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This is going to be short and hopefully sweet Saturday JUVENILE FILLIES – You can either look at this race as Songbird’s to lose or an East-West showdown between Songbird and Rachel’s Valentina. Or there is a third way to look at – more wide-open than most people think. After all, if you like Rachel’s Valentina you have to like Tap to It. If ...

As always, there are a number of solid favorites in this year’s Breeders’ Cup, some of whom are going to be very tough to beat. But as is also the case every year, there will be several longshots that come in, some at huge prices. The toughest past of the Breeders’ Cup is finding them among the morass of top-class horses who will be ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman This is it, folks! The post positions have been drawn, the fields are set, and it’s time to try to find the winners of the thirteen Breeders’ Cup races! Without further ado, here are my choices… Juvenile Turf (gr. I) Top Selection: With the talented European shippers Cymric and Hit It ...

Trackside mornings in the week before the Breeders’ Cup World Championships are frantic times. The coordination of getting horses ready for their works, getting back and forth between the grandstand and the barn area to watch the works, and keeping close tabs on how the horses are settling in is all-consuming regardless of where the races are ...

Now that entries have been drawn, let’s get the final Breeders’ Cup Classic analysis in the books and then go over the rest of the Breeders’ Cup card later in the week and look for longshot specials to keep an eye on. If you’re looking for reasons to bet American Pharoah and Beholder, and even Honor Code, this isn’t the place to come, although ...

As Ralph Kramden would say, “One of these days, bang! zoom!” You know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of when. You know that one of these days Aidan O’Brien is going to set off that bang and that zoom in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. O’Brien has come agonizingly close on several occasions and he’s back yet again, this time with his ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman With the Breeders’ Cup pre-entries having been released yesterday morning, we can now begin the much-anticipated task of analyzing each race and formulating our opinions on who will win. There’s plenty to discuss, so I won’t waste time—without further ado, let’s get ...

It was 15 years ago when Richard Mandella actually thought about leaving California and moving East. Obviously, that didn’t last very long. Mandella actually had those thoughts while in New Jersey prior to winning the 2000 Haskell Invitational with Dixie Union. It was during his brief stay in the Garden State that Mandella heard the call of the ...

The excitement as well as the anticipation of owning a racehorse builds in waves. The first jolt of adrenaline comes when the trainer says, “I think we’ve got a good one,” and anticipation starts its crescendo toward the first race when everyone will discover whether the ability that seems evident is genuine talent. Winning kicks the excitement ...

He’s reliable, he’s honest, he loves a mile and a quarter, and he consistently runs fast speed figures. But is Tonalist good enough to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic…away from Belmont Park?The main reason for asking that question is, prior to his victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, run at his favorite track and over a sloppy surface he relishes, ...