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Sometimes it's worthwhile to just look at all the places the pari-mutuel dollar goes in racing. With that in mind, I've returned to the well-done California Horse Racing Board annual report for fiscal year 2015-16, which breaks down where every pari-mutuel wagering dollar goes in the state. Of the $2.9 billion wagered on California racing in the ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman The Road to the Kentucky Derby continues on Saturday with two major Derby prep races at Aqueduct and Gulfstream Park, including the $400,000 Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II). We're reaching the point where every prep race has serious Derby implications, for major ...

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, and into the '80s, the name Darby Dan Farm and the Galbreath family were synonymous with the Triple Crown, especially the Kentucky Derby. The names still resound in my brain, with several of them finding a way into my heart forever. If it wasn’t for one in particular I would not be writing this column or any ...

Many first-year students at the University of Kentucky feel the hair rise on the back of their necks when they hear the words “freshman English.” Back in the day the class often separated the wheat from the chaff while offering a series of writing challenges from descriptive essays to argumentative papers. In the fall of 1978, I chose to write why ...

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1 Irish War Cry Graham Motion Curlin—Irish Sovereign, by Polish Numbers It’s not as if he backed into the No. 1 spot, as in my mind he was ranked on equal terms with McCraken. Now he must earn the right to stay there. The big question is whether he will take back off the pace in the Fountain of Youth, and with the presence of Three Rules, ...

One year after Japanese-trained Lani started in all three Triple Crown races and earned a classic placing with a third in the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1), the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) and Belmont Stakes have rolled out welcome mats for Japan-based 3-year-olds. Churchill Downs, along with the Japan Racing ...

With Stewart Elliott being named the winner of this year’s prestigious George Woolf Award and with Smarty Jones’ birthday this coming Tuesday, it rekindled memories of those glorious five weeks in racing and Triple Crown history that will endure for as long as the sport’s great Cinderella stories are recalled. Here then is a behind-the-scenes ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman The road to the Kentucky Derby will get serious on Saturday when Fair Grounds hosts the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes (gr. II), the first Derby prep race offering 50 qualification points to the winner. A total of fourteen promising three-year-olds have been entered in the 8.5-furlong ...

Kentucky Derby (G1) winners carry a certain cachet, but the winner of the 1999 Run for the Roses was truly Charismatic. The memories of the coppery chestnut colt, who slipped from this earth Feb. 19 at Old Friends near Georgetown, Ky., are still fresh nearly two decades on. His arc—a scant two months that spring and summer—was brief, but it was oh ...