by Doug Salvatore A fascinating statistic will be put to the test in the opening leg of the $27,469 Pick 6 on Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course where 8-to-5 morning line favorite Girlabouttown will try to end the “A.P. Indy curse” by becoming the first progeny of her now-pensioned super sire to win a race at six furlongs or less on the main track at either Saratoga or Del Mar. That’s right. No horse...
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Granted, this is somewhat a self-fulfilling statistic, as the best last-out Brisnet.com Speed Rating is most often the Kentucky Derby winner, and in this time range the Derby winner has won the Preakness six times. Still, the best last-out Brisnet.com Speed Rating would have landed you on non-Derby starters and Preakness winners Bernardini and Rachel Alexandra as well as longshot runnerup Scrappy T....
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In-depth analysis of the 2014 Kentucky Derby including Pace Figures and Form Cycle Pattern of each starter. Please refer to the Legend or Pattern Guide for back-up definitions and patterns. The Predicteform.com Pace Figures will tell you if a horse is likely to improve or regress in its next start. Pace Figures are not just a single speed number, but rather a series of numbers that are incredibly powerful...
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While we wait for more two-year-old racing to start, Brisnet.com pedigree handicapper and blogger Doug Salvatore will profile each of the expected Kentucky Derby starters in terms of classic breeding and current form/speed. This final installment of three looks at the top contenders ranked in the bottom third of the prospective field by points on the TwinSpires.com Kentucky Derby Championship Series...
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Many skilled handicappers treat pedigree analysis as though it should be left for those whose primary aim is the buying, selling, or breeding of horses. There are countless examples, new and old, of the maddening uncertainty associated with this subject. One hundred years ago, Roamer was the champion three-year-old and is credited with 1914 Horse of the Year recognition. He was sired by a "teaser stallion...
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While we wait for more two-year-old racing to start, Brisnet.com pedigree handicapper and blogger Doug Salvatore will profile each of the expected Kentucky Derby starters in terms of classic breeding and current form/speed. The second installment looks at the top contenders ranked eighth through 14 th by points on the TwinSpires.com Kentucky Derby Championship Series . For FREE Ultimate Past Performances...
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While we wait for more two-year-old racing to start, Brisnet.com pedigree handicapper and blogger Doug Salvatore will profile each of the expected Kentucky Derby starters in terms of classic breeding and current form/speed. The first installment looks at the top seven contenders as ranked by the Kentucky Derby points system . For FREE Ultimate Past Performances with comments of probable Derby entrants...
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Sunday's ninth race at Keeneland is a very exciting third-level allowance race for fillies and mares going a mile on the turf. The most intriguing horse in the race is the French invader Filimbi. In her most recent start, Filimbi nicely captured a Listed Stakes race at Chantilly over heavy ground last November. Filimbi is a product of two former Juddmonte owned and Bobby Frankel trained stars. In fact...
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RACE 1 (click for FREE Brisnet.com Ultimate Past Performances with comments ) We have our first dash of the meet for babies going 4 ½ furlongs, and trainer Wesley Ward sends out an uncoupled entry of 2-to-1 morning line favorite Climb In Back as well as Time Out of Mind (4-to-1). Before I discuss any horse, I must profile Wesley Ward’s past accomplishments in this type of race at Keeneland. A dozen...
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RACE TWO (click race for PPs): Radiant (8-to-5 morning line) and Follow The Kitten (9-to-5) are expected to vie for favoritism. Both horses have obvious credentials and are dropping from the Maiden Special Weight level, where they have burnt a lot of money (no wins in five tries as the favorite between them, and neither has been worse than 5-to-1 in any of their combined 10 starts). There are two interesting...
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As I discussed in varying ways on the Hello Race Fans Derby Prep Alert and Steve Byk’s At The Races Radio Program, I don’t expect a lot of sexy results on Saturday at Oaklawn Park in terms of payoffs, but it will be fun to watch some (future) stars shine at likely low prices. That’s good news for the 82 people still alive for $1-million in the TwinSpires.com Road To The Kentucky Derby Showdown , as...
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By Ed DeRosa If you’re the type who thinks that racing needs its stars to keep racing to increase interest, then this is the Saturday for you! The one-two finishers and beaten favorite in America’s richest race all make the second start of their season on Saturday at Santa Anita Park in the Santa Anita Handicap, and last year’s Preakness runner-up Itsmyluckyday and Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice...
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In discussing the Southwest Stakes (click for free Brisnet.com Ultimate PPs w/ comments ) with Steve Byk on his At The Races radio program Friday morning, I wondered whether fitness would be a factor for some entrants because of the lost training time this month at Oaklawn Park . Eleven of the dozen entrants are based at Oaklawn with the most recent works ranging from four days ago to three weeks ago...
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When playing races or carryovers at tracks I normally don’t play, I try to lean on the Ultimate Race Summary found in the Brisnet.com Ultimate Past Performances , but the El Camino Real Derby (click for FREE PPs) on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields does not afford such a luxury because there has only been one 1 1/8-mile race so far this meeting at the Bay area track. A (free!) fallback is the At A Glance...
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Are you tired of Kentucky Derby prep races that don’t soak up excitement and leave your appetite whet for more? Then you need the Sham, now! You’ll be saying “WOW!” every time you watch the replay of this race, as it is sure to be a classic pitting five maiden winners up against California fair circuit stakes winner Life Is a Joy in a battle to determine the West’s best two-year-old not named Shared...
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It's rare that I make a full (every entry) fair odds analysis for a race outside a seven-figure Grade 1 race, but I felt compelled to do so for the Jerome Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct (click for FREE Brisnet.com Ultimate PPs ) because of the presence of a clear favorite/most likely winner who doesn't have to win. In addition to the $200,000 purse, at stake in this stakes for three-year-olds is 17...
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Although wagering on horse racing with any seriousness is better viewed as one, long grind versus a day-to-day/week-to-week/month-to-month/year-to-year venture, there's just something about turning the page that makes us want to check the scoreboard. And to be honest, I'm getting blown out this year. To finish in the black for 2013 would require a comeback on par with Auburn's field goal return against...
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Personally, I enjoy playing the inner meet. Horses more easily find their right conditions, and the form holds up....
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Tampa Bay Downs has (rightfully) earned its reputation as one of the more player-friendly tracks racing, and we at Brisnet.com and TwinSpires.com always welcome its return, which this year is Wednesday, December 4. Daily Selections full-card analysis with best bets will be available all meeting long. This is a great tool for Tampa players in part because the multiple-race wagers at the track are so...
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There are a lot of angles to use when handicapping a horse race: trainer angles, jockey angles, pedigree angles, track surface plays, shippers, bias statistics, and speed figure patterns are some of the more popular, but chances are, if it's in the past performances then someone somewhere has a betting angle for it. In many ways, that was the impetus for Gary Hall to develop his ALL-Ways software ...
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One of my cause célèbre is to rally against the need to PICK A WINNER in important races. Any horse is capable of winning. A handicapper's job is to pick winners, but a horse player's job is to balance the chances of a win with the odds and bankroll. But it's Breeders' Cup Saturday, and just as everyone wants to know your Kentucky Derby pick, there's definitely an onus to be able to pick one horse...
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If you're a multi-race player then the most important race on Friday isn't a Breeders' Cup race but the Grade 2 Twilight Derby for three-year-olds on the turf. Carded as the fifth race of the 11-race card, the Twilight Derby ends the Pick 5, starts the Pick 6, is the third leg of the early Pick 4, is part of three rolling Pick 3s, and a pair of rolling doubles. Getting this race wrong could knock you...
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If you're playing the Stars of Tomorrow cards on Sunday at either Belmont Park or Churchill Downs then the following hyperlinked information from Brisnet.com is required for handicapping all the debut runners, surface switches, and stretch outs common among two-year-old racing: Ultimate PPs , American Produce Records (APR) Online , and Bruno With The Works . Together, they give you the clearest picture...
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In a rare moment of social media accord, it was mostly agreed upon that the Breeders' Cup Classic fields from either 1998 or 2004 were the best not only for the Western Hemisphere's richest race but also in the history of the North American Turf ! I'll muddy the waters a little bit and include 2009 in the discussion because of the international flavor of that event and because the most popular horse...
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One of my absolute favorite races of all time is the 2011 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes because it showed the value of speed figures--even on turf. For past performances and selections of this year's QE2 and all the races at Keeneland, visit the Blood Horse shop . The QE2 (on this side of the pond) is a 1 1/8-mile turf race for three-year-old fillies, and Winter Memories entered the 2011...
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