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Listening to Peyton Manning’s heartfelt farewell speech, it got me thinking about all the things I am going to miss about covering the Kentucky Derby, which I did for Blood-Horse and Daily Racing Form, providing lead coverage, for almost 30 years. There are many things I will look forward to, such as watching the Derby as a fan and not ...

Should nothing change in the next 30 days—which in horse racing time is admittedly an eternity—we will be witness to an event as rare as Donald Trump being subtle. On April 2 the two titans of the 3-year-old division, Mohaymen and Nyquist, have a date to meet in the Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (gr. I) at Gulfstream Park. In an age when top ...

It was July 20, 1968. The entire racing world was focused on Aqueduct Racetrack, where Damascus and Dr. Fager were meeting for the fourth time in the Brooklyn Handicap, in what was regarded as one of the most volatile and intense rivalries of all time. When Damascus crossed the finish line 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Dr. Fager, I stood in the ...

You remember the episode of Seinfeld when George Costanza was told the girl he had just dated had missed her period. In a matter of seconds, his face went from shock to revelation to ecstasy: “Oh, my God! I can’t believe it. I’m a father. I did it. My boys can swim!” In some ways, breeders with shares in American Pharoah could be heard ...

1 Mohaymen Kiaran McLaughlin Tapit—Justwhistledixie, by Dixie Union After working a half in :47 3/5, which was faster than McLaughlin was expecting, he had a nice easy half-mile breeze in :49 3/5 as he begins his final preparation for the Feb. 27 Fountain of Youth, where he will take on a number of new faces who are looking to make an impact ...

With the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee diligently trying to come up with horses worthy to be on this year’s ballot, we could be looking at two of the surest bets in a long time – that Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra will be elected to the Hall in their first year of eligibility. So let’s take a break from the Derby trail and turn the clocks ...

They are both 30-1 on the morning line. They are both sons of Bernardini. They both have never been two turns. And they both could be the most fun to wager on in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager…and possibly the smartest in the long run. Their names are Zulu and Shagaf, and although neither has ever run in a stakes or beaten anyone of note, ...

It’s time for another Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which in February still has a pretty low percentage, which is why Mohaymen is the only horse in single digit-odds, while the mutual field is an unappealing 4-5. It shows that there is still a huge chance that the Derby winner is not among the 23 horses listed with individual odds. We know ...

Success in the purchasing of horses is often attributed to seeing what others don’t see; in other words, looking past physical issues or deficiencies that turn other buyers off. When Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall Farm attended the 2009 Keeneland January Mixed Sale, she noticed a 3-year-old filly in the book by Unbridled’s Song named Special ...

We have seen numerous changes in racing over the years, both in ideology and execution. There obviously have been great improvements technologically, and there have been dramatic changes in training philosophy, especially in preparing a horse for the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps the biggest change can be attributed to the new points system that ...