Tag: Taiba

Cyberknife (inside) held off a surging Taiba at the wire to win the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes. He set a Monmouth Park record for 1 1/8 miles along the way. (Image: Monmouth Park)

Cyberknife Carves His Way To Haskell Title, Monmouth Park Record

Cyberknife not only left the heralded Haskell Stakes duel between Jack Christopher and Taiba in the dust, he left both horses behind – along with the Monmouth Park track record for 1 1/8 miles. Also left behind was Jack Christopher’s aura of invincibility, along with Chad Brown’s chances of sweeping […]

Taiba's biggest victory in his three-race career came in April's Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. The Bob Baffert charge shipped east as the morning line favorite for the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park Saturday. (Image: Benoit Photo)

The Haskell Buzz Follows Baffert’s Taiba, Brown’s Jack Christopher

The buzz horse in Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes is definitely Jack Christopher. The buzz trainer – as he usually is in high-profile 3-year-old races – is Bob Baffert who brings in 7/5 morning line favorite Taiba. So when the starting buzzer goes off in the 1 1/8-mile Haskell, who’s […]

Jack Christopher destroyed his Woody Stephens competition by 10 lengths last out. He is the 3/2 second choice to win the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes. That's the fourth leg of this week's Cross Country Pick 5. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

All-Stakes Cross Country Pick 5 Features the Haskell, UN, Caress

The Grade 1 Haskell Stakes, its Grade 1 turf undercard United Nations, and a salty Grade 3 filly turf sprint finale at Saratoga headline this week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5. This week’s Cross Country Pick 5 features stakes races coming from Monmouth Park, Saratoga, and Canada’s […]

Gun Runner has made his progeny's connections smile like Florent Geroux did during the horse's final 2018 race: the Pegasus World Cup. Gun Runner is the top first- and second-crop sire in North America. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Zoe Metz)

Star Stallion Gun Runner Going South For Australian Breeding Season

Like any rock star worth his paycheck, Gun Runner is taking his act on the road. The leading second-crop sire in North America will breed a limited number of Southern Hemisphere mares during the Down Under breeding season. Thoroughbred Daily News reported that Gun Runner will stand for $75,000 US/AUS $109,700. […]

Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba, seen here during a June 25 workout at Santa Anita Park, is headed to next's week's Grade 1 Haskell Stakes. He reunited with trainer Bob Baffert last week. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Baffert Enjoys Reunion With Taiba, Sending Him to Haskell Stakes

Trainer Bob Baffert reunited with one of his star sophomores, Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba, this week and the reunion went so well that Baffert will send Taiba to next Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. “I hadn’t seen him in a long time. I’m happy with the […]

What a winning Pick 5 ticket looks like. OG News' Brian Robin hit this on Canterbury Park's Northern Stars Turf Festival June 22. (Image: OG News)

The Highs and Lows of Being a Horseplayer, Pick 5s to Derby Downers

This spring, I endured the true ups and downs of being a horseplayer, which – as anyone who has ever placed a bet on the creatures who can’t explain themselves can attest – is a true manic-depressive exercise. First, the manic. Last week, I enjoyed one of the biggest highlights […]

Taiba, seen here relaxing in his Churchill Downs stall during Derby week, hasn't run since finishing 12th in the Derby. He may be one of trainer Bob Baffert's entries in the July 23 Grade 1 Haskell Stakes. (Image: Chad B. Harmon)

Baffert May Pick Up Sophomore Mantle at Familiar Spot

The Haskell Stakes and Bob Baffert have become so synonymous that the Hall of Fame trainer has nine Haskell titles on his mantle. And with his suspension ending this Sunday, Baffert may send one or more horses in his quest for Haskell title No. 10. The Asbury Park Press reported […]

Neige Blanche won the first of three closing-day stakes races at Santa Anita Sunday. That was her third stakes victory of the Southern California track's 2021-22 Winter/Spring Meet schedule. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Record Performances Headline Santa Anita Park’s Winter/Spring Meet

A training record for Phil D’Amato, a breakout riding season for Juan Hernandez, and a memorable first stakes win for the incomparable Flightline highlighted Santa Anita Park’s 2021-22 Winter/Spring Meet. The iconic Southern California track finished its 76-day meet Sunday with an 11-race card featuring three stakes races. One of […]

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 […]

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 […]

(Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Breaking Down the 2022 Kentucky Derby: Chaos Theory Reigns

Welcome to Kentucky Derby 148, a.k.a. The Chaos Derby. And we’re not talking about the usual infield escapades that happen as the Derby returns to it’s pre-pandemic crowds north of 150,000. Unpredictability? Depth? A Derby where surprises almost wouldn’t be surprising? This edition of America’s most popular race has it […]

Mike Smith and Taiba will attempt to parlay this Santa Anita Derby win into a Kentucky Derby triumph as only the second Derby winner since 1882 to win without racing as a 2-year-old. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Taiba Trying to Take a Shortcut to Kentucky Derby History

The path Taiba is attempting to follow started four years ago when a lightly raced colt with only three starts under his saddle went into the Kentucky Derby as the 5/2 favorite. He “Justified” those odds by winning the Derby en route to the Triple Crown. Jockey Mike Smith remembered […]

Simplification won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth from seventh on the backstretch. His versatile style and other factors make him a good long shot Kentucky Derby pick. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)

Keeping it Simple With Kentucky Derby Sleeper Simplification

Lost in Friday’s Kentucky Derby news of the final California works from the former Bob Baffert/now Tim Yakteen duo of Taiba and Messier, and Zandon’s latest impressive work at Churchill Downs (1:00.40 for five furlongs) was the happenings out of Gulfstream Park, where Simplification quietly turned in a bullet five-furlong […]

Zandon captured the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes shortly after he closed at 18/1 in the final Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool. (Image: Keeneland/Coady Photography)

Epicenter Finishes as Final Favorite in Last KDFW Pool

With four weeks remaining until the May 7 Kentucky Derby, horseplayers stuck by Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter, making him the 9/2 favorite in the fifth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool. That pool closed Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET, prior to the running of the final 170-point Kentucky […]