In light of the recent announcement that Wise Dan has been elected to the Hall of Fame, this seems a good time to revisit my list of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th and 21st Centuries to have raced in North America. Wise Dan is on the list. My Top 100, which is updated […]
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Saturday night, I received an e-mail with the following headline: Breaking News…Baffert Sweeps Oaklawn 3-year-old Stakes! What’s next? Just In…Sun Set in the West! Film at 11. It should be breaking news only when Bob Baffert doesn’t train the winner of a 3-year-old graded stakes race at Oaklawn Park. The Hall-of-Fame trainer has been treating […]
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The 2020 Kentucky Derby originally was scheduled to be held on May 2. But due to the insidious coronavirus that has wreaked havoc on millions of lives, this year’s Run for the Roses has been shifted to Sept. 5. The Arkansas Derby initially was to have been run on April 11. But after the May […]
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Millie Ball: It’s been three ‘works’ and about 5 inches of rain since we last spoke with Honor A.P. waiting ‘on deck’ for his next race. How is he handling it all and what challenges are you faced with in this holding pattern? John Shirreffs: Honor A.P. is handling his workout patterns with the little […]
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This season’s traditional Triple Crown series is, like most of us, under quarantine. The Kentucky Derby has been re-scheduled for the first Saturday in September. But, at this writing, there’s no word on Preakness or Belmont fates. Along the road to the Triple Crown familiar signposts have been removed. Last Saturday, for example, Santa Anita […]
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Pool 4 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) gives us a snapshot of how bettors currently view the picture for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby. This year’s Run for the Roses, originally scheduled for May 2, has been moved to Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus crisis. Pool 4 of the […]
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Millie Ball: How much do you think Honor A. P. got out of his race physically and, or mentally? John Shirreffs: Honor A. P.’s last race was really a key race for us. He hadn’t run in over 5 months and not really knowing what level of fitness we were at with him because as […]
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Millie Ball: John, Honor A.P. worked on Sunday what is he showing you from that breeze moving forward to the Santa Anita Derby April 4th? John Shirreffs: I thought he had a really good work. Sunday’s work was about matching strides. He worked with a big horse that’s almost 17 hands, he’s a router […]
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The Kentucky Derby, this country’s most famous horse race, has been held on the first Saturday in May for decades. It had been scheduled to be run this year on May 2. But as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s 146th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs has been shifted to […]
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Relax. Take a break. Hit ‘pause.’ Your determined search to find probable Kentucky Derby in-the-money finishers is suspended. For now. This weekend there are no races with Kentucky Derby starting-gate points attached. However, don’t get too comfortable. Consider this Saturday and Sunday a mere coffee break, not a vacation. The hunt for the first four […]
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This past weekend felt like the start of something big—the journey toward horse racing’s premier annual event: The Kentucky Derby. Granted, as the thermometer on the wall reminds, we’re a couple of months away from the first Saturday in May. However, from now until the Arkansas Derby April 11, just about every winter weekend offers […]
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Making amends for his defeat as a 3-5 favorite in his final start as a 2-year-old, Tiz the Law proved a punctual 13-10 favorite in Gulfstream Park’s Grade III Holy Bull Stakes last Saturday while making his 3-year-old debut. Off his sparkling Holy Bull victory, Tiz the Law moves all the way up to the […]
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Last Sunday’s Grade III Springboard Mile, which was taken by Shoplifted, wrapped up the 2019 portion of the Road to the Kentucky Derby points races. The Road to the Kentucky Derby is a series of 35 races from Sept. 14 this year through April 11 next year. These races award a sliding scale of points […]
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The tournament director sheepishly approached the podium, cleared his throat and adjusted the microphone, eliciting a screech of feedback in return. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my duty to inform you and the handful of competitors still out on the course that, in an unprecedented occurrence, the leader in the clubhouse, somehow, has just registered a […]
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Thanksgiving turkey gravy had hardly congealed when a mature man’s attention turned toward spring and the first Saturday in May. If you think late November is too early to begin analyzing that race’s outcome, you probably aren’t interested in the Kentucky Derby Future wager presented by Churchill Downs and available at Xpressbet. That’s how the […]
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