Unbeaten, untied and un-scored upon in three starts at two, Thoroughbred racing fans were poised to see how McCraken would perform in his first start at age three. He didn’t disappoint. The bay colt by Ghostzapper, out of Ivory Empress, bred in Kentucky by owner Whitham Thoroughbreds, first popped the gate back in October at […]
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Yours truly loves this time of year. Each weekend, now through mid-April, we’ll enjoy heated competition between the nation’s top 3-year-olds—male and female—as connections chase Kentucky Oaks and Derby glory. Horseplayers, likewise, will pursue pari-mutuel success: weekly, in crowded prep races, and long-term, with an eventual assault on monster Oaks and Derby pools the first […]
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Early in 2015, I wrote that American Pharoah reminded me of Seattle Slew in terms of pure talent. Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby in 1977 while on his way to a sweep of the Triple Crown. American Pharoah later in 2015 would likewise succeed in the Kentucky Derby while on his way to winning […]
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Trainer Bob Baffert was right on…again. He described Arrogate’s pre-Pegasus condition as “Super Cherry.” Urban Dictionary’s online definition of ‘cherry’ isn’t what Baffert meant. And he also wasn’t inferring that his horse was a strange color. By way of explanation for the under-60 crowd, ‘cherry’ is 1960’s slang for nice, good or terrific. Period synonyms […]
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Pegasus, according to Greek mythology, is a winged horse. But more and more it seems even Pegasus himself might be no match for Arrogate. Sweeping to the front on the far turn, Arrogate went on to win last Saturday’s inaugural running of the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational by 4 3/4 emphatic lengths at […]
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The eyes of the racing world will be on Gulfstream Park when the Pegasus World Cup Invitational is run for the first time this Saturday. Its opulence in horse racing is unprecedented. The $12 million purse makes it the richest horse race that has ever been contested on the planet (or in the universe, for […]
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Listen to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and ex-jockey turned veteran trainer Art Sherman talk, and you’d be positive that Arrogate, conditioned by the former, and California Chrome, saddled by the latter, can’t help but finish in a dead-heat Saturday in the world’s richest horse race—the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream […]
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The 2016 Eclipse Award finalists recently were revealed. The winners in each category will be announced this Saturday at the 46th annual Eclipse Awards dinner in Florida at Gulfstream Park. The first year I made Eclipse Award predictions in this column was for racing in 2011. My Eclipse Award predictions have been correct 91.7% of […]
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Horseplayers routinely ‘review as preview.’ That is they analyze what’s happened in the past in order to predict what might happen in the future. Prognostication is so at the heart of the game–for owners, trainers and jockeys, too– that along with racing licenses they ought to hand out crystal balls. Perhaps, the game’s only contributors […]
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Nothing like a new beginning. A fresh start. Clean slate. That’s what landed on our doorsteps less than two weeks ago. The gift of the New Year. Hope. Opportunity. The future. An empty canvas beckoning a masterpiece. A blank Word doc anticipating the Great American Novel. A zero win/loss Xpressbet balance. ‘Now’ represents a golden […]
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Celebrities galore were spotted on the red carpet in La La Land last Sunday prior to the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Meanwhile, down the road at Santa Anita Park, a rising star of the equine variety was seen when Unique Bella registered a ridiculously easy victory in the Grade II Santa Ynez Stakes. A $400,000 […]
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Now that it is 2017, it’s time for my 13th annual ranking of the Top 10 performances of the year. Keep in mind this is not a list of the Top 10 “races” of the year (the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Distaff, with Beholder nosing out Songbird at the end of a fantastic stretch battle, […]
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Beat the Host, Xpressbet’s popular and profitable weekly handicapping competition, begins Saturday (Jan. 7), when blogger and handicapper Jeremy Plonk squares off against account holders itching to knock his block off. If you are an Xpressbet account holder not playing to play Beat the Host on at least one Saturday in January and February, what’s […]
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I just voted for the second time in 2016. Once in November—for the office of President of the United States and for assorted governmental positions and referendums. This time, I helped to determine winners of Eclipse Awards, to be presented Jan. 21 at Gulfstream Park. In November I considered myself reasonably informed about candidates, platforms […]
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Below is how I plan to fill out my official Eclipse Award ballot for 2016, with the caveat that my decisions will not be absolutely final until the entire year is over. That is why I will not be submitting my ballot before until after racing this Saturday (Dec. 31) is completed. TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE: 1. […]
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