BloodHorse.com

Friday’s card provides a little bit of everything, with a pair of tough, extremely wide-open 2-year-old turf events, Dortmund finally getting away from California Chrome, Songbird’s attempt to remain unbeaten against the toughest field she’s ever faced by far, and the continuing rivalry between champions Beholder and Stellar Wind. If ...

We are all aware that the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby are two totally separate entities, with only two of the 32 Juvenile winners going on to capture the Run for the Roses. This year, however, we not only have a deep, talented field for the Juvenile, but the vast majority of them also look like Derby horses in terms of ...

As the 6-year-old Beholder prepares for arguably the biggest test of her illustrious career, in which she will attempt to knock off the brilliant undefeated 3-year-old Songbird and also try to avenge her two narrow defeats at the hands of last year’s 3-year-old filly champion Stellar Wind, the question arises whether or not she has lost a step and ...

If there is one aspect of Thoroughbred racing where you can say the sport has come a long way, it is the on-air presence of so many talented female analysts and interviewers. It is an avenue that has been paved by females such as the great Charlsie Cantey, who was as knowledgeable about racing and provided as much, if not more, insight than ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman We're getting close now! The 33rd Breeders' Cup is barely more than a week away, and pre-entries were released yesterday, giving handicappers a chance to begin serious analysis of the thirteen races. There's still a lot of data to consider and dozens of replays to watch, but at this ...

Few people, if any, reading this column will have any clue who Lucky Spell is and can only wonder what is behind the bizarre headline above.After all, how is a California-bred filly, who died in 2005, the star of the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic?As a racehorse, Lucky Spell was a tough, hard-knocking filly who won or placed in 15 stakes, with ...

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly a year since American Pharoah capped his racing career with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) and harder still that it has been almost two years since California Chrome battled to the line with Bayern and Toast of New York in the ’14 Classic. The connections of racing’s brightest stars need to ...

They attack in droves, constantly searching for new lands to conquer. In the world of Thoroughbred racing, Aidan O’Brien can be called the modern day Alexander the Great and his four-legged Ballydoyle bruisers the Macedonian army. Alexander ruled a good portion of the world while in his 20s. Aidan O’Brien has looked like he’s in his 20s for as ...

The racing world lost more than a talented, classy racehorse on October 22. It lost a pioneer. Monarchos was not your average Kentucky Derby winner. He and his training team of John Ward, who was listed trainer, and his wife Donna paved new ground in how to prepare a horse to win the Derby. There have been countless horses who have had their one ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman At every Breeders' Cup, two of the key races to decipher if you want to have success in the multi-race wagers are the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I). With the latter usually falling as the first race on Saturday and the former being a ...