Tag: Shoemaker Mile

Irish-bred Ocean Road won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes in May. The Gamely is one of 10 Grade 1 stakes on Santa Anita Park's 2022-23 Winter/Spring Meet stakes schedule. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Santa Anita Park Announces Robust 2022-23 Stakes Schedule

- 3 min read

Santa Anita Park’s 2022-23 Winter/Spring Meet offers 93 stakes races — 58 graded and 10 of those Grade 1s — during what is one of the longest racing meets of the year. Santa Anita’s Winter/Spring Meet runs Dec. 26-June 19. “We feel there is something for everyone in this stakes […]

Smooth Like Strait and Umberto Rispoli won last year's Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. The 5-year-old horse returns with Flavien Prat aboard as the 4/5 favorite for the Memorial Day race at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Smooth Like Strait Looks Like the Right Fit in Shoemaker Mile

- 3 min read

That Smooth Like Strait is the 4/5 morning line favorite for Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park is understandable on several levels. Thirteen of them, to be precise. That’s the string of graded stakes races the 5-year-old turf terror brings into the second of Santa Anita’s three […]

Going Global is an 8/5 favorite in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes, which makes her a tempting single for Santa Anita's Rainbow Six jackpot wager. That pool is expected to hit $5 million. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Santa Anita Park’s Rainbow Six Expected to Hit $5 Million Monday

- 2 min read

Santa Anita Park officials expect Monday’s 20 cent Rainbow Six jackpot to hit $5 million as horseplayers pile into the wager on a mandatory payout day. Nobody hit the wager Sunday, which requires holding a single ticket with six winners. That sends a $588,484 carryover into Monday’s 10-race Memorial Day […]

Jessica Pyfer and Bally's Charge were all alone down the stretch of Saturday's Snow Chief Stakes at Santa Anita. It was Pyfer's first stakes victory as a journeyman jockey. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Champion Apprentice Pyfer Wins Her First Stakes as Journeyman

- 2 min read

In what would otherwise be a nice, but unremarkable Black-Type stakes race, Jessica Pyfer turned Saturday’s Snow Chief Stakes into one of the day’s feel-good racing stories. The reigning Champion Apprentice Jockey, Pyfer returned to the races eight days after being injured in a paddock accident to win her first […]

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series offers 82 races in 11 countries. Each race presents the winner a spot in one of 14 races at the Nov. 4-5 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keenelland. (Image: Breeders' Cup)

Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Brings New Twist to US Races

- 3 min read

The Breeders’ Cup announced its 2022 list of Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races, known as the “Win and You’re In” events. The premise is simple: win one of these 82 races in 11 countries and you have a starting spot in one of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. That brings […]

Raging Bull will stand for an initial fee of $10,000. He owns a 5-3-4 record in 18 graded-stakes races. (Image: Gainesway Farm)

Raging Bull Retiring to Gainesway Farm After Breeders’ Cup Farewell

- 2 min read

Raging Bull, one of North America’s leading male turf runners, will retire after the Breeders’ Cup Mile and head to his breeding career at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. He will open his breeding career in 2022 for $10,000. The 6-year-old horse, a product of standout European sire Dark Angel, owns […]

Raging Bull won this third Grade 1 race at April's Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. He faces non-Grade 1 competition for the first time since October 2018 in Saturday's Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Raging Bull Goes All-In On Class Relief in Poker Stakes

- 2 min read

The last time Raging Bull didn’t face Grade 1 competition came more than two years and nine months ago. It came in the Grade 2 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park, and it came with a fifth-place finish – albeit by only 1 ¾ lengths. That was 13 races ago. […]

Smooth Like Strait is the 4/5 favorite for the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on Santa Anita Park's Memorial Day card. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Say the Word About the Shoemaker Mile’s Consistent Contenders

- 3 min read

If it’s possible to ride into a Grade 1 race in form – riding into that race with two losses – Smooth Like Strait comes into this year’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park in perfect form. Yes, Smooth Like Strait finished third in his last start, the […]

As chaos befell his chief rivals, Raging Bull enjoyed a perfect trip in May's Shoemaker Mile. Three of his rivals from that race try turning the tables in Friday's Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Distilling the Talent in the Maker’s Mark Mile Produces Raging Bull

- 3 min read

Maybe it’s the bourbon talking, but it’s easy to confuse Friday’s Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland with May’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita Park. Yes, the tracks are 2,000 miles and three time zones apart. Details. The similarities go beyond the fact both are Grade […]