Horse Racing

Largent's biggest win to date was this 2020 score in the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes. He returns for the first time in nearly a year for the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Lauren King/Coglianese Photos)

Consistent, but Rusty, Gelding Largent Returns for Tropical Turf

- 3 min read

Largent comes into today’s Grade 3 Tropical Turf at Gulfstream Park with name recognition, not just from his namesake – Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent – but from his track deeds. He comes in never having missed the exacta in 10 career races. And he comes in with […]

Malathaat (5) outdueled Pass the Champagne to win last year's Ashland. That key Kentucky Oaks prep moves to opening day on Keeneland's 2022 Spring Meet stakes schedule. (Image: Keeneland Photo)

Keeneland Lays Out Record $7.7 Million in Spring Meet Stakes Purses

- 3 min read

Fueled by purse increases to two of its flagship 3-year-old races, Keeneland is putting a record $7.7 million in purses into the 19 stakes races on its just-announced 2022 Spring Meet card. The Lexington, Kentucky track announced increases to all stakes purses for the April 8-29 meet. Prominent among those […]

Essential Quality won the 2021 Belmont in one of the year's great races. Fox Sports acquired the media rights to the third jewel of the Triple Crown starting in 2023. (Image: NYRA Photo)

FOX Sports Signs Eight-Year Agreement to Broadcast Belmont Stakes

- 2 min read

FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday that the network now owns the exclusive media rights to one of the jewels of the Triple Crown. FOX Sports acquired the exclusive media rights to the Belmont Stakes beginning in 2023. The eight-year agreement with the New York Racing […]

Gulfstream Park plays host to a $1.1 million guaranteed Rainbow Pick 6 on Wednesday's card. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Gulfstream Park)

Gulfstream Park’s Wednesday Pick 6 Jackpot Pool Hits $1.1 Million

- 2 min read

Gulfstream Park has wasted little time in presenting horseplayers with the year’s first seven-figure betting opportunity, offering a $1.1 million gross jackpot pool on its 20-cent Rainbow Pick 6 for Wednesday’s nine-race card. Being a jackpot wager, the Rainbow Pick 6 is paid out when a bettor holds the lone […]

Gamine won her second-to-last race: the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga. It was her ninth win in 11 career races and fifth Grade 1 triumph. She was retired Tuesday. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher)

Champion Sprinter Gamine Retired Mere Days Into Her 5-Year-Old Season

- 3 min read

Gamine, the incomparable sprinter who is among the fastest runners this century, was retired Monday, according to a release from her owner, Pandora jewelry baron Michael Lund Petersen. Through a representative, Petersen announced the now-5-year-old mare will reside at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky. With a 9-0-1 record and […]

Rombauer won the 2021 Preakness Stakes at 11/1. He was retired Monday after chronic ankle injuries prevented his comeback. (Image: Maryland Jockey Club)

Preakness Champion Rombauer Retired After Chronic Ankle Injuries

- 3 min read

Rombauer, who shocked the racing world when he captured the 2021 Preakness Stakes, was retired from racing on Monday, prematurely ending one of the more eclectic racing stories of 2021. According to the Daily Racing Form, which received a release from Rombauer’s owner, John Fradkin, the colt suffered a training […]

Courvoisier (center) outdueled Smarten Up (left) and Cooke Creek in the Aqueduct slop to win Saturday's Jerome Stakes. Connections for all three eye Aqueduct's next Kentucky Derby prep: the Feb. 5 Grade 3 Withers, next. (Image: Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photo)

Jerome’s Top Three Finishers Come Out Ready for Next Big A Derby Prep

- 3 min read

Seeing enough in their charges coming out of Saturday’s Listed Jerome Stakes, all three trainers of the top three finishers, Courvoisier, Smarten Up, and Cooke Creek, plan running their colts in Aqueduct’s next Kentucky Derby prep, the Grade 3 Withers Stakes. That 1 1/8-mile prep, set for Feb. 5 at […]

Dash Attack conquered 12 rivals and the Oaklawn Park slop Saturday, winning the Smarty Jones Stakes and giving trainer Kenny McPeek another Kentucky Derby contender. (Image: Coady Photography)

Smarty Jones Winner Dash Attack Gives McPeek a Pleasant Problem

- 3 min read

Kenny McPeek has what you call a Kentucky Derby embarrassment of riches coming courtesy of Dash Attack, who won Saturday’s Listed Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. And the dynamic trainer is still trying to put the talented pieces together. That’s because, on Saturday, McPeek added another piece to an […]

Mackinnon has been a turf force in his six races. Now, he tries dirt for the first time in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Benoit Photo)

When it Comes to the Derby, Nothing Phony About These Sham Stakes

- 4 min read

Unlike many of its early Kentucky Derby prep predecessors, Saturday’s Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park brings the recent Derby chops with it. How recent? How about the last two Derby champions? The one-mile Sham, which offers 10-4-2-1 Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers, gave you […]

Home Brew finds himself the favorite in a deep, record-sized Smarty Jones field. The mile-race is Oaklawn Park's first of four Kentucky Derby preps. (Image Coady Photography)

Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Packs In, Sends Out a Record-Sized Field

- 4 min read

Whichever candidate wins Saturday’s Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park will get themselves a dress rehearsal for the Kentucky Derby and its cavalry-charge-sized field. Because, barring any scratches, the Smarty Jones will send out the largest field in event history with 14 horses. The one-mile Smarty Jones, the first of […]

Cooke Creek, seen here winning the Rocky Run Stakes at Delaware Park, is the 5/2 favorite in Saturday's Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct. (Image: Hoofprintsinc.com Photo)

The Jerome Stakes Provide a New York Fork in the Derby Road

- 4 min read

The Listed Jerome Stakes, one of four New Year’s Day Kentucky Derby preps, generally doesn’t prove anything come Derby time. But the Aqueduct one-turn mile race for 3-year-olds that dates to 1866 does serve as a proving ground of sorts. The eight newly minted 3-year-olds competing for the 10-4-2-1 Derby […]

Strike Hard opens his 3-year-old campaign as a possible Kentucky Derby prospect in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The Mucho Macho Man is the first of four Derby trail stops at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Ryan Thompson Photo)

Strike Hard Gets His Opportunity To Do That In Mucho Macho Man Stakes

- 2 min read

If Strike Hard runs the same mile time in Saturday’s Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park he ran in a Dec. 5 Gulfstream allowance, the Florida spur of the Kentucky Derby trail will have a new force. Strike Hard won that allowance by four lengths, covering the mile in […]

Brooklyn Strong, who finished 15th in this year's Kentucky Derby, returns after a six-month layoff for a New York-bred stakes race at Aqueduct. (Image: Coady Photography)

Remember Derby Prospect Brooklyn Strong? He’s Back After R&R

- 3 min read

When last we saw Brooklyn Strong, the New York-bred gelding was finishing an uninspiring fourth in June’s Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. But now, the Kentucky Derby contestant returns after a six-month hiatus for Saturday’s Alex M. Robb Stakes at Aqueduct. The $100,000 Robb sends its state-bred 3-year-olds and up […]

Private Mission and Flavien Prat seek a return to trips like this victorious one in the Grade 2 Zenyatta two starts ago. The pair are the 8/5 morning-line favorite in Sunday's Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Private Mission’s La Brea Stakes Mission: Avoid A Pace Meltdown

- 3 min read

The last time we saw Private Mission, she was engaged in an incendiary pace meltdown with Letruska and others in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar. Now, we see if she’s learned a lesson from that rude awakening in Sunday’s Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita Park. […]

Beyond Brilliant, seen here winning the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, is one of the favorites in Sunday's Grade 2 Mathis Mile at Santa Anita Park's Opening Day. The Southern California track offers various wagering options to play that race and others. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Santa Anita Park’s Wagering Menu: Heavy on Options, Low on Takeout

- 2 min read

Santa Anita Park unveiled its wagering menu for its Winter/Spring Meet, which opens Sunday with three Grade 1s among its six stakes. It also opens with a special Opening Day Mid-Pick 4 that encompasses Races 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the traditional Dec. 26 opening-day card. And there are […]

Epicenter captured thi Churchill Downs maiden special weight last month. He is the 5/2 favorite to win the inaugural Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds, Sunday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Inaugural Gun Runner Stakes Provides Epicenter of Week’s Derby Preps

- 4 min read

There’s a certain symmetry, a certain karmic presence in Steve Asmussen sending out Epicenter as the 5/2 favorite for the inaugural running of the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds. Whether Epicenter can follow in the hoofprints of Gun Runner – one of Asmussen’s best horses – remains […]

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