Horse Racing

Knicks Go just likes to go, as he did during this Thursday workout before Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup. The 5-year-old standout nearly retired last year. (Image: Coady Photography/VidHorse)

Knicks Go, Brad Cox Tell the Story of a Horse’s Renaissance

Every time Brad Cox looks at his first Eclipse Award as 2020’s Champion Trainer, he should give thanks to Knicks Go. For if there was ever an example of how important a trainer’s impact is on an individual horse, the story of Knicks Go is Exhibit A. And if there […]

Unfortunately, there is no morning line on the snowplows at Oaklawn Park. The Arkansas track lost eight days of racing over two weekends to the winter storms. The snowplows (Image: Coady Photography)

Oaklawn Fights Winter Postponements With More Races, Bigger Purses

Scrambling to make up eight lost days of racing, Oaklawn Park officials announced a revamped schedule that reschedules its five canceled stakes races, and adds races and purse money to the Arkansas track’s schedule. Oaklawn isn’t the only American racetrack feeling the polar blast buffeting the Central and Eastern US. […]

The post positions are set for Saturday's Saudi Cup. The five American horses drew posts ranging from 4 to 9. (Image: Saudi Cup Twitter/@thesaudicup)

Americans Take Center Post Stages at Saudi Cup Post Draw

Between Posts 4 and 9 sit the five United States horses running in Saturday’s $20 million Saudi Cup. Most spectators’ eyes will likely gravitate to Posts 5 and 9, where Knicks Go and Charlatan start, respectively. Post positions were drawn Wednesday for the Saudi Cup. There are 14 horses representing […]

After winning January's Sham Stakes, Life Is Good attempts to follow Authentic's 2020 path to the Kentucky Derby. Like his Bob Baffert-trained forebear did last year, Life Is Good will run next at the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Baffert’s Next Move: One Derby Prospect Stays Home, One Hits Road

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert began plotting his next moves for his deep bench of Kentucky Derby prospects, with the first move sending top prospect Life Is Good to the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Baffert’s second move sends Freedom Fighter across the country for […]

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he will sign a bill legalizing historical horse racing machines the moment it hits his desk. (Image: Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press)

Kentucky Governor Chomping at the Bit to Sign HHR Machine Bill

With legislation legalizing historical horse racing (HHR) machines meandering toward his desk, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told a virtual meeting of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Tuesday he will sign the bill “as fast as it reaches my desk.” Beshear told the commissioners he couldn’t sign Senate Bill 120 last […]

For the second consecutive weekend, Oaklawn Park canceled its weekend racing card due to inclement weather forecasts. (Image: Richard Rasmussen/The Sentinel-Record

Citing More Storms, Oaklawn Park Postpones Weekend Card Again

Oaklawn Park announced late Monday evening that it canceled this weekend’s Thursday through Sunday racing card, citing stormy forecasts for the Hot Springs, AR, region. This once again pushes back three Grade 3 races, including a key Kentucky Derby prep involving Champion 2-Year-Old Essential Quality. That race, the Southwest Stakes, […]

The 153rd Belmont Stakes moves back to 1 1/2 miles and its early June starting date. It headlines a massive day of racing at Belmont Park June 5. (Image: Chelsea Durand/NYRA/Coglianese Photos)

Belmont Stakes Headlines NYRA’s Belmont Park Stakes Schedule

With the Belmont Stakes headlining eight Grade 1 races that day, Belmont Park will play host to one of the biggest days in American racing on Saturday, June 5. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced Belmont Park’s Spring/Summer Meet stakes schedule, which features 11 Grade 1 races among 59 […]

Sporting blinkers and a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, Mandaloun held off Proxy to win Saturday's Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. That depressed his odds in this week's Kentucky Derby futures boards. (Image: Hodges Photography)

Kentucky Derby Futures: Where You Earn Points Matters to Bettors

When it comes to Kentucky Derby futures, Mandaloun and Rombauer illustrated the differences in weight books and bettors give to various Derby prep races. And Life Is Good illustrated that, if you’re a Bob Baffert product, you don’t even have to run to watch your odds shrink. After finishing third […]

Mystic Guide comes into this weekend's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap with six in-the-money finishes. That includes his victory here in last summer's JIm Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Weekend Stakes Span the Globe From Saudi Arabia to California

Looking at this weekend’s notable stakes races takes the eye halfway around the world to the $20 million Saudi Cup. Another look also takes the eye back to three races postponed from last weekend to this weekend – the Southwest Stakes, the Bayakoa Stakes, and the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn […]

Rombauer brings a strong resume along with 8/5 morning-line odds to the El Camino Real Derby. (Image: Coady Photography)

El Camino Real Provides a Synthetic Kentucky Derby Detour

The El Camino Real Derby is one of those Kentucky Derby Trail detours. Like December’s Springboard Mile at Remington Park, the John Battaglia Memorial and Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park and the Sunland Derby at Sunland Park, it’s not on the beaten Derby trail path. Once upon a time, […]

Mandaloun won his first two races, including this maiden-breaker at Keeneland last October. He looks to rebound off a disappointing third last out as the 9/2 favorite in the Risen Star Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Risen Star: Your First Win-And-You’re-In Derby Race for 2021

The Risen Star Stakes is, to paraphrase Drew Carey from the old “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” improv show, the race where the points begin to matter. Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds is the season’s first Kentucky Derby prep offering 50-20-10-5 qualifying points to the […]

Senor Buscador brings a flair for the late dramatic to his races. He's come from way back to win both his races, but faces a tougher field in Saturday's Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. (Image: Dustin Orona Photography)

Señor Buscador Could Make a Late Arrival in Risen Star

Watching Señor Buscador run with a betting ticket in your hand is a trip on an emotional roller coaster. You’re standing there, pinning your ticket-cashing hopes on a drama-king of a horse who lacks any sense of urgency. Until the stretch. That’s when Señor Buscador finds that heretofore lacking sense […]

The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill legalizing historical horse racing machines -- a key economic engine for the state's racing industry. (Image: Marcus Dorsey/Lexington Herald-Leader)

Kentucky House Passes HHR Bill, Heads to Governor for Signing

In a move illustrating the speed of Kentucky legislators when it comes to that state’s Thoroughbred horse industry, the Kentucky House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 120 on Thursday night, legalizing Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines. The measure passed 55-38, two days after it cleared the Kentucky State Senate, 22-15. […]

Improbable's romp to the Awesome AGain Stakes title last fall came in a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race. This year, the Awesome Again and its other 'Win and You're In' Breeders' Cup races will run Lasix-free. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Breeders’ Cup Bans Lasix for ‘Win and You’re In’ Challenge Races

Following in the footsteps of the Triple Crown races, Breeders’ Cup World Championships officials announced Wednesday their Challenge Series races will run Lasix free. The Challenge Series races are the “Win and You’re In” races spread out over the world. Those events give all-expense-paid spots in the various Breeders’ Cup […]

Oaklawn Park scrubbed its Presidents' Weekend card due to expected ice storms this weekend. The Arkansas track rescheduled five stakes races -- three graded stakes -- to the following weekend. (Image: Oaklawn Park)

Oaklawn Park Postpones Big Weekend Stakes Cards Due to Weather

With ice and frigid temperatures in the forecast, Oaklawn Park canceled its Presidents’ Day weekend card on Wednesday, rescheduling its five stakes for the following weekend. That means horseplayers must wait another five days to see Champion 2-Year-Old Essential Quality make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 $750,000 Southwest […]

Accelerate won the Pacific Classic by 12 1/2 lengths. Along with winning the Santa Anita Handicap and Gold Cup, this would have brought a $1 million bonus 
under a new program from Santa Anita and Del Mar. (Image: Lane's End Farm)

Santa Anita, Del Mar Form Posse for $1 Million Wild West Bonus

Seeking to keep their top Western horses home – while luring Eastern horses west – Santa Anita Park and Del Mar created the $1 Million Wild West Bonus. That bonus goes to the connections of any horse who sweeps the three Southern California elite races for older horses, the Santa […]

Candy Man Rocket parlayed his Sam F. Davis Stakes victory into a spot on Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Future Wager's Pool 3. (Image: SV Photography)

New Entries, Same Favorites in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3

Nine new offerings entered the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3 picture, but two familiar names continue holding court as the KDFW favorites. Essential Quality and Life Is Good opened as individual 8/1 morning-line favorites in the third of five KDFW pools. As expected, however, the overall favorite is “All […]

Midnight Bourbon leads the top four finishers of last month's Lecomte Stakes into this weekend's Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. That race gives 50 points to the winner, virtually guaranteeing a Kentucky Derby spot. (Image: Hodges Photography)

Risen Star Brings Rising Derby Points to the Weekend Stakes

This weekend’s stakes races bring us Essential Quality making his 3-year-old debut in one Kentucky Derby prep. They bring us the first win-and-you’re-in Derby prep, and they bring us a Derby prep that gives the winner a berth in the Preakness Stakes. They also bring back Monomoy Girl for her […]

At 20/1, Dream Shake brought home a strong maiden victory over two heralded Bob Baffert horses. His Kentucky Derby futures odds plummeted as a result. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Kentucky Derby Futures: What Goes Down, Can Go Up

One Bob Baffert charge watched his Kentucky Derby futures odds fall further this weekend, while another watched his rise to semi-realistic territory. Those were the two biggest takeaways coming out of a weekend that further defined the Derby picture across the odds food chain. The prime beneficiary was Baffert’s Concert […]

Bob Baffert trains Bezos, which is all Derby futures bettors need to hear. The colt makes his anticipated debut today at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Siena Farm)

Amazonian Favorite Bezos Makes Anticipated Debut Today

Bezos makes his debut today in a maiden special weight race on Santa Anita Park’s Super Bowl Sunday card. This is hardly the class of race guaranteed to suck the oxygen out of the room on the biggest sporting day on the American calendar. In horseracing, however, today’s fifth race […]