Tag: horse racing

When it comes to sprints such as June's Woody Stephens, No Parole can't be caught. He's the 9/5 favorite for the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga. (Image: Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photo)

Sprinter No Parole Proves Tough to Catch, Tougher to Cage

There it sits, like a glaring black mark on No Parole’s otherwise pristine record. The “8” under “results” standing out among the five “1s.” The horse racing definition of a burp in No Parole’s otherwise stellar universe, which he’ll put to the test in Saturday’s H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes […]

The 2019 Louisiana Derby was one of By My Standards five wins in 10 career races. He shoots for No. 6 in Saturday's Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Scott Serio/Eclipse Sportswire

By My Standards Seeking to Do It His Way at Whitney Stakes

By My Standards ran his last race – June’s Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs — exactly by his standards. He chalked a 102 Beyer Speed Figure, tying his career-best mark. He raced exactly out of trainer Bret Calhoun’s playbook, even down to the strong gallop-out afterward. This should […]

Maximum Security (left) held off Midcourt by a nose to win the San Diego Handicap. The 4-year-old colt is a 5/1 favorite to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Maximum Security Passes His First Test Back By a Nose

All the pieces were in place to beat Maximum Security. He had a new jockey, a new trainer, a new track he hadn’t seen before — one that some of the best horses of their generations couldn’t figure out. And yet, while Saturday’s San Diego Handicap was the best opportunity […]

McKinzie, seen here winning the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes, will run the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar. It is the shortest race of his career. (Image: Benoit Photo)

McKinzie Goes on the Road to the Crosby, Improbable off to Whitney

Go long and far, or go short and stay home. When it came to deciding where prize colt McKinzie would run next, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert opted for the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar over the 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Instead, Baffert sends Improbable […]

Starship Jubilee proved to bettors again why she is one of the best older turf mares in North America. She won Saturday's Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga, beating 2/5 favorite Sistercharlie. (Image: NYRA)
Javier Castellano

Starship Jubilee Flies Off With Adventurous Upset at Ballston Spa Stakes

While the horse racing world was focused on Maximum Security’s return on Saturday (spoiler alert: he won), the other end of the country produced one of the more surprising upsets in the graded stakes world. That, courtesy of Starship Jubilee, who took down 2/5 favorite Sistercharlie in the Grade 2 […]

This volatile display of Volatile's speed went on display at June's Aristides Stakes. He opens as the 4/5 favorite for Saturday's Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. (Image: Coady Photography)

Vanderbilt Handicap Short on Entries, Long on Volatile Speed

The secret is already out. But you can confirm exactly how volatile a sprinter Volatile is in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. The featured race on Saratoga’s Saturday card gives you a glimpse of some of the best sprinting talent in the country. Only five horses are entered […]

Enable and Frankie Dettori face only three rivals in their bid for history in Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. (Image: Coady Photography)

Enable Running for History in King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

Horseplayers, your handicapping homework for Saturday’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is minimal. No need to crunch volumes of numbers, because trainers for the Ascot race crunched them for you. They crunched them down to four horses for the Group 1, 1 ½-mile race at Ascot. Despite its […]

Art Collector follows his Blue Grass Stakes victory with the Ellis Park Derby Aug. 9. (Image: Coady Photography)

July’s Kentucky Derby Preps Introduce New Contenders, Old Favorites

If we get a Kentucky Derby finish like the Haskell Stakes finish, they’ll be talking about that Derby for years to come. And after that Haskell, and the rest of July’s Derby preps, it’s a good time to see where the Derby contenders are at mid-summer – weird as that […]

After taking last weekend off due to a coronavirus outbreak among its jockeys, Del Mar's starting gate opens again beginning Friday. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Making Up for Lost Time, Del Mar Adds Extra Day of Racing This Weekend

After taking last weekend off due to the coronavirus, Del Mar resumes racing this weekend with an extra day tacked on. The California Horse Racing Board approved the track’s request for Monday racing, giving the San Diego area track four days of racing this weekend. Normally in this summer of […]

After losing his first race last month in the Santa Anita Derby, Authentic seeks a return to his San Felipe-winning form in Saturday's Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: MyRacehorse.com)

Can the Jersey Shore’s Haskell Be an Authentic Playground for Baffert?

When you’re Bob Baffert and you’ve got a murderer’s row of 3-year-olds looking for marquee races to run in this coronavirus era, the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes almost seems like a gimme. And that’s the scenario Baffert seeks with 4/5 favorite Authentic in Saturday’s marquee race from Monmouth Park. Yet, […]

Ny Traffic won't turn heads with blinding speed. But he usually turns exotic bettors into believers. He's the 7/2 third choice to win Saturday's Haskell Stakes. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Gulfstream Park)

Ny Traffic Seeking to Break Out of Pack at Haskell Stakes

Unlike his namesake, Ny Traffic sits under the radar, repeatedly yielding the spotlight to sexier horses and sexier-named trainers. This version of Ny Traffic doesn’t make you late for dinner. And Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park falls right into Ny Traffic’s lane. There’s Bob Baffert’s Authentic as […]

Florent Geroux became the latest high-profile jockey testing positive for the coronavirus. (Image: Pat McDonogh/Courier-Journal)

Florent Geroux Latest High-Profile Jockey Testing Positive for COVID-19

Florent Geroux joined the lengthening list of prominent jockeys testing positive for COVID-19 over the past week, revealing his positive test results on Twitter Tuesday morning. Unlike Martin Garcia, Luis Saez, Victor Espinoza, and Flavien Prat – all of whom tested positive in the last week — Geroux didn’t ride […]

Art Collector's 3 1/2-length victor in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland vaulted him to the front row of Kentucky Derby contenders. His odds to win the Sept. 5 Derby plummeted on every futures board. (Image: Coady Photography)

Art Collector Becomes Hottest Object on Kentucky Derby Futures Board

Winning the Blue Grass Stakes made Art Collector the latest shiny object for Kentucky Derby bettors to focus on as his odds to win the Sept. 5 Run for Roses plunged across the board. On Circa Sports’ Kentucky Derby Futures Board, Art Collector sits at 7/1. He’s now the fourth […]

This is one of Flavien Prat's 98 victories this year, aboard Toinette in the Wilshire Stakes June 20. The West Coast's top jockey tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday. (Image: Benoit Photo/AP)

Flavien Prat is Fifth Los Alamitos Rider Testing Positive for COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak from Los Alamitos’ July 4 card claimed another jockey Sunday when Flavien Prat tested positive for the coronavirus. Prat, the West Coast’s leading rider, just captured the Santa Anita Park riding title. He’s also the fourth jockey from Los Alamitos’ Independence Day card to test positive, joining […]

Rushing Fall and Javier Castellano make a dynamic team. The 5-year-old mare won her second stakes race in as many months Saturday, repeating as Jenny Wiley Stakes champion. (Image: Chelsea Durand/Coglianese Photography)

Rushing Fall Tumbles Into Elite Company With Jenny Wiley Victory

As the 4/5 favorite, Rushing Fall brought no rush of value to bettors in Saturday’s Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland. But when the chalky favorite defended her Jenny Wiley title, she brought a record rush to what is already a glittering resume. Rushing Fall became only the third […]

Vekoma won the Met Mile as the 5/2 second-favorite. He is one of the top older horses in the country, with a stud career at Spendthrift Farm awaiting him after this year. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

Spendthrift Farm Adds Sizzling Vekoma to Already Deep Stud Stable

Spendthrift Farm acquired the breeding rights to its third Met Mile winner in the last four years when it secured stud privileges to multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma. Spendthrift, the famous Kentucky breeding farm owned by billionaire B. Wayne Hughes, the founder and chairman of Public Storage, adds perhaps the […]

This front-running outing is what Major Fed's connections need to see to keep him on the Kentucky Derby Trail. He is the 7/2 second-choice to win Wednesday's Indiana Derby. (Image: Eclipse Sportswire)

Derby Trail Now Runs Through Indiana, with Major Fed Taking Center Stage

When looking at, and understanding, the Indiana Derby and its place on the Kentucky Derby Trail, it’s important to take a page from one of the favorites – Major Fed. Don’t look away at the wrong time. Major Fed brought us this lesson through his misadventures at March’s Grade 2 […]

Mike Smith and Swiss Skydiver rolled to such an easy victory in June's Santa Anita Oaks that her connections may send her into Saturday's Blue Grass Stakes against the boys. (Image: AP Photo)

Swiss Skydiver Looking to Leap into Blue Grass Stakes

Will Swiss Skydiver run with the boys? Will the talented filly who doesn’t need Kentucky Oaks points enter Saturday’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland – a Kentucky Derby prep? Or will Swiss Skydiver enter the Grade 1 Ashland Oaks and tangle with her usual fellow filly suspects? These […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. sent Instilled Regard through a slim opening to win Saturday's Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park. This was Instilled Regard's second stakes victory in less than a month. (Image: Joe Labozzetta/Coglianese Photos)

What Can Chad Brown Do for Instilled Regard? Make Him a Turf Terror

That Instilled Regard snatched and grabbed victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park isn’t surprising, coming from a horse with nearly $1 million in career earnings. That the Chad Brown-trainee took Manhattan wasn’t surprising either, considering this was Brown’s sixth Manhattan title in nine years. It was […]