Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer will take the next 60 days off and won’t race for the duration of the 2021 season, according to the Daily Racing Form. Trainer Mike McCarthy told the DRF that Rombauer hadn’t been training “as sharp as he was before the Preakness and Belmont.” That June […]
Displaying further signs of post-pandemic economic health, Belmont Park boosted its 2021 spring/summer meet handle by 20.6% over 2019 totals, and 63.5% over last year’s handle. The New York Racing Association released the figures Wednesday. They showed the 48-day Belmont spring/summer meet brought in $632,208,251 in all-sources handle. This, from […]
One example of how deep Saturday’s Belmont Stakes card is comes to you via the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, best known as the Met Mile. This is a race that should be on its own, which it was as a Memorial Day staple until 2014 when the New York Racing […]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo caught the New York Racing Association by surprise on Wednesday when he announced fans could return to the state’s racetracks as early as April 23. That’s one day after Belmont Park’s Spring Meet opens. According to Cuomo’s edict, attendance at the three NYRA tracks, Belmont […]
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 […]
Tracks closed, spectators were absent, and schedules were changed beyond recognition. Yet, amid a year unlike any other in Thoroughbred racing, the total 2020 US handle dipped only 1.3% from its 2019 totals. What was remarkable about that modest dip — from $10.871 billion in 2019 to $10.727 billion in […]
Reigning Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law was retired to stud Wednesday, ending one of 2020’s most storied campaigns due to a veterinarian’s diagnosis. That diagnosis revealed bone bruises to his front leg bone. Those bruises were discovered when assistant trainer Robin Smullen noticed Tiz the Law […]
The reigning Belmont Stakes victor is in the field as your deserved race favorite. So is one member of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s 3-year-old Derby Legion of Doom. And so are a wealth of upstarts seeking to make Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes another trip into Saratoga’s “Graveyard […]
One of trainer Patrick Biancone’s two Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Ete Indien, is safely in the Derby. The other, Sole Volante, is literally on the points bubble. But Biancone said both remain on the Derby trail, despite a “setback” that puts Ete Indien’s path to Churchill Downs in jeopardy. That setback, […]
Even with Tiz the Law passing the “Test of a Champion” with flying colors, the all-sources handle for the 152nd Belmont Stakes and its stakes-packed undercard declined by 33.7% — yet another byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic. Belmont Park normally welcomes nearly 100,000 people for Belmont Saturday, usually the first […]
Yes, it’s condensed to 1 1/8 miles, instead of its typical hearty 1 ½ miles, meaning the Belmont Stakes goes from the longest Triple Crown race to the shortest. Yes, the Belmont Stakes leads off the Triple Crown season, rather than batting in the power-hitting three-hole. And yes, even in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Santa Anita Derby did what the West Coast’s premier Kentucky Derby prep always does – put another quality front-runner in the front row of Derby hopefuls for the Sept. 5 Run for the Roses. At the same time, it provided a good time to see where the top 3-year-olds […]
The Belmont Stakes field underwent a shakeup on Thursday, losing powerful Nadal to a broken leg and Wells Bayou to other Kentucky Derby preps. On the plus side, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed three of his horses, Dr. Post, Farmington Road, and Gouverneur Morris, will be in the […]
Multiple published reports confirmed Tuesday that Bob Baffert’s star 3-year-old Charlatan was one of two horses from the Hall of Fame trainer’s barn testing positive for lidocaine in a post-race sample taken on Arkansas Derby Day May 2. The New York Times reported the second horse was Gamine, a filly […]
As of now, nine horses are probable for the June 20 Belmont Stakes, a total that includes four Grade 1 winners. But how is the New York Racing Association setting Belmont Stakes guidelines for what is the first leg of the Triple Crown? What happens if more than 16 horses […]
Sole Volante is off to the Belmont Stakes. His stablemate, Ete Indien, heads to the Haskell Stakes. And Honor A.P. stays home for the Santa Anita Derby. These three Kentucky Derby contenders illustrate how many different paths have emerged on the Derby Trail during the COVID-19 era. Even in a […]
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