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By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') As horse racing in the United States continues to slowly emerge from its post-Breeders’ Cup lull, an impressive schedule of stakes races—both graded and ungraded—are on schedule for this Saturday. Two of the most intriguing are the $250,000 Red Smith Handicap (gr. III) at Aqueduct and a $350,000 Frank De ...

In watching replays of this year's Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park, it occurred to me that jockey Victor Espinoza had some tough choices aboard California Chrome. California Chrome finished third in the Classic, just a neck behind winner Bayern. At about the three-sixteenths pole, I thought he looked like the winner but he ...

I am going to make a case for Bayern and California Chrome for champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year, starting with Bayern. Chrome’s will come in the next blog. Also Main Sequence. We’ve gone five years now without a male Horse of the Year who raced on dirt. You remember those horses, the ones who used to be voted Horse of the Year pretty ...

The ongoing New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association election has become a de facto national referendum on what owners and trainers expect from their representative associations.What threw this election into the national spotlight was an “Open Letter to Horsemen” from five of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association member ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') As hard as it can be to believe, racing does go on after the Breeders’ Cup! While this week’s racing action can’t compare to last week’s thirteen-race extravaganza, there are still a number of interesting stakes races to be run, led by the $200,000 Long Island Handicap (gr. III) at Aqueduct and the ...

The first time I watched the replay of the start of the Breeders’ Cup Classic I was standing on the racetrack, and I let out with an emphatic “Whoa!” So, I can understand how strongly people feel about this. It looked pretty flagrant. But when you really think about it, all the uproar over the incident is not about Bayern’s interference. It’s ...

While it went down to the wire this year, the Breeders’ Cup wagering angle of looking for value in European starters again finished in the black, well in the black as it turns out. In a blog post before this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, I encouraged readers to look for value among horses who had made their previous starts in ...

The Breeders’ Cup is not only about winners. The losers also went into their races carrying the dreams of their owners and trainers. But for one reason or another their dreams remained just dreams, as much as they believed they were destined to come true. That is the nature of the sport. Here are several of the Classic dreams that failed to become ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Every year, after the Breeders’ Cup, I spend some time handicapping the Eclipse awards, considering the various candidates for each title and trying to determine which horses will earn recognition as champions of the season. It’s always a fascinating topic to ponder, but particularly so this year because ...

In an era that many racing states have correctly moved to the standard of determining if a foul affected the outcome of a race before moving forward with a disqualification, the start of too many races has become a free-for-all. The Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) served as the latest example of the problem. Bayern should have come down for ...