Each week I write a column in BloodHorse Daily on the Breeders' Cup Challenge that typically includes table information relevant to the week....
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Each week I write a column in BloodHorse Daily on the Breeders' Cup Challenge that typically includes table information relevant to the week....
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Sam Houston Race Park officials could offer opinions on the track's many low-takeout wagers, but they figure that pricing every horizontal wager (Daily Double, Pick 3, Pick 4, Pick 5) at 12% for a fourth straight year says volumes....
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I enjoyed catching up with owner-breeder Dennis Drazin last week for a Winner's Circle feature in the Feb. 13 Blood-Horse magazine....
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Today's post ranks right up there with those free HBO weeks, if you're like me and save money to the satellite company now in favor of binge watching shows a year or so later. Just as HBO offers free weekends to see what you're missing, today I'll link to a magazine story I wrote on takeout in the Feb. 6 issue of Blood-Horse Magazine. Give the story, "Is the Pari-Mutuel Price Right," a read and by...
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With the completion of this year's Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In," races for 2015, I thought I'd look at the four horses to win more than one Challenge race this year, Beholder, who won three; and two-time winners Big Blue Kitten, Honor Code, and Wild Dude....
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Thanks to some creative thinking, communication with top riders and trainers, and efforts to measure the distance to the first turn, this year's Dirt Mile will be contested at the mile distance, well close to it....
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You can't keep a great sire down....
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One of the nice things about my drive to the office is passing Keeneland each day. In the past few weeks it’s been fun to watch the tents go up that will house the various added seating for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Oct. 30-31. Some of this added seating also will be available for the upcoming fall meeting, which begins Friday, Oct. 2. The temporary structures, which include two Trackside...
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A tidbit to start today's blog: The three sires currently or formerly based in the U.S. to already have two different horses win Breeders' Cup Challenge races this year all boast victories in the King's Bishop Stakes (gr. I) as Tale of the Cat won the seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds at Saratoga in 1997 (when it was grade II), Hard Spun won the race 10 years later, and Henny Hughes won the previous year in 2006....
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With three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races this weekend, Del Mar will be in the spotlight. Two of those three races will be on the main track, which for the first time since 2006 offers a dirt surface after an eight-year run for Polytrack. While the track record of those two main-track races, the TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (gr. I) and Pat O’Brien Stakes (gr. II), was not especially impressive in terms...
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In some ways it's appropriate that in the final start of grade I winner Moreno's career, Honor Code rallied from 19 1/4 lengths back to win the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course....
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If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to attend the races at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., you know that a trip there has the feel of a mini-vacation. This year’s William Hill Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I) certainly delivered that sensation both for fans and participants. Trainer Dale Romans said he loves running in the Haskell because of the excellent hospitality from the Monmouth staff that...
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Just days before it was reported July 12 that California Chrome would miss at least three months of racing because of a cannon bone bruise, Larry Bramlage talked about that type of injury at the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit July 8 at Keeneland. Dr. Larry Bramlage - Anne M. Eberhardt Photo At the summit Bramlage said that as horses get older, the cannon bone can become dense to handle...
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A key to Saturday's Belmont Stakes Presented by DraftKings (gr. I) will be American Pharoah's efforts to carry his brilliance through a 1 1/2-mile race, a distance his breeding suggests will not be to his liking, against some rivals who figure to like the added distance, or at least like it more than American Pharoah. American Pharoah has the highest Dosage Index of any of the eight 3-year-olds being...
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Looking at the recent past performances of the 20 horses likely to start in the 2015 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), more than half the field would like to be racing a length or two off the lead....
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Just think if some healthy chatter on social media was going on this week about which post position the connections of International Star should choose with the first post position pick for this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I)....
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Like Mine That Bird's struggles in the winter and spring before his upset victory in the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), the movie that tells his story, "50 to 1", also plods along early, seemingly unsure about what story it wants to tell....
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Looking at the six U.S. races this year that the Road to the Kentucky Derby awards 100 points to the winner, four were won by favorites. Of the six races, International Star delivered the largest win payout at $6.60, a return that would have been the smallest from these six races if it had come in 2011....
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The three major Triple Crown prep races Saturday, April 4, will feature enhanced security protocols, which on one level is good news, but also serves as reminder of how much more is needed....
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For the past decade the most productive path to Oaks success has been through Louisiana but during that same 10-year stretch, not a single Derby winner has prepped in the Pelican State....
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Frank Angst analyzes the Kentucky Derby picture following interesting prep races from the weekend, specifically weight assignments. ...
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Just three Road to the Kentucky Derby races will be contested on synthetic surfaces this year....
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Considering it's only February, Kaleem Shah's Dortmund has displayed about as many qualities as one could hope to see in a potential Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) horse....
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Texas Red ran second in his 3-year-old debut, finishing a neck behind Peachtree Stable's Lord Nelson in the $200,250 San Vicente Stakes....
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