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By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman I must admit, one of my favorite races to handicap each year is the $500,000 Alabama Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. The 1 1/4-mile distance is unique among major dirt races for 3-year-old fillies, making the Alabama a fascinating test of both speed and stamina. Of course, picking ...

For Thoroughbred racing these are anything but the dog days of summer. The three grade 1 races at Saratoga Aug. 8 delivered monster performances; each effort seemingly trumping the next. The following day at Ellis Park in Western Kentucky, which hosted the Runhappy Ellis Park Derby and four other stakes, the racing was as high-quality as the ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman The extended 2019-20 Road to the Kentucky Derby continues its path through uncharted waters with the running of Saratoga's historic $1 million Travers (G1) on Saturday. The 1 1/4-mile ''Midsummer Derby'' has attracted a strong field as usual, with heralded Kentucky ...

Even before the pandemic we knew it took a certain sense of humor to understand the business of the Thoroughbred industry. Attempting to read the tea leaves in 2020 outside in the “real” business world isn’t easy. As corporations have released their second-quarter earnings reports over the last few weeks, there have been some alarming figures. ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Although Saratoga figures to attract most of the attention this week thanks to its stakes-packed Saturday card, I would be remiss for failing to highlight the excellent day of racing Del Mar has assembled for the same afternoon. Eleven races are on the agenda, and there's something ...

Maximum Security’s nose score in the July 25 San Diego Handicap (G2) at Del Mar was a “comeback” win of sorts. The star-crossed 4-year-old’s victory in Southern California was his first for new trainer Bob Baffert,  replacing Jason Servis, who has been charged with administering performance-enhancing drugs in a sweeping doping scandal that ...

After writing the Hangin' With Haskin column for 12 years and the Derby Dozen, numerous features and columns, and providing lead coverage of all the major stakes for 22 years, I no longer will be writing for the Blood Horse and Bloodhorse.com due to my contract coming to an end. So this is my final column. As most of you know, I ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman While it's always tempting to search for longshots in major stakes races, sometimes the favorites are simply too formidable to play against. Such cases don't require you to take the opposite approach and sink your entire wagering budget into short-priced favorites—the risk vs. ...

It’s a lead to a column that can only make sense in 2020: Never have racetrack executives worked so hard to have 3,546 show up on a meet’s biggest day. Well, that was the case “down the Shore” July 17 at Monmouth Park where CEO and chairman Dennis Drazin and his team worked around the clock to put on a Haskell Stakes day program with fans. In the ...