It’s been a while since we’ve taken a spin through the world of synthetics, but with all the news in the last couple of months, it seemed time for an update. This is not an exhaustive overview, but a sample of some of the recent news. In January, Jeff Lowe in Thoroughbred Times reported on…
This week’s Top 10, by Brian Nadeau A lot has changed since my first Derby Top 10 list, and that’s hardly a surprise. The past two weeks delivered several noteworthy performances and with the Louisiana Derby, Rebel, Tampa Bay Derby and San Felipe on tap for this weekend, we should get that much more information…
Reviewing the Sham, the Fountain of Youth, the Gotham, and the Santa Anita Oaks, by Brian Nadeau Lots to do and recap since we last left you, so let’s get right to it. The Fountain of Youth, Sham and Gotham all gave us definitive winners who took a major leap forward on everyone’s Derby radar.…
Perhaps in acknowledgement of all of those freezing winter weekends spent at the Big A, the racing gods smiled on me on Saturday morning. For the first time in a week, I felt well enough to think that I could actually manage a few hours outside of the apartment, and mid-afternoon, I ventured to Aqueduct,…
This blasted flu that has kept me home from work all week is also, in all likelihood, going to keep me away from the Big A and the Gotham today. I’m hoping for some sort of miracle rally, but reports of the first big New York race of 2009 are probably, maddeningly, going to come…
The Gotham Stakes – Grade III, $250,000 – Aqueduct – 1 1/16 Miles, by Brian Nadeau Another weekend along the Derby Trail and another deep and talented stakes race to decipher. Saturday New York reminds us that spring is indeed on the horizon when the Gotham Stakes is run at Aqueduct. The local prep for…
Astute and thorough handicapper that I am, one of my favorite betting angles is using horses conditioned by trainers whose barns I’ve visited. It is for that reason that last August at Saratoga, I bet Tom Albertrani’s Devotee at 21 – 1, and for that reason alone that I cashed a ticket when she broke…
The Sham Stakes – Grade III, $200,000 – Santa Anita Park – 1 1/8 Miles,by Brian Nadeau As opposed to the Fountain of Youth, the Sham brings together one known quantity in The Pamplemousse, and several others who have yet to make their mark on the big stage. The former rates a deserving favorite and…
The Fountain of Youth Stakes – Grade II, $250,000 – Gulfstream Park – 1 Mileby Brian Nadeau When I first heard this race was being shortened to 1-mile, and therefore being run at one-turn, I was really disappointed. It’s doesn’t quite have the appeal it once did and it loses a little of its luster…
Busher broke her maiden in her first start, on my birthday in 1944 (several decades before I was born, I hasten to add). That victory kicked off a Belmont-centric two-year-old season in which the filly raced at the big oval six times, winning four starts, and finishing second and fourth once each. She won her…
Brooklyn Backstretch 