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The American Graded Stakes Committee may wake up to the reality that the graded stakes of summer and fall for 3-year-old horses fail to meet the criteria of grade I competition. But it’s likely the committee won’t. The grade II Jim Dandy was recently moved up in class and the horses assembled probably suit the description. But the same grade II ...

Say what you will about the horses competing at Saratoga this summer. The quality will improve Saturday when two $600,000 graded stakes are run─the grade I Diana Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf and the grade II Jim Dandy, a prep for the Travers Stakes (gr. I). In the meantime, what’s missing in horsepower is available in betting ...

(Originally published in the July 28, 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 Last week’s start of the premier summer racing seasons provided a welcome respite from the otherwise heavy news that’s been ...

(Originally published in the July 28, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)   By Tracy Gantz When brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis were kids living in Southern California’s San Joaquin Valley, they often visited their grandparents in Pasadena.“Our ...

Day three of the meet is too early to begin worrying about empty seats.  But if the attendance was 18,425 as reported July 22, they counted obese people twice. Despite beautiful weather and a card suited to betting, Saratoga remains the “August Place to Be.” Old-timers and locals, who remember when Saratoga went 24 days─Mondays through ...

It’s darn near impossible to keep up with all that’s going on in this town. Once the horses arrived, Saratoga Springs sprung to life like hydrangeas in season.  The Hat’s Off to Saratoga Festival has begun.  The track’s hat contest is Sunday. Women in search of a hat for the Hat's Off to Saratoga weekend find Joyce Locks' Hat Sational ...

A reassuring indication that Saratoga is still a place that’s set in its ways was embodied in the deliciously ironic delivery of two pre-meet announcements.  The first was that Shirley’s Restaurant, a newly-established food service provider in the dark, lower Carousel – where few hungry gentlemen have strayed before – will try to draw life ...

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 ...

 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 ...