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The three prep winners this weekend were all terrific in different ways. Many questions were answered and now we are left with a pretty clear picture of the top New York and California contenders. After this weekend's Blue Grass and Arkansas Derby, the real fun begins. Like almost everyone, I thought I Want Revenge's Wood performance was simply ...

The three weekend preps will separate the men from the boys and give us a pretty good idea of the handful of legitimate Kentucky Derby contenders. There's plenty to cover, so let's get right into it. As a reminder, the live blog chat will return to its usually time of Saturday at noon EDT. For those of you who have not tried it, it's a lot of ...

Entering the Florida Derby, there were a couple key questions that Quality Road had to answer: Would he bounce off a huge Fountain of Youth effort and could he get two turns? The Jimmy Jerkens trainee answered both questions emphatically while turning in the most impressive Derby prep before this season - by far. The son of Elusive Quality was ...

Two of the last three Kentucky Derby winners have come out of the Florida Derby, so this race demands our respect for at least that reason. Though the field is not overly-deep from top to bottom, the three big horses are legitimate Triple Crown threats. Before the analysis, just a reminder that due to the Dubai World Cup, which is on Saturday ...

The Florida Derby is this weekend, which means we are starting to hit the home stretch. After this weekend and next, which gives us the Illinois Derby, Wood Memorial and Santa Anita Derby, we will finally have a good idea of the half-dozen or so horses with legitimate chances at taking the roses. It's starting to get exciting. The Florida Derby ...

It's sort of nice to have a quiet weekend of racing after the four big Kentucky Derby preps a week ago, and the Florida Derby on the horizon. We're just six weeks from the big day now, so it's a good time to catch your breath. The Lane's End Stakes from Turfway Park is the lone prep race on this week's calendar, and historically, it hasn't ...

So, Larry Jones wasn't blowing smoke last summer when he told me Friesan Fire was the most talented 2-year-old he ever had in his barn. After standing in the shadow of stablemate Old Fashioned for six months, Friesan Fire has established himself as Jones' top gun. This, after dominating the Louisiana Derby by 7 1/4 lengths and making what was ...

If you are Thoroughbred racing fan and an avid handicapper, it doesn't get much better than what's on tap this weekend. In addition to the four Derby prep races, there are 12 other graded stakes - nine of the coming on Saturday. Fair Grounds' card is spectacular, led by the $600,000 Louisiana Derby, which we covered earlier in the week. Exciting ...

Last week, the Gotham presented us with a tough set of challenges. This week, the Louisiana Derby makes the Gotham look like an introductory course to handicapping. Easily the most challenging Derby prep race of the season from a handicapping perspective, Saturday's Louisiana Derby is a head-scratcher. On paper, you can make a case for all 10 ...

Going into the Gotham, which was one of the most hotly-debated Derby preps so far this season, there was one thing that nobody could deny: I Want Revenge had a huge class edge. The question he had to answer was, how would he take to Aqueduct's natural dirt for the first time? In hindsight, it should have been easy to believe trainer Jeff ...