Tag: Kentucky Horse Racing

Bettors on Ellis Park wagers this Friday will enjoy penny breakage, meaning they will cash bigger tickets than horseplayers in other states. That's courtesy of a penny breakage bill that goes into effect Friday. (Image: Ellis Park)

Kentucky Becomes First State Implementing Penny Breakage on Wagers

Beginning this Friday, horseplayers wagering on Kentucky races will get paid to the penny when the state’s long-awaited penny breakage law takes effect. The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, a grassroots advocacy group for horseplayers and horse owners, reported the change kicks in this week at Ellis Park. “This is a welcome […]

Grade 2 Alysheba winner Olympiad will take his share of wagers in Saturday's Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. He is the 5/2 second choice on the morning line. (Image: Coady Photography)

Rivalries Begin, Strong Contenders Abound in Stephen Foster

The Grade 2 Stephen Foster is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series race. But its importance goes beyond merely sending its winner to the flagship $6 million Classic. This year’s Stephen Foster brings us what we need in racing: a good rivalry. In this case, that’s 2/1 […]

Olympiad is 4-for-4 in 2022, with this solid victory in the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on the ledger. He is expected to contend for the Grad3 2 Stephen Foster title Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Churchill Downs All-Stakes Pick 5 Features Eclectic, Familiar Names

A veritable all-star roster of eclectic talent that includes a Kentucky Derby winner, a Kentucky Oaks winner, a Breeders’ Cup Sprint victor, and a true horse for course highlight Churchill Downs’ Saturday All-Stakes Pick 5. The All-Stakes Pick 5 wager encompasses all five of the Twin Spires’ stakes races on […]

Racing on the Churchill Downs turf course is done for the Spring Meet, canceling one turf stakes race and sending three others during closing weekend to the main turf. (Image: Coady Photography)

Churchill Downs Cancels Turf Racing for Duration of Spring Meet

Citing more problems from its new turf course, Churchill Downs officials suspended racing on the Matt Winn Turf Course for the track’s closing weekend. The decision cancels the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes and sends three other stakes originally carded for the turf course to the main dirt track. Those […]

Tyler Gaffalione pats Bango afer the pair won the Listed Arisitides Stakes Saturday. Bango's victory at 10/1 gave him seven wins at Churchill Downs. (Image: Coady Photography)

Seeking a Horse for a Course? Take Bango at Churchill Downs

Lost in the shuffle of Bango defending his Aristides Stakes title at Churchill Downs on Saturday was the not-insignificant fact that he is truly a horse for the Twin Spires course. Bango’s 2 ½-length victory over Necker Island marked his seventh victory at Churchill Downs. That ties him with 26 […]

Trainer Peter Miller, seen here at Del Mar last summer, returns after a six-month hiatus from training Sunday. The embattled trainer insists his break from the barn was a personal decision and not the result of a spate of deaths in his barn. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Trainer Peter Miller Returns After Six Months On Hiatus

Peter Miller, who hasn’t raced a horse since Nov. 28, returns to the barn for the first time in six months when he sends out 3-year-old gelding Respect the Code for Sunday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs. The California-based trainer, who won nine training titles at Del Mar, took what […]

Trainer Tim Yakteen learned plenty in defeat about the Kentucky Derby horses he inherited from Bob Baffert: Messier and Taiba. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Kentucky Derby Taught Tim Yakteen Plenty About Messier, Taiba

With both Messier and Taiba back at his Santa Anita Park barn, trainer Tim Yakteen took a look back at last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby shocker by 80/1 Rich Strike and came up with one inescapable conclusion many people overlooked. “Horses that show a fondness for Churchill Downs have a tendency […]

Rich Strike (right) passes favorite Epicenter with 50 yards to go to win the 148th Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs. At 80.80/1, Rich Strike pulled off the second-biggest upset in Derby history, trailing only Donegal's 91/1 shocker in 1913. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Rich Strike Bowls Over Rivals in Stunning 80/1 Kentucky Derby Upset

Rich Strike’s trainer, Eric Reed, nearly lost his entire stable in a barn fire. He got Rich Strike – a $30,000 claimer with one career win in seven starts — into the 148th Kentucky Derby with five minutes to spare Friday. When he left Post 21 at Churchill Downs, Rich […]

Secret Oath captured the 148th Kentucky Oaks in impressive, workmanlike fashion. She may run two weeks from now in the Preakness Stakes. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Secret Oath Comes Out of Kentucky Oaks Win Looking at Preakness

The options before Secret Oath – newly minted Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath – are plentiful and profitable. And Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said the Preakness Stakes remains one of those options. “I’m going to let a few days go by and then I’ll get with (owner) […]

Taiba is attempting to be only the third horse to win the Kentucky Derby without running as a 2-year-old. Columnist and morning line author Jon White likes his chances. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Racing Veteran White Sees Plenty of Gray in this Kentucky Derby

Jon White wants you to know this Kentucky Derby prognostication stuff can get rather tricky. He once picked Point Given to win the 2001 Derby because he simply was the best horse in the field. Point Given picked the first Saturday in May that year to run the worst race […]

Champion 3-Year-Old Malathaat and John Velazquez made her 2022 debut with this resounding victory in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland. That was one of the highlights of a record Spring Meet at Keeneland. (Image: Keeneland/Coady Photography)

Keeneland Brings Home Record Spring Meet Handle Across the Board

Keeneland enjoyed its third consecutive year of record Spring Meet handle, bringing in an all-sources handle of $219,284,979 for its just-concluded Spring Meet. That handle was the largest total in the Kentucky track’s history. The more than $219 million from the 15-day meet that ended Friday represented a 33.16% increase […]

Golden Pal and Irad Ortiz Jr. won their sixth race in seven starts Saturday, blowing away the Grade 2 Shakertown by nearly five lengths. The two-time Breeders' Cup champion will run next at Royal Ascot in June. (Image: Keeneland/Coady)

Golden Pal Blazes His Way Past Rivals, Will Return to Royal Ascot

Golden Pal first broke into the public conscience nearly two years ago when he finished second in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at a near-empty Royal Ascot. You could be forgiven for not noticing, considering not even Queen Elizabeth II made a Royal Ascot appearance. You’ll probably notice when Golden […]

Smile Happy is the 9/5 favorite in a 12-horse Blue Grass Stakes field. He has two wins and a second in three races. (Image: Coady Photography)

Smile Happy, Zandon Set Themselves Apart in Blue Grass Stakes

Keeneland’s stop on the Kentucky Derby trail, the Blue Grass Stakes, headlines opening weekend at the Lexington, KY. track. But this edition of Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Derby prep does so with a renewed prestige boost. Grade 1 status. The Blue Grass regained that status this year, putting it with the Santa Anita Derby, […]

Medina Spirit warming up before his final race: the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. The Bob Baffert trainee died in December, nearly five months before Baffert lost a final legal appeal to stay his 90-day suspension. (Image: Anne M. Eberhardt)

Baffert’s 90-Day Suspension Starts Monday After Latest Court Setback

One of embattled trainer Bob Baffert’s last legal Hail Marys was swatted aside Friday when the Kentucky Court of Appeals denied his motion for an emergency stay of his 90-day suspension by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, which first reported the story, that means […]

Kentucky horseplayers betting on horses like John Battaglia Memorial winner Tiz the Bomb will benefit from a bill reducing breakage to a penny. The bill HB 607, passed the Kentucky State Senate this week and is expected to be signed by Gov. Andy Beshear. (Image: Coady Photography)

Bettors Cash a Long-Awaited Ticket as Kentucky Eliminates Breakage

It went by Kentucky HB 607, an innocuous name for a bill that could put millions of dollars into horseplayers’ wallets after its Tuesday passage in the Kentucky State Senate. That bill, which heads back to the House for concurrence after sailing through the state senate 33-1, virtually eliminates breakage. […]

Bob Baffert may have to clear out his deep Santa Anita Park barn if his appeal is turned down. He suffered another legal blow Monday when his stay for a suspension was rejected. (Image: Zoe Metz Photography)

Bob Baffert’s Latest Appeal Denied by Kentucky Court

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert suffered another legal setback Monday in his bid to keep his considerable stable running when a Kentucky judge denied a stay of his 90-day suspension. The suspension, $7,500 fine, and forfeiture of Kentucky Derby winnings by Amr Zedan, the owner of the late Medina […]

Churchill Downs presents a record 53 stakes races in 2022. That includes the Grade 1 Arlington Million, which it brought over from the shuttered Arlington Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Churchill Downs’ 2022 Stakes Schedule Includes Arlington Million

Churchill Downs announced a 2022 stakes schedule for its spring/summer meet featuring a record 53 stakes worth a record $20.37 million. But, it’s a special stakes race Aug. 13 that drew the attention of horse racing fans. The Arlington Million. Yes, that Arlington Million, the marquee race at the now-late Arlington […]

Tiz the Bomb, seen here winning the Castle and Key Bourbon Stakes, is the 3/1 favorite in a deep Kentucky Jockey Club field. (Image: Keeneland)

Derby Trail Traffic Resumes Saturday With Kentucky Jockey Club

Traffic on the Kentucky Derby trail picks up again Saturday with a full cast of 14 entered in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club, the headlining race on Churchill Downs’ Saturday card. Up for grabs are 10-4-2-1 Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers, along with another Derby prospect […]