Are you ready for 2019? You’d better be. It’s coming. Like it or not. And, as they say, ‘Time, like the subway, waits for no one.’ This past season was a good one. We had Justify, a Triple Crown winner, only the 13th in history. What’s that you say? Not a big deal? OK. […]
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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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VENUE: Churchill Downs on Nov. 2-3. Main Track: dirt, fast Friday and Saturday; Turf Course listed as yielding by Equibase on Friday; Turf Course listed as yielding by Equibase for Saturday’s Turf Sprint; Turf Course listed as good by Equibase for Saturday’s Filly & Mare Turf, Saturday’s Mile and Saturday’s Turf. $6 MILLION CLASSIC (NOV. […]
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This was a weird Breeders’ Cup. For me, the strangest ever. I’ve been around for all 35 of them–including in person at Hollywood Park in 1984 for the event’s maiden voyage. That sunny and 70 afternoon I stood this close to Elizabeth Taylor. Yep, that Liz Taylor. Our eyes met, briefly. Violet. Sparkling. Mesmerizing. Hers. […]
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If you think now is too early to begin handicapping Breeders’ Cup races then you’re horribly mistaken. While post positions haven’t been drawn yet, we’ve got a decent idea about which horses will be in what races. And if you’ve scanned that starting roster at all, you know how challenging picking winners Nov. 2 & […]
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What if the last 11 winners of the Breeders’ Cup Classic were to meet in a race? Who would win it? That was the interesting subject for a recent podcast conducted by Jared Welch and Aaron Halterman of Racingdudes.com. According to Welch, this hypothetical race was to be based on each horse’s winning BC […]
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Don’t look now but Breeders’ Cup is approaching faster than Winx in the stretch. Those two wonderful watch-and-wager days are less than a month away. That means now is the time to make like a squirrel and gather nuts. Not actual nuts. We’re talking Breeders’ Cup notes, gems, tidbits. They’ll come in handy in less […]
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Gulfstream Race 1 Maiden 1 1/16th Turf 2-5-11 #2 Renewable sure cost a pretty penny and those slow Payson works are not a concern for barn that can have one ready on debut. Watch Tote as a few of these are well bred first time starters. -Aaron Vercruysse Gulfstream Race 2 Maiden 7 F […]
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A year after Arrogate, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has another big-time late-blooming 3-year-old. Arrogate began 2016 as an unraced maiden and put together a strong campaign during the second half of 2016 in a meteoric rise to superstardom. In his stakes debut, he won the Grade I Travers Stakes by 13 1/2 lengths […]
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Reversing the maxim ‘Go West young man,’ West Coast shipped East and dominated Travers foes. Agreed, the performance wasn’t nearly as astonishing as the one delivered a season ago by barn-mate Arrogate in the same event. Still, message delivered: There’s a new star in the nighttime sky! During winter and spring, as sophomores mature and […]
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Travers is one of my favorite times of the year. It’s right up there alongside Thanksgiving, Kentucky Derby, Preakness and whenever the wife and I go on holiday. That’s because for roughly the last 15 years during Travers Week my pal Will and I have visited Saratoga for racing and to hit, chase and replace […]
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Annually, during the first few months of the year, there is no shortage of Kentucky Derby lists. Indeed, for the past several years, this column has participated in the exercise by offering a Kentucky Derby Top 10 list in the weeks leading up to the first Saturday in May. Of course, following the Run for […]
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