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The three weekend preps will separate the men from the boys and give us a pretty good idea of the handful of legitimate Kentucky Derby contenders. There's plenty to cover, so let's get right into it. As a reminder, the live blog chat will return to its usually time of Saturday at noon EDT. For those of you who have not tried it, it's a lot of ...

I haven't paid too much attention to the Godolphin phenom Desert Party (profile) -- I've already made it clear who will win the 2009 Kentucky Derby! -- but he's worth a good look. Desert Party is a good example of a Thoroughbred female family branch that has lay nearly dormant for several generations but which is showing signs of ...

By Kevin Stafford, The Aspiring Horseplayer  A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse! Now that Quality Road has dispatched the heavily hyped Dunkirk, just where does the son of Elusive Quality belong in the rankings for the 2009 Kentucky Derby?  All the way at the top, if you ask me.  His gutsy performance to hold off ...

As a prelude to the stallion study -- which is currently ''under construction'' as we determine the best way to track all the horses that we have rated by each sire throughout the world -- we thought that it was worthwhile going back and taking a look at the 2008 OBS March sale of 2-year-olds to examine the horses that rated well ...

A startling revelation and other peeks into this year's Kentucky Derby crystal ball. Read full column here.

In a recent survey about Thoroughbred breeding and pedigree content on BloodHorse.com, I asked readers to suggest topics they'd like to read about more often. A frequently-repeated request was to run ''introductory'' articles about various breeding theories.  Apparently it can be confusing to have text referring to ''5 x 3 inbreeding'' or ...

The recent passing of Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winners Lil E. Tee and Alysheba and Well Armed’s major victory have caused memories to come flooding back, from the world’s richest race in Dubai to the world’s most famous race in Louisville, Ky. Not only that, but of publications worked for in a life of covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding.My ...

Last year we saw the conclusion of the career of the undefeated New Mexico-bred filly Peppers Pride (who has now been bred to Tiznow (TrueNicks,SRO) ). A new star has now emerged from a Southwestern regional program, in the shape of Carlsbad. Carlsbad started her career winning four straight against fellow Arizona-breds -- easily winning her ...

I Want Revenge could have been bought for $100,000 when he was offered in the 2008 Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training, according to Dave Showalter, who had the colt in his NexStar consignment. But the dark bay or brown son of Stephen Got Even ended up being bought back for $95,000 and returned to his breeder, David Lanzman, who has seen ...

There are three ways of looking at the Florida Derby (gr. I): the best horse won, the best horse finished second, and both horses ran sensational races and established themselves as major Kentucky Derby contenders. The consensus would have to be number three. Read full column here.