Three-year-fillies got equal time with their male counterparts this weekend, as the 2015 Kentucky Oaks Championship Series made its debut in New York, Florida, and Louisiana. The final stage of official Kentucky Oaks prep races as designated by Churchill Downs, Championship Series races offer 85 points to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5). The top 20…
The weekend’s Kentucky Derby preps, the first in this year’s Champion Series, saw familiar faces get their pictures taken in New Orleans and Hot Springs, but an upstart in Florida knocked the horse of the same name out of the winner’s circle at Gulfstream Park, via a controversial disqualification. In the oddly-run Grade II Besilu…
The first Kentucky Derby, in 1875, was won by Aristides. On his back was a black jockey, Oliver Lewis; the man who trained him, Ansel Williamson, was also black. Five years earlier, Kingfisher had won the Belmont Stakes, ridden by Edward Brown, trained by Raleigh Colston, both men who had been born into slavery. That…
I’m a little late in wishing Evening Attire a happy 17th birthday–the big day was Valentine’s Day, two days before his namesake race was scheduled to be run. Bad weather scuttled that, so the Evening Attire–formerly the Aqueduct Handicap, which this guy won in 2002–is being run today. And in his honor, his retirement home,…
Oaklawn Park: The Grade III, $300,000 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 10-4-2-1) by Brian Nadeau #1 Bayerd (5-1): Tricky read was a solid second in the local prep, the Smarty Jones last month, in his first two-turn start on dry land and goes for a powerful Asmussen barn that knows how…
Gulfstream Park: The Grade II, $400,000 Fountain of Youth at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) by Brian Nadeau #1 Juan and Bina (20-1): Price player won’t get much tote respect but actually ran quite well when fourth to today’s leading trio in the local prep, the GII Holy Bull last month, and,…
The roads to the Kentucky Derby and the Oaks resume this weekend, with six races at four racetracks nationwide. In the points system initiated by Churchill Downs in 2012, this weekend’s races represent the beginning of what Churchill calls the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks “Championship Series” of prep races, each race offering a total…
Fair Grounds: The Grade II, $400,000 Risen Star at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) by Brian Nadeau #1 St. Joe Bay (12-1): The likely inside speed brings some California heat to the party, as he set a pressured pace in a pair of Santa Anita two-turn routes of late, including a fourth-place…
Welcome to year seven of the Brooklyn Backstretch Kentucky Derby charity game! We started in 2009, piggybacking on the Saratoga Special Derby fantasy league; from 2010 to 2013, we used the Road to the Roses as the base for our league play. For the second year, Mike Dorr, who writes about racing at Up the…
(Update: bad weather cancelled racing at Oaklawn on Monday; Brian will be back later this week with updated analysis.) Oaklawn Park: The Grade III, $300,000 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 10-4-2-1) by Brian Nadeau #1 J S Bach (4-1): Speedy Pletcher shipper ran off and hid from an overmatched MSW group…
Brooklyn Backstretch 