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We taped That Handicapping Show this morning, and I went with Finnegans Wake in the Grade 2 Virginia Derby (Race 9 at Colonial Downs, Saturday, 8:38 ET). He is appealing beyond the ''other Romans'' angle (Dale Romans also trains favorite Silver Max, a winner of five in a row). Finnegans Wake is by Powerscourt, a multiple Group 1 winner going ...

Last week brought the news that ace sprinter/miler Caleb's Posse (TrueNicks,SRO) would be retiring to stand at Three Chimneys for the 2013 breeding season. Over the weekend, however, it was two Three Chimneys stallions that have departed for greener pastures, Rahy and Dynaformer, that took the headlines with a quartet of graded winners. Like the ...

2012 James Marvin starter Jackson Bend (photo: Kim Brewer) ''If Seabiscuit were picking runners, he'd say, 'Hey, Jackson, I want you on my team,''' one Nicholas P. Zito remarked on a Wednesday afternoon, two days before he was to send Jackson Bend postward in the $100,000 James Marvin Stakes (gr. III) at Saratoga Race Course. It has ...

I like to pick my spots early at Del Mar due to the uniqueness of the track. That means I'll be concentrating my plays on the turf course while I watch to see how the Polytrack plays. Del Mar's opening day feature today is the (two division) Oceanside Stakes, for three-year-olds going one mile on the turf. Blingo, an Artie Schiller colt who is ...

By Ned Bonnie Ned Bonnie is a retired equine attorney with Frost Brown Todd and a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Thirty-eight separate racing commissions with limited budgets, staff, and experienced attorneys have resulted in poor drug enforcement in racing. When there is money to be made in any industry and there are few rules ...

It would be reasonable to suggest that while time may prove Coolmore stallion Galileo superior to his breed-shaping sire Sadler's Wells, with the exception of siring a group I winner over 4000m (which Sadler's Wells did in the form of the brilliant Yeats), right now Galileo is every bit as good a classic sire as his father. Like many elite ...

 By Michele MacDonald     It is not an exaggeration to say that no Thoroughbred stallion has ever lived a life like 2002 champion and dual classic winner War Emblem.     From demonstrating he was one of the sharpest runners of the past decade with victories in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness ...

(Originally published in the July 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)  By Eric Mitchell - @BH_EMitchell on Twitter “The medication issue has been a major one in racing for more than 20 years. Knee-jerk reaction...will not answer the public ...

(Originally published in the July 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)  By Claire NovakIt is not unusual for a jockey’s name to be linked with one horse. Mention Jeremy Rose and Afleet Alex comes to mind. Bring up Stewart Elliott and you think of ...

Yes, ‘tiz the season to be jolly. Saratoga is here again, and it seems to be getting earlier and earlier. The first half of the year has been a series of emotional ups and downs with issues so hot they burned up the pages of newspapers and network air waves, in good part to the detriment of the sport.If there was a face of horse racing it would be ...