Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths. Sham ran his heart out but had to settle for second. Justify won the 2018 Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths. Good Magic ran his heart out but had to settle for second. Two weeks after Secretariat’s Kentucky Derby victory, he won the Preakness Stakes. […]
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We correctly tabbed the Derby result in this space, touting winner Justify as The One to Beat and second and third-place finishers, respectively, Good Magic and Audible as ‘Ones That Can Do It.’ However, we didn’t do quite as well with our suggested wagering strategies. We suggested keying Justify in the first, second and third […]
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Earlier this week I received an inquisitive e-mail from a friend containing a link to a Sports Illustrated article by Tim Layden posted at MSN.com: Justify Elicits Comparisons to American Pharoah in First Step of Following Same Historic Path (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/justify-elicits-comparisons-to-american-pharoah-in-first-step-of-following-same-historic-path/ar-AAwO7ri?li=BBnba9I). The question my friend asked is, “So, what do you think?” As I typed a […]
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When American Pharoah in 2015 swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, he ended a 37-year streak in which there had been no Triple Crown winner. He became the first horse to achieve the coveted feat since Affirmed in 1978. But those 37 years were peanuts compared to the streak that came to […]
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Dinosaurs were roaming the earth the last time a horse won the Kentucky Derby without racing as a 2-year-old. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But the point is it’s been ages since it happened. No Kentucky Derby winner from the 1880s is talked about these days as much as Apollo. That’s because no horse […]
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By most estimations this is a Kentucky Derby field rich in talent where at least four different horses are capable of winning without raising an eyebrow. To make matters more difficult there are at least two runners in the field—Justify and Mendelssohn–that have exhibited sufficient talent to suggest they may be very special. However, in […]
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Below is my strategy for betting the 2018 Kentucky Derby. I have broken the field into 5 categories: key horse, win candidates, underneath horses, fringe players and tosses, and built some exotic plays off of these categories. Key Horse Bolt d’Oro (#11, 8-1) checks off every box heading into the Derby. Bolt has faced the best competition and […]
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Quip and Gronkowski are out. Combatant and Instilled Regard are in. It was announced Monday that Quip, winner of the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby and runner-up in the Grade I Arkansas Derby, will not run in the Grade I Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5. Quip races for WinStar Farm and China […]
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This season’s Kentucky Derby picture is as challenging to complete as a jigsaw puzzle missing a handful of pieces. Accurately predicting the outcome of the nation’s most famous horserace never is easy but, this season, the task seems nearly impossible. This first Saturday in May, horseplayers should anticipate confusion, frustration and a heck of a […]
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Whether or not Justify wins the Kentucky Derby to become the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to do so without having raced as a 2-year-old, what he already has accomplished is extraordinary. In the span of just 48 days, Justify went from being an unraced maiden to a Grade I winner in last Saturday’s […]
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Saturday, Justify, the most exciting sophomore racehorse in North America, grabbed the 2018 Santa Anita Derby by the throat out of the gate and didn’t let go for 1:49.72. Simultaneously, he intensified his grip on favoritism in the Kentucky Derby. Twice he repelled bids from Bolt d’Oro, a multiple Grade 1 winner and runner-up for […]
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Below is the late Pick 5 ticket for Santa Anita Derby Day, April 7th, 2018 at Santa Anita Park. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 8 Sigur Ros (#8, 6-1) finally catches a field with no speed after being used up in pace duels in his last two starts. He was 6 wide every […]
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With two Saturdays and just five remaining races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, there’s not much ‘prep’ time left for the nation’s elite 3-year-olds, or horseplayers. I suppose, at this point, we ought to know the major players. However, the Kentucky Derby offers more than just win, place and […]
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Talk about running up the score. Racing on the dirt for the first time, Mendelssohn streaked home in last Saturday’s Group I UAE Derby in Dubai. He kept widening…and widening…and widening. When he reached the finish, no one else was in the same zip code. He won by such a large margin that there is […]
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Below is the late Pick 4 ticket for Florida Derby Day at Gulfstream Park. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 11 Stormy Victoria (#3, 4-1) is the longer price of the Christophe Clement pair in here and has a recency edge over stablemate Lull. This mare appears to be better than ever and sports […]
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