Bob Baffert is probably best known for training two Triple Crown winners. He won the three races in 2015 with American Pharoah, who ended an excruciatingly long 37-year Triple Crown drought, and again in 2018 with Justify. The legendary “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons is the only other trainer to have won the Triple Crown twice. His […]
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Del Mar racing is cancelled this weekend because of a rash of jockey COVID 19-positives and a spectator-less Saratoga season is underway. So, what else is new? It’s just another crazy weekend in a pandemic world. No worries. There are numerous opportunities nationwide for players to cash Saturday and Monmouth’s Haskell-day card looms as most […]
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Coming off his first defeat when second in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on June 6, Authentic seeks to regain his winning ways in Saturday’s Grade I Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. The 1 1/8-mile affair has attracted a field of seven. Monmouth oddsmaker Brad Thomas has installed Authentic as the Haskell morning-line favorite […]
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Breaking with alacrity to seize the lead at once, Vekoma dared his seven opponents to overtake him during last Saturday’s Grade I Met Mile at Belmont Park. Not one of the seven ever could. George Weaver trains Vekoma. As an assistant, Weaver in 1996 saddled Honor and Glory for trainer D. Wayne Lukas when the […]
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Now that the calendars have been flipped over to July, it’s time for my list of the Top 10 performances by a Thoroughbred in the United States during the first half of 2020. When there were just a handful of tracks conducting live racing for several weeks earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, […]
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Saturday, Belmont serves up a graded stakes pick 4 feast racing fans and horseplayers should consume with delight. Portions aren’t overly generous—there are fields of 8-9-8-8 runners in races 8 through 11, respectively–but the quality is exceptional. Think fine dining versus all-you-can-eat buffet. Michelin stars not tires. The Grade 3 Poker pops the seal on […]
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As a result of Tiz the Law’s emphatic triumph in last Saturday’s 152nd running of the Grade I Belmont Stakes, he solidified his position atop this week’s NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll. It was nearly unanimous. I think it should have been unanimous. Tiz the Law received 28 first-place votes last week, while Honor A.P. garnered […]
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Is this Saturday’s Grade I Santa Anita Derby a two-horse race between Authentic and Honor A.P.? Many no doubt are going to see it that way. But viewing a race that way sometimes can backfire. CAUTION: There are times when neither horse wins what many perceive to be a two-horse race. One need only go […]
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The field is taking shape for the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 20, which for the first time will kick off this country’s Triple Crown series. The 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby then will be held at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5. It will be followed by the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes […]
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Race1) Turf 5ô Furlongs|3lMd Sp Wt 50k|Purse: $50k #13 Duplicity 5-1 should she draw in will be uber tough. #1 Much More Halo 4-1 Just missed in last, only worrying thing is she loses her jock to the #7 Silardi for Miller, but go- to DVD signs on. #10 Bravo 20-1 will be running late […]
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If a horse sweeps the Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes this year, will the horse be a Triple Crown winner who deserves an asterisk? That question is being pondered now that we know the Triple Crown is going to be radically different this year. The three-race series has been forced to undergo a […]
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Myself and the late War Emblem have a lot in common. “Mean.” “Savage.” “Tough to handle.” Rank.” All these adjectives have been used to describe us both in the past! And now, I’m going to take you back to the spring of 2002, to Cicero Illinois. I’d been leading rider at Hawthorne a year earlier […]
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Below is my early Pick 5 ticket for the return of racing at Santa Anita Park on Friday! This economical ticket comes in at just $18. Good luck to all! Race 1 Rager (#3, 7-2) received a strange ride against a tough field at Oaklawn Park and now gets back to doing what he does […]
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Saturday night, I received an e-mail with the following headline: Breaking News…Baffert Sweeps Oaklawn 3-year-old Stakes! What’s next? Just In…Sun Set in the West! Film at 11. It should be breaking news only when Bob Baffert doesn’t train the winner of a 3-year-old graded stakes race at Oaklawn Park. The Hall-of-Fame trainer has been treating […]
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As a consequence of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, having fun these days has become quite a challenge. But trainer Bob Baffert is one person who did have some fun last Saturday. Watching on television at his Southern California home not far from Santa Anita, Baffert was understandably elated as to what happened in the two […]
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