So, where exactly does that leave this year's Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown? Is there a "Test of the Champion" this year? Is there a Triple Crown this year?...
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War Emblem will always be remembered as one of the fastest, most brilliant, and fascinating horses in many years, with an aggressive personality that spilled out onto the racetrack....
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Despite the controversies and horse racing continually working to reinvent itself with modern technology, the sport’s future will remain bright as long as the Thoroughbred can captivate us like no other animal and inspire deep passion in people starting at a young age. It is the centuries-old love of the horse that will guarantee its preservation....
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Of the first four horses who crossed the finish line at Churchill Downs, not one is back for the Preakness. That leaves us with a wide-open competitive race, including four who survived the muddy mess that was this year's controversial Kentucky Derby....
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Then came a hard-trying, tough as nails colt named Lookin At Lucky, who opened the door for Baffert's "second career," which amazingly has topped his first career....
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In some ways it seemed appropriate that all we saw of Justify in the stretch of the Preakness Stakes was a ghostly shroud, with his white silks and white face, emerging from the murk that had settled on Pimlico Race Course. This colt has been shrouded in mystery since he burst on the scene in mid-February as if conjured up by some magical potion. Where did this powerhouse of a horse come from? How...
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Why spend a million dollars on an untried yearling with an uncertain future when you can buy a piece of history that will endure forever? We're not talking just any piece of history, but items that represent three superstars of The Turf, Secretariat, Dr. Fager, and Arts and Letters. ...
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It was March 23, 16 days before the Wood Memorial and Blue Grass Stakes, and Chad Brown was discussing his Blue Grass Stakes starter and main Kentucky Derby hopeful Practical Joke. Brown was providing the typical upbeat obligatory comments you usually hear from a trainer of a Derby horse, providing reasons why he thinks the colt will run well in the Blue Grass and will be able to move forward off it and get the mile and a quarter on the first Saturday in May....
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If you enjoyed the Kentucky Derby dream, no sense waking up now. You might as well keep dreaming until you are jolted back to reality, if and when that ever occurs....
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Did you ever have a recurring dream that you were chasing someone or some thing and just as you were about to catch it you woke up?...
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Although Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, the overwhelming 3-5 morning line favorite, looks to be a standout as he takes his eight-race unbeaten streak into the Preakness Stakes, it is still a horse race, with post positions and track conditions playing a role in the scenario and possibly the outcome....
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So, just what did we learn about Lani in the Kentucky Derby?...
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Part Two of Canonero's story, covering the Preakness and Belmont....
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Poetry comes in all forms of expression, and Borel and Rachel were pure poetry that day. ...
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So, how do you deal with a horse who showed great promise, but nearly killed your son, changing his life forever; a horse who was now being branded as a rogue?...
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For 37 years, the gates to racing's pantheon have remained shut, rusted with time, leaving a number of fallen heroes strewn along its steps....
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Most fairy tales are born in the creative minds of gifted writers, but on rare occasions they are born in the most obvious of places. ...
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Steve Haskin analyzes the Preakness Stakes. Will American Pharoah win again?...
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With Preakness horses going out at all times during the morning, it was up to the Bob Baffert pair of American Pharoah and Dortmund to provide most of the entertainment for the 8:30 show. Both colts appear none the worse for wear after their tough battles in the Kentucky Derby, and the same has to be said for Firing Line, who has held his flesh beautifully and wanted to do more than his once around jog....
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Logic tells us that American Pharoah's lightly raced career and pair of easy Derby preps at Oaklawn will be beneficial coming back in two weeks for the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I)....
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Once again, we have reached the gates of the pantheon. Beyond beckons the ghosts of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Citation, and the seven other Triple Crown winners who have attained immortality. Will a California-bred of obscure and unheralded parentage be allowed to enter when so many have been turned away?
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If you’ve been on the California Chrome bandwagon, there’s no reason to jump off now....
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A couple of years ago, I wrote the back story of Mine That Bird's amazing Triple Crown journey. Now, with the motion picture '50-1' having its premiere in Albuquerque, N.M. Wednesday, March 19, I have added to it (and it is quite lengthy) in an effort to tell the entire story as I witnessed it....
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It was 25 years ago this spring. There hadn't been a sweep of the Triple Crown in what then seemed to be an interminable 11 years. Racing fans had been spoiled by the Roaring Seventies when three horses swept the Crown and two others captured the first two legs. And on three other occasions, a horse won either the Derby and Belmont or Preakness and Belmont. So in eight of the 10 years, a horse captured two legs of the Triple Crown....
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If this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Preakness Stakes taught us anything it is that Thoroughbred racing has its own unique way of transporting the past into the present, recycling great achievements and sometimes surpassing them....
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