Below is the late Pick 4 ticket at Santa Anita Park on January 20th, 2018. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 6 Sauce On Side (#5, 2-1) can win two in a row with a repeat effort of her last race. Dropping to a $30,000 maiden claimer for the first time, she crushed her […]
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The evidence is mounting that the Southern California-based 3-year-olds are strong in 2018. This brings to mind what happened during a recent three-year period in the Triple Crown races. SoCal based 3-year-olds enjoyed considerable success in these historic races from 2014 through 2016, winning seven of the nine. SoCal-based California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby […]
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Below is the late Pick 4 ticket at Santa Anita Park on January 13th, 2018. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 6 Clever Royal (#11, 6-1) ran against much tougher last time out at Aqueduct. East Coast turf form is usually better in general and the horse he lost to by a half […]
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At this writing, it’s freezing outside. Technically, I suppose, it’s below freezing. Way below. Been that way for a while, too. What’s that line, ‘everyone complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it.’ Word! In times like these there’s temptation to look past the current climate and ahead, toward spring and what […]
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Below is the late Pick 4 ticket at Santa Anita Park on January 6th, 2018. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 6 Whatyouciswhatuget (#6, 6-1) showed nice improvement in her second start and drops in for a tag for the first time. The freshening should help this newly turned three-year-old, as should the […]
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The twinkling golden tree in the dining room stares at me in anticipation of deconstruction. Stockings above the fireplace hang–awkward, empty and fated so for another year. Additional assorted holiday decorations dot my cozy living spaces. Their shining moments, too, have come and gone; banished by the arrival of a New Year to dreary hiding […]
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Santa Anita opened Christmas Day, 1934. No, I wasn’t there. Thanks for asking, though. I’ve personally experienced plenty of ‘Anita premieres, but they’ve all come the day after Christmas. Personally, ‘Great Race Place’ launches always have been special occasions. I vividly recall cracking the sealed edges of a crisp, virgin Daily Racing Form. Still can […]
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Below is the late Pick 4 ticket at Santa Anita Park on December 30th, 2017. This Saturday’s ticket centers around strong opinions in the two middle legs of the sequence. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 6 Kristi’s Copilot (#6, 6-1) leads a wide-open allowance race that is short on reliable contenders. He […]
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Leverage Plays by Padraic Manocchio Below is the Early Pick 5 ticket at Santa Anita Park on Opening Day, December 26th, 2017. As always the ticket is $20 or less. Race 1 River Boyne (#1, 3-1) ran exceptionally well in his United States debut after showing improving form in Europe. He is strictly the horse to beat […]
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Bob Ehalt recently conducted polls for Thoroughbred Racing Commentary that asked various people involved in the sport who they believed to be the best horses, jockeys and trainers to compete in North America over the last 50 years. The results were announced last week. Participants in the three polls included a wide range of people […]
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Know how everyone complains that the holiday season is too busy? They’re right. My plate’s so full it looks like I just circled a Las Vegas buffet. Yesterday my in-box quit displaying the number of unread e-mails and now reads, ‘Enough already.’ Santa’s not the only one making lists. Except I don’t have time to […]
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I’m not surprised that brush fires recently ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres in Southern California. In fact, at this writing, with more warm, windy, dry, low-humidity days in the forecast, thousands more acres may burn before fires are completely contained. Having lived in the Pasadena area for 30 years, I comprehend the ferocity and […]
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Ever hear the proverb about how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? It’s supposed to teach us to be satisfied with what we have instead of envying a neighbor’s possessions. This past Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Del Mar racetrack in California, that message got the bird…and I don’t mean […]
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Winx obviously takes the first three letters of her name very seriously. In Australia last Saturday, Winx cruised to a facile 6 1/2-length triumph over a half-dozen overmatched opponents in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes. A crowd of 20,822 at Melbourne’s lovely Flemington Racecourse watched the 6-year-old wonder mare extend her winning streak to 21. […]
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Bolt d’Oro is said to have been named after the great sprinter Usain Bolt. But in last Saturday’s FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita, Bolt d’Oro showed everyone he certainly is not just a sprinter. Going farther than seven furlongs for the first time, Bolt d’Oro kept his unblemished record intact by registering a 7 3/4-length […]
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