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Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10 - 1/2/18
Well, 2018 has arrived, the juvenile stars of last year are officially three years old, and it’s time for things to get serious on the road to the 2018 Kentucky Derby .
Actually, the road would already be underway if cold weather hadn’t led to th ...
Racing
A Look Ahead at the 2018 Triple Crown
Happy New Year! The arrival of 2018 means the arrival of a fresh year filled with opportunity and potential, and for fans of Thoroughbred horse racing, it also means a new Kentucky Derby prep season is underway with a chance at seeing a future Trip ...
Racing
Dover Downs kicks off 2018 harness racing season
On a cold winter day that hardly seemed favorably for man or beast, Dover Downs kicked off the New Year by hosting the first harness racing card of 2018 and the dozen overnight events had some noteworthy highlights for pacers and trotters alike. In ...
Racing
TwinSpires Harness Players’ Horse Of The Year Leads Long List Of ‘Profit Ponies’ For 2017
Each December the TwinSpires harness-racing department studies the 12-month archives of suggested contenders posted in the exclusive weekly harness blog. From that review, we categorize all of the winners that have paid at least two digits (4-1 and u ...
Racing
Fair Grounds: Usual Suspects at Top of Trainer Standings
Every Fair Grounds Meet, certain trainers end up at the top of the standings. The current Fair Grounds Meet is no exception. Brad H. Cox leads the pack followed by Joe Sharp, Albert Stall, Michael Stidham, and Tom Amoss. Stall, Stidham, and Amoss ar ...
Racing
Shapiro's Spot Plays for New Year's Day at Santa Anita
by SCOTT SHAPIRO
Happy New Year racing fans! 2018 is going to be a great year.
To celebrate the start of a new voyage around the sun Santa Anita Park has a nine-race card headlined by the $75,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes run over the hillside turf ...
Racing
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Fair Grounds Jockey Standings: Miguel Mena Leads Top 5
5. Adam Beschizza This is Adam Beschizza's first Fair Grounds Meet. Beschizza's first mount was at Newmarket in 2010. Due to a connection with Joe Sharp , Beschizza made a mark early at the current Fair Grounds Meet. In addition to riding for Sh ...
Racing
Year-Ending Exotic Explosion With $156 Trifecta,Four For Five In Pentafecta, Exactas And Quintet Of Cal-Expo Winners
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In our final update for 2017 we celebrated with winning fireworks from our selected features through our horses-to-watch (H2W) list, which added a few more prices to our 2017 review blog, due on New Year’s Eve. Here are ...
Racing
Rosecroft offers final card of 2017
Last Saturday marked the final night of live racing for 2017 at Rosecroft Raceway and the track honored its leading horses and humans two nights before Christmas Day. In the opening race on the card, Winter Games (Jonathan Roberts) overcame a parked ...
Racing
How to Play Santa Anita Pick 5 to get ‘Back in the Black’ on New Year’s Eve
By SCOTT SHAPIRO
With just one day remaining on the 2017 calendar, handicappers in the red for the year have one more chance to make it a profitable 365 days before we head into 2018.
There are several venues running on New Years’ Eve, but of ...
Racing
Will Firenze Fire Rebound in the Jerome Stakes?
Happy New Year! Aqueduct racetrack in New York isn’t wasting any time getting underway with their winter prep races for the 2018 Kentucky Derby —their series will kick off on January 1st with the $150,000 Jerome Stakes going a mile.
The horse t ...
Racing
Layoff horse a key in tough Gulfstream Pick 5 sequence
A challenging and potentially lucrative opportunity awaits us at Gulfstream Park on Saturday in the late Pick 5 (Races 7-11). This all-grass sequence will feature a quartet of turf stakes races and looks appealing to me in hoping to conclude 2017 on ...
Racing
How to Bet the 2017 American Oaks
by SCOTT SHAPIRO
As is the case in most of the Grade 1 two-turn turf events for fillies and mares in the States, trainer Chad Brown looks to hold a strong hand in the 16th running of the $300,000 American Oaks. The main event on the first Saturda ...
Racing
Mucciolo: Pair should dominate Midnight Lute
The $400,000 American Oaks (G1) is the feature of the Saturday card at Santa Anita on, but I love a betting opportunity in the race following that one -- the $100,00 Midnight Lute (G3).
In this 6 1/2-furlong dash, a solid, but not outstandin ...
Racing
2017: The 10 best races of the year
1) T J Smith Stakes (6 furlongs, G1, April 1, Randwick, $1.9 million) Throughout his career, Chautauqua has frequently come from last in six-furlong sprints with flying late runs to win in a manner which looked impossible. Among other races it earne ...
Racing
Collected's 'sandwich game' in San Antonio, Unique Bella's favorable trip in La Brea
by Dick Powell
Santa Anita kicked off its stakes schedule on Tuesday and it led off with a shocker in the San Antonio Stakes (G2). Re-scheduled to act as a prep for the Pegasus World Cup (G1) coming up in 4 1/2 weeks, the $300,000 purse only attr ...
Racing
Promising Juveniles Face Off in Santa Anita Maiden Race
If you’re keeping an eye on the road to the Kentucky Derby this winter, then you’ll definitely want to pay attention to Saturday’s second race at Santa Anita .
Seven horses are entered in the 8.5-furlong maiden special weight for two-year-olds, ...
Racing
Chad Brown Holds Strong Hand in American Oaks
The final Grade 1 race of 2017 is the $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita , a 1 ¼-mile turf event for three-year-old fillies that has attracted a quality field of ten starters.
In recent years, horses shipping in from out of state have enjoyed ...
Racing
New Year Looms Boldly With Selected Features, Power Plays; Countdown On Pick 3s And Pick 5s
This is our final preview of 2017. Before we return for the 2018 season there will be our annual review for the year, featuring our TwinSpires Harness Players’ Horse of the Year and double-digit-winners recap. Because of how the calendar falls this y ...
Racing
Gendarme Stretches Out for Hopeful Stakes at Nakayama
The final Group 1 race of the year is coming up on December 28th, that being the Hopeful Stakes for two-year-olds going 2,000 meters (about 1 ¼ miles) over the turf course at .
In North America, there are no graded stakes races for juveniles held ...
Racing
Tropical Park Derby, Other Gulfstream Stakes Draw Deep Fields
Turf horses will be in the spotlight at Gulfstream Park on December 30th, a day when the Florida racetrack will host five turf stakes races featuring large and competitive fields.
First up is the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens at two miles on tur ...
Racing
Competitive Field Comes Together for H. Allen Jerkens Stakes
If you’re a fan of marathon races held over distances rarely seen in North America, then you won’t want to miss Saturday’s $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Gulfstream Park .
Named in honor of the legendary Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens, t ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10 - 12/27/17
Much has been made through the years about trainer Todd Pletcher’s perceived lack of success in the Triple Crown races, primarily the Kentucky Derby .
An oft-quoted statistic from years ago spoke of Pletcher’s early disappointments in the Derby, ...
Racing
2017: A Year in Reflection
Divisidero Rallies to Win the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic
As described above, this race was a fun one for me, and Divisidero ’s winning rally made this race one of my favorites from 2017.
Abel Tasman Wins the Coaching Club Ame ...
Racing
How Pace Makes the Race: Part 2
In an article on Bet America last week , I discussed how the 2013 Triple Crown series is a perfect example of how pace can make a race.
When Orb produced a huge late rally to win the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), he looked like a star in the making, ...
Education
Playing Santa Anita’s opener a holiday tradition
By Dick Powell
The presents were opened. Turkey dinner was finished and the kitchen cleaned up. And now it’s on to the next Holiday tradition; Opening Day of Santa Anita.
This year’s nine-race card is exquisite. I know all the attention right ...
Racing
Shapiro: How to bet the Late Pick 4 on Santa Anita’s opening day
by Scott Shapiro
Santa Anita Park has made some modifications to their wagering menu as we head into the start of the winter meeting, but the late Pick 4 will still be offered to horseplayers over the final four races of the day.
The Opening ...
Racing
Four Stakes Races Highlight Final Fair Grounds Cards of 2017
The last two days of 2017 comprise a stakes-packed weekend of coast-to-coast racing, and Fair Grounds in Louisiana is poised to celebrate the end of the year in particularly memorable fashion with a pair of stakes races on both Saturday and Sunday ...
Racing
Winners Push Power Plays To Edge; Pick 4s Partial To Public; $27 Winner Leads List Of Four Double-Digit Scores
Another full week of selected features included a few Power Plays and some Partners For Picks (PFP). Our suggested contenders were active and productive in any and all exotics. We hope they assisted so your wagers resulted in generous returns. Chrono ...
Racing
Shapiro: How to bet an excellent rendition of the La Brea
by SCOTT SHAPIRO
The Grade 1 La Brea is always a huge race in Southern California, but the Opening Day co-feature came up incredibly strong this year given the presence of multiple graded stakes winner Unique Bella and two-time Grade 1 queen ...
Racing
Return to Turf Makes B Squared Appealing in Mathis Brothers Mile
What do you do when the majority of the horses in a given race have taken turns beating each other all year long?
There are a couple of options. You can try to split hairs and predict which one is on the rise and ready for a winning effort on this ...
Racing
Santa Anita Opening Day Dec. 26 Picks
Opening Day at Santa Anita is this Tuesday on Dec. 26. Four graded races take place on opening day. It's likely that I bet on every single one of these races via my TwinSpires account. I won't waver from the picks I make today to when I put my wagers ...
Racing
2017 Triple Crown in Review
For the sixth time in nine years, three different horses captured the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Let’s review the Triple Crown races and I’ll provide an overall analysis at the bottom.
KENTUCKY DERBY
Twenty horses lined up ...
Racing
LeRoy Jolley Passes Away at 80
There was a time when many considered LeRoy Jolley to be one of the top 5 horse racing trainers in the world. Jolley won two Kentucky Derbies, including one with filly Genuine Risk, the Wood Memorial , and the Arlington Million. The great Leroy Joll ...
Racing
Pavel Could Be Tough to Beat in the Malibu Stakes
If you’re planning to play the fantastic opening day card at Santa Anita on December 26th, then you’ll want to give special attention to the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (gr. I).
In addition to being an exciting race from a sporting perspective, the M ...
Racing
2017 Year in Review: 10 Best Horses
Arrogate It’s a shame Arrogate ended 2017 so badly. He lost a lot of luster in his three defeats at Del Mar, finishing behind horses such as Cat Burglar, Donworth, and War Story. Whether it was the Del Mar track, or whether he simply wasn’t as goo ...
Racing
Keying Longshot Mopotism in the La Brea Stakes
One of the last Grade 1 races of 2017 is the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (gr. I) on December 26th, one of the features on a stakes-filled opening-day card at Santa Anita Park .
The seven-furlong sprint for three-year-old fillies typically draws an in ...
Racing
Will Kitasan Black Be Beaten in the Arima Kinen?
The season will come to a spectacular climax on December 24th when Nakayama racecourse hosts the prestigious Arima Kinen (Jpn-I) at 2,500 meters (about 12.5 furlongs) on turf.
With a purse of more than $5.3 million and a field determined in part ...
Racing
Moments In Time: October 28, 1994 - Cigar
October 28, 1994 would have seemed like just another day at the races for anyone who went to Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. Four claiming races on dirt, two maiden special weights, one allowance on turf, and two one-mile allowances on dirt. Nobody ...
Racing
Isla Bonita Seeks Winning Finale in Hanshin Cup
Fans of are in for a treat this weekend. Major graded stakes races are scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday, with the first up being the December 23rd Hanshin Cup (Jpn-II) at racecourse.
Held at a distance of 1,400 meters (about seven furlongs ...
Racing
Juvenile championship thoughts; Jolley a constant force in major races for decades
By Dick Powell
The ballots for the 2017 Eclipse Awards do not have to be submitted until Tuesday, January 2 and I wait for all the graded stakes to be run before voting. But some divisions will not have any races coming up to affect my ballot an ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby BRIS Speed Rating Report: Springboard Mile
Greyvitos proved too good for rivals in the December 17 Springboard Mile , shrugging off a wide trip from post 12 to record a 2 ¼-length decision, and the Malibu Moon colt has now won two straight graded stakes for trainer Adam Kitchingman. The Remi ...
Racing
Is X Y Jet Vulnerable in the Mr. Prospector Stakes?
The only graded stakes race on the North American racing schedule this Saturday is the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park . Fortunately for bettors, it’s also among the most intriguing races of the day from a handicapping p ...
Racing
Holiday Harness Action Highlighted For All Pools At Dayton, Meadowlands, Northfield, Northlands And Western Fair
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Racing
Gravesend, Queen's County Stakes Highlight Quiet Saturday
Although the major racing action on December 23rd is relatively quiet, with just five stakes races scheduled to be run in North America, Aqueduct racetrack in New York will keep things interesting with a nine-race card that includes two stakes rac ...
Racing
Tiz the season for filling out ballots
While many Americans are rushing to the malls and stores to put the finishing touches on their holiday shopping, members of the National Turf Writers Association and United States Harness Writers Association are analyzing the detailed information pac ...
Racing
No joy in Muddville
By Dick Powell
You would have thought it was the stretch run of the Kentucky Derby (G1). At least for about 10 of us who all were rooting for the same horse in Sunday’s eighth race at Aqueduct.
BELLEVILLE SPRING is a 2yo gelding that ran seco ...
Racing
How Pace Makes the Race: Part 1
Pace makes the race. It’s an indisputable fact of Thoroughbred horse racing that the pace at which a given race unfolds can have an effect on the outcome.
A slow pace can favor front-runners, allowing them to finish strongly and hold off late runn ...
Education
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10 - 12/19/17
“He’s like a young Gun Runner.”
That’s the thought that crosses my mind when I think about the exciting two-year-old Principe Guilherme , who brought his record to a perfect 2-for-2 with an eye-catching allowance win at Fair Grounds on December ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Greyvitos
Greyvitos; winner of the Springboard Mile
If you looked at Greyvitos’ female family, you’d expect he’d be running on turf.
Instead, he’s a multiple stakes winner on dirt, and a realistic chance for the 2018 Kentucky Derby .
Greyvitos didn’t ...
Racing
Trotters on display Sunday afternoon and evening
While many sports enthusiasts were keen on watching the National Football League games on Sunday afternoon and evening, serious and novice standardbred racing fans were eager to see the numerous trotting events at Yonkers Raceway in New York and the ...
Racing
Greyvitos Joins Derby Trail With Remington Springboard Mile Victory
Racing fans across the country were up a bit later than usual last night to watch an intriguing renewal of the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park .
The one-mile race offered Kentucky Derby qualification points for the fi ...
Racing
Baffert Unleashes 2 Derby Contenders in Cash Call Futurity
Bob Baffert released two Derby prospects in the Cash Call Futurity earlier this month. Both McKinzie and Solomini have a shot at the Roses. Baffert's top Derby prospect last year, Mastery, retired shortly after winning the Cash Call. Hopefully, that ...
Racing
Ten for '18: Horses I'm Looking Forward to Watching in the New Year
We're less than two weeks from the start of a new season of Thoroughbred racing both in North America and Europe, and with the arrival of 2018 comes hopes and expectations for an exciting return to the races of personal favorites.
While thoughts a ...
Racing
How Good is Sharp Azteca?
One of the possible entrants for the second annual Pegasus World Cup is Sharp Azteca. Sharp Azteca, who almost won the 2017 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, was sensational when winning the 2017 Cigar Mile in his last. Per Sharp Azteca's trainer, Jorge Nava ...
Racing
Shapiro’s analysis of the Los Alamitos closing day Pick 6
by Scott Shapiro
It is closing day of the 2017 winter meeting at Los Alamitos Race Course and that means a mandatory payout in the Pick 6 wager.
The good news for Southern California horseplayers is the pool should be a juicy one since on Satu ...
Racing
Power Plays And Picks’ Contenders Choose $30, $28 Exactas And Three Of Four In $1,222 Superfecta; $25 Win Tops Prices
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Racing
Yonkers and Meadowlands both offer solid Saturday night cards
It seemed like old times for an evening on Saturday as both Yonkers Raceway in New York and the Meadowlands Race Track in New Jersey both offered solid overnight racing amid the hint of mild winter conditions. In the opening race on the card, Dream ...
Racing
Shapiro’s Pick 4 analysis for Springboard Mile Day
Adore finished third in the 2016 Fair Grounds Oaks (c) Amanda Hodges Weir/Hodges Photography
by Scott Shapiro
One of the stronger cards on this mid-December weekend of 2017 takes place on Sunday at Remington Park. The Oklahoma City venue of ...
Racing
Two solid-looking singles in Saturday's Late Pick 4 at Gulfstream
Saturday's Late Pick 4 at Gulfstream includes a trio of graded stakes plus a two-year-old maiden on the turf. Here's how I'll be playing it.
Race 8 -- My Charmer (G3) -- Grade 2 winner #5 ON LEAVE (7-5) is a solid single given her form against ...
Racing
Handicapping maiden races at Fair Grounds Saturday
by Dick Powell
I like maiden races and Fair Grounds finished up its Saturday race card with three of them. The last will be race 13 with a post time of 8:05 p.m. (ET) so it will an early evening diversion.
Sidebar: I know lots of people love ...
Racing
Recent claimer appealing in Diliberto Memorial
Six stakes will be offered on the Santa Super Saturday program at Fair Grounds and I will focus upon the $75,000 Buddy Diliberto Memorial. Contested over 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the race drew nine runners including the uncoupled Mike Maker pair of ...
Racing
Shapiro: California shippers in Springboard Mile
Combatant broke his maiden at Churchill Downs on October 29 for trainer Steve Asmussen (Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)
by Scott Shapiro
The focus of the early Triple Crown prep season shifts to Remington Park in Oklahoma this Sunday as t ...
Racing
Stoney Bennett Stands Out in New York Stallion Series Stakes
If you plan to play the Sunday card at Aqueduct this weekend, finding the winner in the $150,000 New York Stallion Series Stakes (Great White Way Division) is going to be important.
After all, the six-furlong race for New York-bred two-year-olds ...
Racing
Mucciolo: Gulfstream graded plays
A handful of Grade 3 races will be held on a fantastic Saturday card at Gulfstream Park and I will take aim at the big races.
Rampart S.
Seven fillies and mares will go one mile on the dirt in the first graded race and I give the slightest of ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: Catholic Boy
Catholic Boy; winner of the Remsen
by Alastair Bull
It’s not that easy for horses to switch between turf and dirt at the highest level. The switch from turf to dirt is particularly difficult in North America, as the best horses are usually ai ...
Racing
Youth can trump experience in Carlos Pellegrini, the 'South American Arc'
For the first time since 2014, wagering on the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini (G1) will be available to U.S. bettors on Saturday.
Run over 1 1/2 miles on turf at San Isidro outside Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Pellegrini has long been considered So ...
Racing
Danon Premium favored in Asahi Hai Futurity
Unbeaten colt Danon Premium could give trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida his first grade one victory when he contests the Asahi Hai Futurity (G1) for 2-year-olds at Hanshin racecourse Dec. 17. One of two colts in the field by champion sire Deep Impact, D ...
Racing
Keying Tower of London in the Asahi Hai Futurity
With a purse of ¥134 million (more than $1.2 million) and Group 1 status, the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at Hanshin racecourse has historically been the championship race for two-year-olds in .
The 1,600-meter (about one mile) race will be conteste ...
Racing
Pure Silver, Miss Hot Stones Face Off in New York Stallion Series
As the old saying goes, a good horse can come from anywhere, and with the quality and talent of New York-bred Thoroughbreds rising to great heights in recent years, it could pay to keep an eye on the $150,000 New York Stallion Series Stakes (Fifth A ...
Racing
Harlan's Holiday Stakes Tops Saturday Racing Action at Gulfstream
The Gulfstream Park Championship Meet showcases top-notch racing all winter long, and the upcoming December 16th card—featuring five graded stakes races—is no exception.
The first stakes on the card is the $100,000 Rampart Stakes (gr. III) at ...
Racing
Philly, Dayton, Meadows And Meadowlands Host Selected Features; Power Plays Offer Contenders Aplenty In Exotics; Big Scores On The Horizon
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Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10 - 12/13/17
Stamina shouldn’t be a question for this colt, whose pedigree reads like a “who’s who” of champions and horses that excelled going ten furlongs or longer, including Symboli Kris S, Neo Universe, Kris S, Roberto, and Sunday Silence. Furthermore, he do ...
Racing
Kentucky Derby BRIS Speed Rating Report: Los Alamitos Futurity
Solomini finished first by nearly a length but lost the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) via disqualification. It certainly was a tough one for backers as the interference did not affect who ultimately won, but a case could be made Solomini cost Instille ...
Racing
Combatant Could Offer Value in Competitive Springboard Mile
The $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile on December 17th at Remington Park has been rapidly gaining prestige since its inaugural running in 2009, and this year—for the first time—the race will offer Kentucky Derby qualification points to the top ...
Racing
Dream Tree quite the prize; stewards faced impossible task in Los Alamitos Futurity
By Dick Powell
In the spirit of the holiday season, DREAM TREE is the gift that keeps on giving. Let’s start at the beginning.
Bred in Kentucky by Mike and Pat Freeny, she sold as a weanling for $80,000 at Keeneland November 2015. She then ca ...
Racing
Tenacious Stakes Highlights Stakes-Filled Fair Grounds Card
If you like huge race cards filled with stakes events and large, competitive fields, then the Saturday card at Fair Grounds is definitely for you.
The thirteen races on the card drew 134 entries, or an average of more than ten horses per race, a ...
Racing
How Horses for Courses Can Produce Big Payoffs
“Horse for the course” is a phrase frequently heard in the sport of horse racing. Some horses have a preference for the conditions at certain racetracks, whether it’s the type of racing surface installed, the direction or sharpness of the turns, or ...
Racing
Steel Shot Stands Out in Sugar Bowl Stakes
This Saturday, Fair Grounds in Louisiana will host an impressive day of racing led by six stakes races held over a variety of distances and surfaces.
One of the more intriguing races, at least from a sporting perspective, is the $50,000 Sugar Bo ...
Racing
Will Le Vent Se Leve Rise on Japan's Road to the Derby?
Le Vent Se Leve’s strong finish wasn’t an illusion either, as the clock reveals he ran the final 600 meters in a rapid :35.40, or an average of :11.80 per 200 meters. The strength of the Platanus Sho was further indicated when the fourth-place finish ...
Racing
McKinzie Impresses in Futurity Defeat (Or Was It a Win?)
There was certainly plenty to discuss following the running of the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (gr. I) on December 9th at Los Alamitos .
For a five-horse field, the Futurity featured more than its fair share of post-race drama, and the race i ...
Racing
Selected-Features Roundup With Scattered Support, Winners, Exactas; $19 Win Tops Prices
Our first full week of selected features, including the popular Power Plays and the fresh Partners For Picks assaulting exotics, was jam-packed with races and some generous additions from our value vault. Let’s look at what happened chronologically, ...
Racing
Four price horses worth using in tonight’s Hong Kong International Races
As a supplement to my colleague Vance Hanson’s spot plays for the Hong Kong International Races , I’ll weigh in with an outsider eligible to outperform his odds in each of the four Group 1s.
The Hong Kong Vase, 4TH Race (1 a.m. EST) : Highland R ...
Racing
Two Mares Could Show Up in the Pegasus World Cup
All ready, 11 spots in the world's richest horse race, the Pegasus World Cup, are close to being filled. At this point, in December, all horses are listed as probable or possible. Two of the spots are likely to go to a couple of mares, Forever Unbrid ...
Racing
Woodbine closing-day value plays
A fine meeting north of the border at Woodbine will come to a close on Sunday with a 14-race card. The closing-day fields are big and ultra-competitive and I will take a look at a few horses that I think are worth a play.
Race 3 : #1 LION LORD ...
Racing
Spot Plays for the Hong Kong International Races
Most of the favorites in the Hong Kong International Races (HKIR), which will be run overnight Saturday East Coast time in the U.S., might prove vulnerable. At least that's my intuition around 12 hours before the first of the quartet, the 1 1/2-mile ...
Racing
Baffert poised for Grade 1 Double at Los Alamitos
A pair of Grade 1 tilts for juveniles will take place at Los Alamitos on Saturday and Bob Baffert will have a big say in the outcome in each of those races.
In the $300,000 Futurity (G1), the silver-haired trainer will saddle two of the five enter ...
Racing
Shapiro’s Los Alamitos Futurity and Starlet Pick 5 analysis
by Scott Shapiro
First and foremost I want to express my deepest condolences to all of those who were affected by the catastrophic fire at San Luis Rey Training Center in Bonsall, California, on Wednesday. I also wanted to thank all of the brave ...
Racing
Keeler Johnson's Kentucky Derby Top 10 - 12/8/17
Get ready, everyone! The prep races on the road to the 2018 Kentucky Derby are already underway, and with just five months remaining until the big race, it’s time to start analyzing the contenders and thinking ahead to which horses will be ready f ...
Racing
Miss Mo Mentum Looks Tough in Hut Hut Stakes
If you’re planning to play the stakes-filled Saturday card at Gulfstream Park , deciphering the first race is going to be important.
After all, the first race—the one-mile Hut Hut Stakes—kicks off a Pick 5 comprised entirely of stakes races for ...
Racing
Orfevre pair fancied in Hanshin Juvenile Fillies
Two fillies from the first crop of 2011 Japanese Triple Crown winner Orfevre are among those vying for favoritism in the Dec. 10 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, the only grade one race for 2-year-old fillies in Japan. Orfevre (Stay Gold), who was unfortun ...
Racing
Global Symposium on Racing focused upon ideas and research
by Dick Powell
I had the pleasure of attending the University of Arizona’s 44th annual Global Symposium on Racing this week and, unlike other years, there were some excellent ideas and research.
Throughout this year’s symposium, the cloud of ...
Racing
Looking for Longshots in the Valedictory Stakes
The final stakes race of the 2017 Woodbine meet will be held this Sunday, and believe me, it’s a good one.
It’s not every day that you get to see a field of talented stakes competitors vie for supremacy in a 1 ¾-mile marathon, but those are the ...
Racing
Keying War Heroine in the Starlet Stakes
The $300,000 Starlet Stakes (gr. I) might be a Grade 1 race, but from a handicapping perspective, the December 9th feature at Los Alamitos hasn’t come up very tough.
Just five fillies have turned out to contest the 8.5-furlong race, with the lik ...
Racing
Big challenge for Stormy Liberal in Hong Kong Sprint
Californian speedster Stormy Liberal pulled off a major upset when he left Marsha and Lady Aurelia, both group one winners in Britain, in his wake in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1). But he faces just as tough a task if he is to travel across the ...
Racing
Breeders' Cup Turf rematch set for Hong Kong Vase
European runners have dominated the $2.3 million Hong Kong International Vase (G1) since the 1 ½-mile race was first run in 1994, and with Talismanic and Highland Reel in this year’s contest they may well do so again. The pair fought out the finish ...
Racing
Hong Kong Cup win would be sweet for Werther
Hong Kong racing fans will be hoping their outstanding horse Werther can see off a strong international challenge in the $3.2 million Hong Kong International Cup at Sha Tin Dec. 10. The New Zealand-bred by Tavistock won at group two level in Austral ...
Racing
O'Brien faces strong local challenge in Hong Kong Mile
Aidan O’Brien brings two genuine group one horses to Sha Tin for the $2.95 million Hong Kong International Mile (G1), but he’s got history and a strong local team against him Dec. 10. O’Brien will start Lancaster Bomber and Roly Poly in the race, bo ...
Racing