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Out of sight, out of mind. That's the way it is on the Kentucky Derby trail when 3-year-olds that win prep races are elevated to higher status and those making belated seasonal debuts are forgotten. Noble's Promise is a perfect example of the latter. A two-time stakes winner, including the grade I Dixiana Breeders' Futurity, the son of Cuvee is ...

With nearly two months of the Derby prep trail completed, quite honestly I have not been blown away with the 3-year-old crop as a whole. Maybe that's why the horse I have ranked No. 1 on my list doesn't even have any graded earnings yet. I'm hoping my outlook changes in March. Admittedly, Eskendereya's Fountain of Youth performance was superb and ...

Exactly six weeks from today the ''Race for the Ages'' is supposed to take place at Oaklawn Park. Whether or not Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta meet in the Apple Blossom remains to be seen, but we have reasons to be hopeful. If you are wondering why there has been little promotion for the event so far, there are a couple of factors ...

With five 3-year-old stakes on the docket, this is easily the most important weekend of the Triple Crown prep season so far. After Saturday, I believe we will be able to separate the men from the boys and have a good idea of who the major contenders are as we creep closer to the first Saturday in May. I will offer my first top 10 list of the year ...

Personally, I am not a huge fan of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. I don't like the fact that they only allow 23 betting interests (plus the mutuel field) when it would seem fairly easy to expand the pool to 40 or 50 choices. But more to the point, I am someone who likes to get huge odds when I place a future bet, and that is why I always find ...

There is a full weekend of stakes action on the calendar, including a trio of important 3-year-old prep races--the Sam Davis and Robert Lewis on Saturday, and the Southwest on Monday--but all of those races have been pushed to the background by the announcement that Rachel and Zenyatta will supposedly now meet in the Apple Blossom, which was moved ...

Through five weeks of the 2010 season, there have been only three 3-year-olds that have posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 or more, and only one of those has done it around two turns. Any guesses on who the horse is? Didn't think so. Admittedly, I had also had some research to find out more about Tempted to Tapit, a gelded son of Tapit, out of ...

Well, it's February, and even though the weather outside isn't exactly hot, racing is really starting to heat up--especially for 3-year-olds. There is solid stakes action from Santa Anita, Gulfstream, Aqueduct, and Oaklawn on the calendar, so let's take a look at some of the major races. Let's start with the 3-year-olds first: Robert B. Lewis, ...

In September, if you were to poll writers and horsemen on who they thought the best 2-year-old Kentucky Derby prospect was, there is a good chance Dublin would have been at the top of the list. A couple of sound defeats and four months later, the son of Afleet Alex seems to have fallen off the radars of many of those same people. According to ...

Things have gotten pretty heated on this blog over the past couple months with all the Horse of the Year debate. How about we take a step back and talk about something fun before we tackle the long Triple Crown season? One of the coolest parts of Thoroughbred racing is the names that owners come up with for their horses, and I am always intrigued ...