Brian Robin

Muck Rack profile
Tiz the Law set the speed rating bar for this year's Belmont Stakes field back in January. His speed figures illustrated why he is the 6/5 morning line favorite. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

By the Numbers, Tiz the Law Rules the Belmont Speed Court

The concept that speed wins horse races is elemental to the sport. And when you look at the various speed figures for the 10 horses in the 152nd Belmont Stakes, Tiz the Law’s 6/5 favored status seems elementary. Tiz the Law’s January victory in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream […]

Four times in her six-race career, Kimari prompted jockey celebrations -- like this one from Channing Hill in April. She goes for her first Royal Ascot victory in Friday's Commonwealth Cup. (Image: Coady Photography)

Fleet Filly Kimari Takes On the Boys at Royal Ascot’s Commonwealth Cup

In the horse trainer word association game, Wesley Ward’s name usually associates with his wondrous work training 2-year-olds. That is, when it’s not associated with being the American in England – the primary American presence at the yearly Royal Ascot meet. Due to the coronavirus Ward remains in the US […]

Trainer Mark Casse lifted the Belmont Stakes trophy courtesy of Sir Winston last year. He could do it again this year with Tap It To Win. (Image: Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday)

History Calling Trainer Casse; Can Tap It To Win Answer the Call?

While 10 trainers can claim Triple Crowns – Jim Fitzsimmons and Bob Baffert have two apiece – no one has ever accomplished what Mark Casse could achieve should Tap It To Win capture the Belmont Stakes. To better understand what Casse can achieve at this Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes […]

Tiz the Law and Manny Franco can afford to relax right now. Tiz the Law is the 6/5 morning-ione favorite for Saturday's Triple Crown-opening Belmont Stakes. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Gulfstream Park)

Starting From Post 8, Tiz the Law Tabbed Belmont Stakes Favorite

To nobody’s surprise, Tiz the Law opened as your healthy 6/5 favorite for Saturday’s 152nd running of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. He’ll do so out of the eight post in the 10-horse field, drawn Wednesday afternoon at Belmont Park. And Tiz the Law will do so as the only […]

Frankie Dettori's trademark flying dismount signifies another victory for the standout Italian jockey. He and Stradivarius run for a Gold Cup three-peat in Thursday's Royal Ascot featured race. (Image: Racing TV)

Stradivarius, Jockey Dettori, Play a Beautiful Tune at Royal Ascot

If you’re ever fortunate enough to gain entrance to the Royal enclosure at Ascot, you’ll see a statue of jockey Frankie Dettori, who rides Stradivarius in Thursday’s Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. The monument commemorates his “Magnificent Seven” victory performance at Royal Ascot in 1996 when he took a multi-million-pound […]

Mike Smith, who rode Bob Baffert's Justify to the 2018 Triple Crown, once again has the confidence of the Hall of Fame trainer. Smith will ride Authentic in July's Haskell Invitational. (Image: Sean M. Haffey/Getty)

‘Big Money Mike’ Smith Takes Authentic’s Reins for the Haskell

Mike Smith didn’t earn the nickname “Big Money Mike” for his gambling acumen, although the 54-year-old jockey has earned owners nearly $330 million over his nearly 40-year riding career. He earned the name because Smith is one of the most clutch jockeys in the world, which is why he’ll take […]

Sole Volante isn't doing much walking these days. The busy 3-year-old heads to New York for Saturday's Belmont Stakes only 10 days after winning an allowance race. (Image: SV Photography)

Sole Volante Turning Around on 10 Days Rest, Headed to Belmont

The fact Sole Volante’s connections announced late Monday he will run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Stakes is noteworthy on a couple of fronts. First, it’s a horse committing to the first leg of a revamped Triple Crown. This has become a novelty over the last three weeks, with defections […]

An Irish-bred horse who never raced in the land of his name, Japan goes for his second Royal Ascot victory in Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes. He won last year's King Edward VII Stakes. (Image: Coolmore Farm)

Japan Rises at Royal Ascot’s Prince of Wales’ Stakes

Even with him remaining in Ireland, Aidan O’Brien remains ever-omnipresent over the Royal Ascot meet. And even with her remaining at Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II remains ever-hopeful she can add to her victory total at Europe’s richest racing meet. O’Brien, the most dominant trainer in Europe, sends 5/4 favorite […]

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden actually holds an odds edge in more than 10 books. He is favored to unseat President Donald Trump by all 19 overseas books, according to Oddschecker. (Image: Getty)

2020 Presidential Election Betting: Civil Unrest Puts Odds on Biden’s Side

The social unrest throughout the country in the wake of the George Floyd death in Minnesota has captured the presidential betting markets, with presumptive Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden finally pulling ahead of President Donald Trump. Biden surged ahead at 18 of the 19 overseas bookmakers writing odds on the […]

At a middling +700, Kris Prather captured the inaugural PBA Strike Derby. He beat Anthony Simonsen, 7-6, in the final. (Image: Brett Rojo/USA TODAY)

PBA Betting Comes Out Rolling Strikes with Inaugural Wagering Event

When Kris Prather dispatched Anthony Simonsen, 7-6, to win the inaugural Professional Bowlers Association’s Strike Derby earlier this month, he did more than put $25,000 in his pocket. He also put money in the pockets of savvy bettors who backed him at +700 to win the Strike Derby. The June […]

There will be no royal entrances at Royal Ascot this year. Queen Elizabeth II and her daughter, Princess Anne, are sitting this one out due to the coronavirus. (Image: Adrian Dennis/Getty)

Royal Ascot 2020: No Pomp, Plenty of Circumstance for Top Horses

There will be no Royal procession at Royal Ascot this year. The 220,000 finger sandwiches, 120,000 buttermilk scones, and 80,000 cups of tea consumed last year won’t be challenged this year. And the Royal Ascot purses took a royal trimming, sliced by 55% to £3.68 million from the planned £8.095 […]

Hitting a profitable bet at Royal Ascot could make you leap for joy like Frankie Dettori did after winning the Gold Cup aboard Stradivarius last year. Value bettors worldwide have access to the Royal Ascot World Pool through the Tote. (Image: Bryn Lennon/Getty)

Royal Ascot Invites Bettors to Plunge Into the World Pool

Bettors in 10 countries will have an easier time getting action on this week’s Royal Ascot meet, courtesy of a joint venture between the British Tote and various worldwide betting entities that instituted the Royal Ascot World Pool. Combined with the tote, the World Pool creates a single betting pool, […]

Point of Honor (left) showed off her closing skills in the Black Eyed Susan last year. She is the 2/1 second-favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. (Image: Lauren Helber/AP Photo)

Ogden Phipps Brings Out Blue-Blooded Fillies and Mares

The Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park honors the late Ogden Phipps, the former chairman of The Jockey Club, and the textbook definition of the term “blue-blood.” A member of both the International Tennis and National Museum of Racing halls of fame, Phipps was a prominent New York […]

Ollie's Candy won her first three races and has finished in the money 10 times in 12 races. She goes for her second Grade 1 victory at Belmont Park Saturday in the Ogden Phipps. (Image: Santa Anita Park)

Ollie’s Candy Heads East in Search of a Sweet Trip in Ogden Phipps

Instead of shipping her cross-country to Belmont Park for Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes, John Sadler could have run Ollie’s Candy on his home track at Santa Anita Park. The Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes was cozily sitting right there, like a ripe-for-the-picking peach. Plus, the Santa Maria came […]

Lone Star Park opened for racing May 22, but opens for fans this Sunday. It joins Minnesota's Canterbury Park in allowing spectators inside its racetracks. (Image: Brad Loper/Special to Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Lone Star, Canterbury Break From Pack and Open Gates to Racing Fans

Breaking from a different gate than its larger racetrack brethren in this COVID-19 era, Lone Star Park will open its gates to fans beginning Sunday. The gates remain open through Aug. 11, the tentative end of the Texas racetrack’s summer meet. Beating Lone Star by four days in allowing fans […]

Sole Volante returned from a three-month layoff to win a Gulfstream Park allowance race. He may return nine days from now in the Belmont Stakes. (Image: Lauren King/Gulfstream Park)

Nothing Routine About Sole Volante’s Allowance Win at Gulfstream Park

There was no reason to adjust your eyes, even in today’s pampered horseracing atmosphere where star horses don’t race more than once a month – if that. There were three Kentucky Derby hopefuls – Sole Volante, Ete Indien, and Shivaree — running a $55,000 allowance race on an otherwise ordinary […]

Wells Bayou will have plenty of time to cool down now. The Louisiana Derby winner and former Kentucky Derby contender is out with bone bruising. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography

Bone Bruising Sends Wells Bayou to the Triple Crown Sidelines

Right on the hoofprints of Maxfield’s injury and subsequent departure from the Kentucky Derby Trail, Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou suffered bone bruising that will keep him out of the Sept. 5 Derby. Currently third on the active Derby qualifying points ladder with 104, Wells Bayou breezed a half-mile in […]

Undefeated in three races, Maxfield injured a leg bone during a routine workout Wednesday. He's out of the Triple Crown races. (Image: Jordan Thomson)

Maxfield Injured, Star Colt Becomes Latest Derby Trail Casualty

Illustrating another example of the precarious nature of Thoroughbred horse racing, Kentucky Derby contender Maxfield injured his front right leg during a routine workout on Wednesday. He will miss the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby after suffering a condylar fracture in his leg. If this sounds eerily familiar, it should. This […]