Turfway Park: The Grade III, $550,000 Spiral at 1 1/8 miles A wide-open renewal of the Spiral will certainly give handicappers trouble as several promising, albeit unproven, runners meet the starter. On paper there’s enough pace to think it sets up well for a stalker/closer, so let’s see if #8 GENERAL ELECTION can build on…
It’s back! Though it dwelt at the gate, the Road to the Roses (Presented by TwinSpires.com, officially–so thanks to TS for helping to make it happen) kicks off this weekend, and with it, the sixth Brooklyn Backstretch charity league. Registration opened today at noon and continues through 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 28. The game…
Oaklawn Park: The Grade II, $600,000 Rebel at 1 1/16 miles #2 Carve: Lightly raced gelding looked like a new horse last time off the Asmussen claim, when he exploded in deep stretch with the addition of Lasix in an optional claimer to run his career mark to 2-for-2, with both wins coming over the…
Hal Herzog loves animals. In the acknowledgements for his 2010 book Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, his cat gets special mention: “Finally,” he writes, “a Crunchy Salmon Treat to Tilly, who spent many a drowsy afternoon lying in a rocking chair, keeping me company and watching me write, occasionally meowing so I would…
Dear Stronach Group, As I read about the Ms. Racing Queen pageant, my eyes grew wide with curiosity and my heart fluttered with excitement. I was Ms. Racing Queen. The daughter of a trainer, I spent every weekend and holiday of my childhood at Belmont Park. In high school, it was time for me to…
Santa Anita: The Grade II, $300,000 San Felipe at 1 1/16 miles #1 Carving: The first of two from Baffert gets back to conventional dirt after a three-race synthetic campaign that started with a win in Hollywood Park’s Real Quiet in November and ended last month with a meek fourth in the GIII El Camino…
Tampa Bay Downs: The GII, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16 miles #1 Eton Blue: Lightly raced colt chased Saturday’s heavy favorite Verrazano around one turn in an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park last month, but as a son of Giant’s Causeway out of Kentucky Oaks winner Bird Town, he should move forward in…
On February 23, 1913, the New York Times weighed in on the recent decision by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, which upheld the November 1912 New York State Supreme Court ruling that that a man making a private bet at a racetrack was not breaking the law, nor could race track operators be…
In August of 2011 at its annual Round Table conference in Saratoga Springs, New York, the Jockey Club presented the findings of a McKinsey study it commissioned on the state of Thoroughbred racing in the United States. Titled “Driving sustainable growth for Thoroughbred racing and breeding,” the report focused on a variety of negative indicators…
Aqueduct: The Grade III, $400,000 Gotham at 1 1/16 miles #2 Champion Boy: Maiden actually didn’t run poorly to be fifth in his two-turn debut behind a few of these in the local GIII Withers last month but steps way up again and is up against it. There’s a lot of talent here and he…
Brooklyn Backstretch 