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Boy, am I being influenced by television lately. First American Idol spawns a column on Wise Dan and now “Horseplayers,” mainly Team Rotondo (Peter Rotondo Sr. and Jr. and Lee Davis) and John Conte, brings me back to a time long ago in my life; a time of smoke-filled busses and a cacophony of thick Brooklyn accents moaning about the double ...

Santa AnitaSaturday, Santa Anita, Race 5, Local Post Time 2:00pm PTThe G2 San Felipe Stakes, 1 and 1/16 miles, Dirt, 3YOBy Robert FinneganKentucky Derby Fever makes its way back to Arcadia for the Grade 2 San Felipe, to be run at a mile and 1/16 on the main track, with 50 Kentucky Derby points going to the winner.• TimeformUS PPs for the San ...

Here we go again. I had absolutely zero plans on writing or even thinking about Wise Dan in the heat of the Derby trail. Who needs all the retorts that accompany it? I don’t consider myself a glutton for punishment. But then I was watching American Idol and another hair-brained analogy for a column popped into my head. It’s basically the same ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') In what may very well go down as the race of the year, the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) on March 8th will feature a spectacular showdown between Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge—the 1-2 finishers in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I)—as well as Game On Dude, who is shooting for an unprecedented ...

A dates compromise between Calder Casino & Race Course and Gulfstream Park might have been expected after the two South Florida racetracks—located only eight miles apart—began racing head-to-head on weekends last July. Calder might have seemed most eager for a truce since the Miami Gardens track has suffered the harshest blows during this ...

1 Top Billing Shug McGaughey Curlin—Parade Queen, by A.P. Indy No, he was not gaining with authority in the final yards of the Fountain of Youth (gr. II), as those critical of him point out, but to me that can be excused when you have to run your second and third quarters in :22 2/5 and :23 1/5 just to get within 7 lengths of the leaders and ...

It was 25 years ago this spring. There hadn’t been a sweep of the Triple Crown in what then seemed to be an interminable 11 years. Racing fans had been spoiled by the Roaring Seventies when three horses swept the Crown and two others captured the first two legs. And on three other occasions, a horse won either the Derby and Belmont or Preakness ...

By Ed DeRosa One of racing’s great ironies is the common lament, “I don’t regard weight to handicap races” (or some such). In today’s parlance, “to handicap a race” usually means to figure out who’s going to win (or what chance each horse has of winning), but the origin of the term has to do with assigning weight to horses in a race. Weight ...

A set of young 2-year-olds strutting across a grassy field in pairs, as dripping strands of Spanish moss hang over their heads. It is the summer of 1965 and Ocala, Fla. is alive with a new crop of Thoroughbreds. The area, rich in limestone, is still in its fledgling stages that year as an alternative to the Kentucky bluegrass. In 1943, ...

There is no shortage of opinions regarding a horse’s performance following races on the TwinSpires.com Kentucky Derby Championship Series, and the beauty of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager is that it allows bettors to put their money where their mouths are (assuming the price is right). Pool 3 is now open and closes Saturday before the Gotham ...