During the week before the Florida Derby, Gulfstream Park is used to being the center of attention. The Grade 1 Kentucky Derby prep is one of the key dates on the national racing calendar, and one of the two biggest days at the Hallandale track. Usually, the attention of the turf media is turned squarely…
Santa Anita: The $150,000 Robert Lewis at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 10-4-2-1) by Brian Nadeau A short field kicks off the path to the Santa Anita Derby and it’s favored #5 MUCHO GUSTO (8-5) who looks tough to beat for Baffert off a clear second to stablemate Improbable in the GI Los…
Brian Nadeau is back this year to offer insight and analysis on this year’s road to the Kentucky Derby. A handicapper at Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB, he’ll analyze every official Derby points race and the three Triple Crown races, back at Brooklyn Backstretch for the sixth year. Santa Anita: The $400,000 GII San Felipe at…
Santa Anita: The GIII, $150,000 Robert B. Lewis at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 10-4-2-1) #1 Let’s Meet in Rio (6-1): The first of two from Baffert may get ignored a bit with his more heralded stablemate Mor Spirit taking all the money, but he was a solid second in the local GIII…
Saturday saw Kentucky Derby Championship Series prep races coast to coast, with 85 points each available in races in New York, Florida, and California, and a Kentucky Oaks prep in Arkansas thrown in for good measure. Under the Kentucky Derby points system instituted in 2012, the 20 horses who earn the most points in a…
Santa Anita: The Grade II, $400,000 San Felipe at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) #1 Lord Nelson (4-1): The first of two from Baffert has long been rumored to be a runner and finally showed it last time, when he won the local GII San Vicente last month to secure his first…
The connections of Shared Belief could be forgiven for looking back at 2014 and wondering, “What if?” What if Shared Belief hadn’t gotten injured in the spring and had been able to run in the Triple Crown races? What if Shared Belief hadn’t been compromised at the start of the Breeders’ Cup Classic? Those are…
At the break of the Grade III Withers at Aqueduct Saturday afternoon, the #2 horse, Far From Over, stumbled under jockey Manuel Franco, who pulled the horse up to re-gather him, then sent him chasing after a field of horses more than a dozen lengths in front of him. Off the screen for much of…
Santa Anita: The Grade III, $150,000 Robert B. Lewis at 1 1/16 miles by Brian Nadeau #1 Tizcano (15-1): Longshot goes back to the Miller barn after a one-race trip to Gulfstream Park where he didn’t fire in the 6F Spectacular Bid last month and also runs beyond six furlongs for the first time today.…
Derby points on the line in two races this weekend, in California and Florida, so plenty of opportunities to earn points in our Derby fantasy league. The scratch of Bayern doesn’t leave our players with much in the way of action on the West Coast, but the Tampa Bay Derby might spur some movement on…
Brooklyn Backstretch 