Is Maximus Mischief another Smarty Jones? Smarty Jones won his first two career starts as a 2-year-old in 2003, both at Philadelphia Park, the track now known as Parx Racing. He won those races by 7 3/4 and 15 lengths. Smarty Jones then made it three for three with a victory at Aqueduct. He took […]

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Yet another important 2018 race was contested on a wet track. Accelerate won the Grade I Santa Anita Handicap by 5 1/2 lengths on a sloppy track last March 10. Justify splish-splashed his way to a 2 1/2-length triumph on a sloppy surface in the Grade I Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs last May 5. […]

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Hall of Famer Bob Baffert has become such a force these days that sometimes he manages to win a Grade I race even when he loses. For instance, in the Grade I, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 19, Baffert sent out Arrogate, the 3-5 favorite. Arrogate lost. He finished second. But […]

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West Coast, a convincing winner of Belmont Park’s Easy Goer Stakes for Hall of Fame horseman Bob Baffert, and Klimt, a Grade I winner for Baffert last year who now is being trained by Art Sherman, head this Saturday’s Grade III Los Alamitos Derby. Eight are entered in the 1 1/8-miles affair. West Coast is […]

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For his win in last Saturday’s $180,000 Winter Challenge at Los Alamitos, fan favorite California Chrome earned $50,000. The dominant victory in what is scheduled to be the penultimate start of his marvelous career boosted his total bankroll to $14,502,652. According to Equibase, these are the 10 leading money-winning Thoroughbreds to have made at least […]

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This time of the season, in Thoroughbred racing, things generally are a bit slow on the racing front. Sure, Laurel, Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Fair Grounds, Los Alamitos and many more tracks are in action, but the product doesn’t compare to the quality that will be available to horseplayers in another six weeks or so. However, this […]

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A certain Hall of Fame trainer is dominating three of this nation’s Grade I races to such an extent that it is getting to be downright ridiculous. The trainer is Bob Baffert. The three races are the Haskell Invitational (for 3-year-olds), Del Mar Futurity (for 2-year-olds) and Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (also for 2-year-olds). Although […]

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