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In many respects it seems as if the “year of COVID” has lasted a lot longer than 12 months. A year ago we couldn’t find much on the shelves of the local grocery store, especially paper products. Swiss Skydiver had yet to defeat stakes company. Bob Baffert had just five Kentucky Derby (G1) wins. While we herald the fact racing was able to continue ...

If one of the horses with early speed entered in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 13 at Oaklawn Park is able to emerge with a victory in the 1 1/16-mile race, they figure to be a good fit for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). I'm basing that ''good fit for the Derby'' statement on the fact that on paper an easy lead ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Our quest to picks 50% winners in 2021 enters the second week of March in the ''close, but not quite'' territory. We were right on target after Life Is Good rolled to a convincing win in the San Felipe (G2) last Saturday, but then Ride a Comet faltered with a seventh-place effort ...

Making a stand against social injustice at a racetrack is nothing new. Perhaps the most famous example occurred more than a century ago when Emily Davison walked out in front of the horses competing in the 1913 Epsom Derby in England. Stepping out from the inside bend at Tattenham Corner at Epsom, the suffragette was struck by King George V’s ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman A dozen graded stakes are slated to take place across the country this week, including five important races at Santa Anita. The historic Santa Anita Handicap (G1) is the star of the show, but from a handicapping perspective, I'm more interested in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1). And ...

Major announcements during the final week of February 2021 figure to have monumental implications for Thoroughbred breeding and racing…but we don’t expect the ramifications will be felt for awhile. Last May, The Jockey Club announced a new rule to limit the number of mares a future stallion could cover in a calendar year to 140. We figured it ...

Considering a percentage of sports fans discovered the joys of betting horse races from home last year as racing continued when some other sports halted activity during the COVID-19, I'm looking forward to seeing if racing can build on that opportunity during the excitement of the Road to the Kentucky Derby season. As racing tries to retain ...