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By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') The showdown that racing fans have been anticipating for weeks came to fruition last Saturday, as 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome squared off against 2013 champion 2yo male Shared Belief in the San Antonio Stakes (gr. II) (VIDEO) at Santa Anita. Their lone previous meeting had come in the Breeders’ ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Get ready, everyone! February 7th promises to be the best day of racing thus far in the young year, with the schedule of nine graded stakes races being highlighted by a pair of major Kentucky Derby prep races and a pair of top-notch races for older males on the main track. The action will start at Gulfstream ...

Beautiful weather and wonderful photo opportunities this week in Central Kentucky. Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch, now 23 and retired, resides in the Ashford Stud stallion barn near Versailles, Ky. Stallion manager Richard Barry and his staff do a tremendous job. As breeding season nears, they have 13 stallions on the roster. ...

So, Keeneland is now back on dirt and that means the Blue Grass Stakes is back to being a major prep for the Kentucky Derby and no longer a haven for grass and synthetic horses looking to back door it into the Run for the Roses.The first thing Keeneland did was raise the purse to $1 million and move the race up a week to four weeks before the ...

1 Texas Red Keith Desormeaux Afleet Alex—Ramatuelle, by Jeune Homme Other than not winning, you couldn’t have asked for a better debut. This race will do him a world of good in the long run, and you had to love the way he split horses and how he was striding out at the end, coming home his final eighth in :11 4/5 and final three-eighths in ...

Lord Nelson after winning the San Vicente Stakes.Photo: Benoit Photography While Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner Texas Red ran second in his 3-year-old debut, finishing a neck behind Peachtree Stable’s Lord Nelson in the $200,250 San Vicente Stakes Feb. 1 at Santa Anita Park, I suppose the connections of the top two ...

Changes have come to The Blood-Horse sire lists. Beginning with this issue, the statistics populating the sire lists will be slightly different to reflect shifts in racing and the commercial marketplace.Because sire lists are ranked by total progeny earnings, the change likely to attract the most interest will be the inclusion of earnings from ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') During the last ten days, we have had the good fortune to witness two highly impressive performances from a pair of up-and-coming Kentucky Derby contenders, Khozan and Prospect Park. The first-mentioned colt broke his maiden in dominating fashion at Gulfstream Park (VIDEO), while the latter overcame a bit of ...