Tag: horse racing

Jesus' Team won December's Claiming Crown Jewel Stakes for his only stakes victory. The one-time claimer returns to the track as a millionaire for Sunday's City of Dania Stakes at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Lauren King/Coglianese Photos)

One-Time Claimer Jesus’ Team Returns to Action as Millionaire

Jesus’ Team, the plucky, one-time $35,000 claimer-turned-millionaire, returns Sunday, headlining the field for the City of Dania Stakes at Gulfstream Park. That one-mile test is for 3-year-olds and up. And should Jesus’ Team pass that test to the satisfaction of trainer Jose D’Angelo, next on his agenda is the Grade […]

Bonny South prancings took her around the Midwest and Eastern tracks, including this Keeneland victory in April. She runs at her eighth track Saturday in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap. (Image: Anne M. Eberhardt)

Well-Traveled Bonny South Heads East for Delaware Handicap

If Thoroughbreds had passports that required stamps at every distinct race track, Bonny South’s would already need extra pages. Well-traveled? Bonny South checks that box. Meanwhile, she’ll check off another track Saturday when she comes into Delaware Park as the 3/2 morning-line favorite in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap. The […]

Del Mar changed its traditional $2 Pick 6 to a 20-cent jackpot-style it calls the "Rainbow Pick Six." The new wager is an effort to create seven-figure pools for mandatory payout days. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Del Mar Adds Rainbow Jackpot Pick 6 to Upcoming Wagering Menu

Joining the trend set by other tracks around the country, Del Mar announced it will add a 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot bet to its arsenal of wagers for its upcoming summer meet. The seaside track north of San Diego replaced its regular $2 Pick 6 with the 20-cent jackpot version, […]

Dayoutattheoffice won the 2020 Frizette Stakes during Belmont Park's Fall Meet. The Grade 1 Frizette is one of 20 graded stakes on Belmont Park's 2021 Fall Meet schedule. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Four Grade 1s, 20 Graded Stakes Headline Belmont Park’s Fall Meet Slate

Bettors will have a veritable smorgasbord of options to choose from when Belmont Park’s Fall Meet takes to the track in September. In a schedule released by the New York Racing Association on Tuesday, organizers are featuring four, Grade 1 races and five Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge […]

Oaklawn Park's 2021-22 stakes schedule consists of a record 36 stakes. Included is a revamping of its Kentucky Derby trail stops. (Image: Coady Photography)

Oaklawn Park Boosts Arkansas Derby Purse, Remakes Derby Prep Trail

Oaklawn Park just shifted the landscape for the 2022 Kentucky Derby trail, boosting the purse for the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby to $1.25 million and moving the race up a week, to April 2, 2022. That moves the Arkansas Derby from its traditional spot as the last major Derby prep […]

Mr. Wireless broke his maiden with this March victory at Oaklawn Park. He is expected to provide competition to favorite Fulsome in Wednesday's Grade 3 Indiana Derby. (Image: Coady Photography)

Fulsome, Mr. Wireless Pick Up Favorite Lines for Indiana Derby

There will be no Fulsome-O Besos rematch at Wednesday’s Indiana Derby. So playing the part of Fulsome’s erstwhile rival in the Grade 3 event is one Mr. Wireless. Your 4/5 morning-line favorite, Fulsome, heads the seven-horse field in what is Indiana’s richest horse race. The $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana […]

Super Stock reeled in a Kentucky Derby spot by reeling in Caddo River (2) and heavy favorite Concert Tour in the Arkansas Derby. (Image: Coady Photography)

Kentucky Derby Points Show the 20 Survivors of the Derby Trail

The Kentucky Derby Trail ended Saturday, which means it’s time to parse the Derby qualifying points ladder and see who’s in, who’s on the bubble, and who won’t be discussed as a Kentucky Derby starter. It took 40 points to make the top 20, the usual target number connections shoot […]

Kendrick Carmouche and Bourbonic pulled off the biggest upset on the Kentucky Derby Trail, capturing Saturday's Wood Memorial at 72/1. (Image: NYRA)

This Bourbonic Plague Caught the Biggest Upset in Wood Memorial History

It had to be a typo that Todd Pletcher’s Bourbonic entered the Wood Memorial starting gate at 72/1. Surely, the trainer with the most Kentucky Derby starters in history couldn’t have a moon shot like this in a race he’s won five times. It was no typo. Bourbonic left the […]

Rock Your World rocked Santa Anita Park's marquee race Saturday, winning the Santa Anita Derby by more than four lengths. Jockey Umberto Rispoli earned his first Grade 1 victory along the way. (Image: Benoit Photography)

On Record Day, Rock Your World Rocks, Rolls His Way to Kentucky Derby

Rock Your World rocked the Santa Anita Derby, which rocked bettors into producing Santa Anita Park’s largest all-sources pari-mutuel Santa Anita Derby handle in 14 years. On a day where fans returned to the Southern California track for the first time in more than a year, the 8,246 attendees on […]

Medina Spirit cost owner Amr Zedan only $35,000. He's earned nearly five times that total -- with more on the line in Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Medina Spirit, Bob Baffert Cast Their Spell in Santa Anita Derby

About the only thing faster than Life Is Good on the track was the rush of horses piling into the Santa Anita Derby the moment the Bob Baffert supercolt departed the Kentucky Derby Trail with an ankle injury. Now, all of a sudden, horses like Dream Shake, Parnelli, Law Professor […]

Weyburn (inside) held off a surging Crowded Trade to win the Grade 3 Gotham in February. The two tangle again in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Saturday at Aqueduct. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Wood Memorial Replaces Recent Derby History With Wide-Open Plot

Let’s dispense with the Wood Memorial history out of the gate. There are 13 Triple Crown winners, and this Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep claims four of them: Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, Seattle Slew, and Secretariat. Eleven horses pulled off the Wood Memorial/Kentucky Derby double. You’ve probably heard of a […]

Champion Female Sprinter of 2020 Gamine returns to her Santa Anita Park roots Sunday in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Champion Sprinter Gamine Makes 2021 Debut in a Grade 3

The monstrous shadow of Gamine will emerge from her five-month vacation on Sunday when the Champion Female Sprinter of 2020 makes her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita Park. She will likely make it as the odds-on favorite for the six-furlong Las Flores. The […]

Zenden's fatal injury moments after winning in Dubai last weekend came shortly after The Jockey Club announced Thoroughbred fatalities were at the lowest point since record-keeping began.  (Image: DRC)

Data Shows Equine Injuries Drop to Lowest Recorded Marks

Less than a week after the grotesque image of Zenden breaking down after winning the Golden Shaheen in Dubai went on worldwide display, The Jockey Club announced that the rate of fatal injuries to Thoroughbreds reached the lowest number since the Equine Injury Database was created in 2009. The EID […]

The winner of this December allowance at Gulfstream Park, Tarantino brings turf prowess and speed to the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photo)

When it Comes to Derby Threats, Jeff Ruby Steaks is Tough to Chew

In its nearly 50-year existence, the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park went under 11 different names. It opened as the Spiral Stakes in 1972 and meandered through a myriad of monikers until arriving at its current name in 2018. But whatever you call the Grade 3 Jeff […]

Swiss Skydiver (4) passing Authentic in deep stretch provided a memorable 2020 Preakness -- that no fans watched live due to COVID. Pimlico announced Tuesday it will sell 10,000 tickets to the 146th Preakness May 15 at Pimlico. (Image: Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports)

Preakness Gets Some of Its Fans Back, Pimlico Opens Doors for 10,000

The Maryland Jockey Club announced Tuesday it will allow 10,000 fans into the 2021 Preakness Stakes when that second jewel of the Triple Crowns runs on Saturday, May 15 at Pimlico Race Course. This decision came after The Stronach Group officials met with Baltimore-area and Maryland state health officials, who […]

British bettor Paul Dean took a cash-out offer for a quarter-million pounds on a bet that would have won him more than £511,000. Dean looked like a savant after his chosen horse fell in Cheltenham's first race. (Image: Teesside Live)

Dean’s List: British Bettor’s Smart Cash-Out Brings Him £250,000

Almost immediately after favorite Envoi Allen crashed out of the Marsh Novices’ Chase, punters and journalists around the world were calling Paul Dean’s decision the greatest cash-out in the history of wagering. Dean, who stood to win £511,225 if Envoi Allen won the Cheltenham Festival’s Thursday opener, instead took a […]

Clairiere (1) and Joe Talamo ran down Travel Column and Florent Geroux to win last month's Rachel Alexandra Stakes. The two top 3-year-olds tangle for the third consecutive race Saturday in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography)

It’s Clairiere and Travel Column 3.0 in Fair Grounds Oaks

Clairiere and Travel Column. Travel Column and Clairiere. The two 3-year-old fillies are becoming linked in many ways as they prepare for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. The two staked their grounds as the top 3-year-olds this spring, seizing attention from last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old, Vequist, along with contenders […]

Del Mar likely will open 2021 like it opened 2020 here -- without fans in the stands. But the San Diego-area seaside track plans to sell tickets for its 2021 summer meet. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Officials Plan for Fans at 2021 Summer Meet

Del Mar officials announced Tuesday they will allow a limited number of fans into the seaside track when its summer meet opens in mid-July. Track officials didn’t specify an allotted number of tickets it plans to sell when its 82nd summer meet opens on Friday, July 16. Nor did it […]

Fire At Will proved he is great on grass with this Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf win. Can he give favorite Greatest Honour a dirt duel in Saturday's Fountain of Youth? (Image: Coady Photography)

Weekend Stakes: Third Time Should be Oaklawn Park’s Charm

This weekend’s stakes card gives us another shot at seeing the 2021 debuts of Essential Quality, Jackie’s Warrior, and Monomoy Girl. After two weather postponements over the past two weekends, Oaklawn Park finally gets a thumbs-up from Mother Nature. That means the Arkansas track finally gets to turn loose its […]