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Over the next month I will be waxing nostalgic on occasion, whether racing-oriented or personal. This one is both. Portions of this column I am rehashing from old columns, but most of it new and it is an opportunity to link all the pieces together. Let’s just say it is being done for cathartic reasons at an appropriate time. I likely will be ...

There is no doubt people are going take different views of this year’s makeshift Belmont Stakes (G1) when assessing just how impressive Tiz the Law was dominating his field to capture the mile and an eighth event by nearly four lengths. First off, let us look at how the skeptics will view the race. It would be difficult to argue the fact that ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman A few short weeks ago, the $1 million Belmont Stakes was shaping up to be an intriguing battle between Grade 1 winners Tiz the Law, Nadal, and Charlatan, the three early favorites for the Kentucky Derby. With its shortened 1 1/8-mile distance and newfound status as the first leg of ...

The field has been drawn for this year's version of the Belmont Stakes (G1), and whether you feel it belongs in the classification of classic race or just another mile and an eighth prep for the Kentucky Derby (G1), there is a great deal intrigue to the race, highlighted by the presence of the top-ranked 3-year-old in the country Tiz ...

We didn’t pay that much attention—or have much in the way of retention—while enduring an English literature class at the University of Kentucky, but we remember a quote from poet James Russell Lowell given to us by famed broadcaster Jim McKay in an introduction to the national television coverage of the 1991 Belmont Stakes (G1): And what is so ...

If you think watching racing from Belmont Park and Churchill Downs and other tracks in front of empty grandstands is kind of eerie try watching the races from Royal Ascot where the event normally is highlighted by a sea of top hats and ornate women's hats, with champagne pouring and a proper buzz in the air. And of course the revered presence ...

On April 3, 1972, the front page headline in the Morning Telegraph read, ''Head of the River Wins Everglades Stakes.'' It looked as if the colt's owner Rokeby Stable and trainer Elliott Burch had another top 3-year-old on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail to follow their champon Arts and Letters. What made this headline so significant was that it ...

June 6 is a historic day in the history of the United States, with Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day commencing that day on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. While it pales in comparison, June 6, 2020, was an important day in Thoroughbred racing. Starting in mid-March, the COVID-19 closings nearly KO’d the sport, and on the first Saturday ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman It isn't often that an ungraded stakes race on a Thursday looms among the most intriguing betting opportunities of a given week, but this general rule will be thrown to the wind when Belmont Park hosts the $80,000 Flat Out Stakes on Thursday, June 11. Held over 1 3/8 miles on the ...