Tag: Mike McCarthy

Ce Ce and Victor Espinoza's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint victory gave the 6-year-old mare her third Grade 1 victory. She goes for her sixth graded-stakes score in Saturday's Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Benoit Photo)

What Can 6-Year-Old Ce Ce Do for a Breeders’ Cup Encore?

Considering what she did in her last start: win the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, Ce Ce could find Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita Park a bit of a comedown. But 6-year-old campaigns must start somewhere, and a small, but deep Santa Monica field isn’t […]

Rombauer won the 2021 Preakness Stakes at 11/1. He was retired Monday after chronic ankle injuries prevented his comeback. (Image: Maryland Jockey Club)

Preakness Champion Rombauer Retired After Chronic Ankle Injuries

Rombauer, who shocked the racing world when he captured the 2021 Preakness Stakes, was retired from racing on Monday, prematurely ending one of the more eclectic racing stories of 2021. According to the Daily Racing Form, which received a release from Rombauer’s owner, John Fradkin, the colt suffered a training […]

One-time A-list 3-year-old Art Collector won the Alydar Stakes at Saratoga for his first win in nearly a year. He travels to West Virginia ,where he's the 5/2 favorite for Friday's Grade 2 Charles Town Classic. (Image: NYRA)

Art Collector Leads the Redemption Brigade into Charles Town Classic

Art Collector is the 5/2 morning-line favorite for Friday’s Grade 2 Charles Town Classic at Hollywood Casino at Charles Races. And yes, it’s strange to read one of 2020’s top 3-year-olds is running in West Virginia and not in Saratoga this weekend. Art Collector’s path to the starting gate for […]

After recent workouts didn't meet his approval, trainer Mike McCarthy decided Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer needed a freshening. So he's giving his prize colt the next 60 days off. (Image: Maryland Jockey Club)

Preakness Winner Rombauer Taking a Break, Won’t Race Until 2022

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 […]

Essential Quality's Blue Grass Stakes wire victory over Highly Motivated was the Champion 2-Year-Old's fifth consecutive win. After finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, the colt seeks to rebound as the 2/1 morning-line favorite in the 153rd Belmont Stakes. (Image: Kentuckyderby.com)

Essential Quality Returns to Triple Crown Trail as Belmont Stakes Favorite

Essential Quality duplicated the favorite status he enjoyed for the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago, taking 2/1 morning-line favorite odds into Saturday’s 153rd Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. Tuesday morning’s Belmont Stakes draw put the Brad Cox-trained, Tapit progeny in post 2. He’s one of four Grade 1 winners and […]

Rombauer trainer Mike McCarthy, jockey Flavien Prat and owners John and Diane Fradkin hoist the Woodlawn Vase replica after Rombauer's Preakness Stakes victory Saturday. The colt heads to Belmont Park for a likely date in the June 5 Belmont Stakes. (Image: AP Photo/Will Newton)

Rombauer Comes out of Preakness Well, Belmont Stakes Likely Next

While Rombauer’s trainer, Mike McCarthy, headed west back to his California base, his newly minted Preakness Stakes champion left Pimlico Race Course early Monday morning for a northerly destination. That destination? New York’s Belmont Park. “We will go ahead and go to Belmont. We will get there and see how […]

John Velazquez will ride even money favorite Gamine in Saturday's Kentucky Oaks. (Image: Alton Strupp/Louisville Courier Journal)

Gamine Takes Even Money Favored Status In Kentucky Oaks

At even-money, Gamine enters Friday’s Kentucky Oaks as the shortest-priced favorite in 11 years, where she looms large over the smallest Oaks field in 15 years. Gamine starts the 146th running of the prestigious 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies from post 5 in the nine-horse field, drawn Monday afternoon […]