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With less than a month to go and one major weekend of preps remaining for the Breeders' Cup, I decided to take a quick stab at who the favorites for each race might be as of today. The Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies are both still very much up in the air until after this weekend at Belmont, but the other races, with a couple of exceptions, could be ...

With Rachel Alexandra being retired earlier this week, I thought it would be timely to catch up with her previous trainer Hal Wiggins, who was one of the major reasons she accomplished as much as he did. Wiggins, who retired from training shortly after Rachel was moved to Steve Asmussen, now lives in Texas. He is semi-retired, but works as an ...

My initial reaction upon hearing the news that Rachel Alexandra had been retired was not one of surprise. I think most of us that have followed her bizarre campaign were half expecting her not to make it to the Breeders' Cup anyway. No, my initial instinct was not surprise. It was disappointment--disappointment of no longer being ...

As I mentioned in comments in a previous post, I will be going to Las Vegas this weekend for a couple days of football and horses. Of the 60 or so hours that I'm in Sin City, probably 50 of them will be spent in various casino sportsbooks--hopefully making some money. Whenever I go to Vegas I like to place future wagers, and since the ...

Move over Zenyatta, Blame, Quality Road, and Lookin At Lucky. You may have company in the form of a Japanese invader. Espoir City, a speedy 5-year-old horse by Japanese stallion Gold Allure, who was a son of Sunday Silence, is being pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. The connections have had the plan in ...

Christophe Lorieul, assistant to Christophe Clement, said on Tuesday that Gio Ponti will make his next start in the Shadwell Turf Mile (gr. I) at Keeneland on Oct. 9. Clement said they have ruled out the Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT) for Gio Ponti and it is now between the BC Mile (gr. IT) and the BC Classic (gr. I) on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. ...

By winning the Del Mar Futurity (gr. I) last weekend, J P's Gusto established himself as the top West Coast-based juvenile and is the only 2-year-old with three graded stakes wins so far. With his pedigree (Successful Appeal--Call Her Magic, by Caller I. D.) more geared for sprinting or middle distances than classic distances, his prospects ...

You guys know me well enough by now to know I don't like to play favorites very often. Trying to beat favorites has cost me a lot of money over the years, but it's in my blood; I can't help it. This weekend is a rare exception. I like all four morning-line favorites in the Saratoga grade I races. I'm not happy about it, but what can I do? For ...

It's September so I guess we better start talking about juveniles. On Saturday at Saratoga we may have seen the most dazzling maiden winner of the meet when Repole Stable's Uncle Mo devoured a field of 10 in a six-furlong contest. The son of Indian Charlie drew off to win by 14 1/2 lengths under John Velazquez, opening a lot of eyes along the ...

As far as grade I races go, this weekend's Travers is as difficult as it gets. Here is just a sampling of what we, as handicappers, have to tackle: *Only two of the 11 horses in here enter off a win, and one of those was a maiden. *Several trainers have been quoted as saying something to the effect of ''I wouldn't be surprised if anybody ...