
The Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) attracted the sec ...
Racing
What constitutes a race foul needs to be more properly defined
by DICK POWELL
The newly-minted Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) came out with their second report titled "Changing the Rules." It recommends that North American racing adopt the International Horse Racing Federation's Category 1 interference ...
Racing
Bessarabian Stakes Offers Rematch of Ontario Fashion Stakes Rivals
If the field for Sunday’s $175,000 Bessarabian Stakes (gr. II) at Woodbine seems a bit familiar, that’s because the seven-furlong all-weather sprint is essentially a rematch of last month’s Ontario Fashion Stakes (gr. III) over the same track. ...
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager Pool: Who Offers the Best Value?
If you’re planning to play Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1 this weekend—and let’s face it, if you’re a Derby fan, how can you skip it?—you might also want to take a look at the lesser-known Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager Pool that will ...
Racing
2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1: Three Longshots to Consider
On a busy weekend with two Kentucky Derby prep races in the United States and Japan, bettors will have an opportunity to lock in early value on some of the top Derby contenders thanks to Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 1.
This special wageri ...
Racing