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The news cycle prior to the Keeneland September yearling sale was on full spin after Labor Day weekend. First up, following the disappointing news the weekend before that Churchill Downs Inc. was not interested in a casino license for Arlington International, it announced it was interested in building a new racetrack in northern Kentucky to ...

In a year like this you have to be prepared for quite a bit of juggling when assessing and ranking this year’s group of Breeders’ Cup Classic hopefuls. Every horse has positives and negatives and we will just have to see which one outweighs the other on all these horses come Breeders’ Cup week. To me, Preservationist is the old school (where ...

As the dark clouds moved in over Parx racetrack on Sept. 2 and with the predicted thunderstorms imminent, it threatened to disrupt the scheduled festivities to pay tribute to Philadelphia’s favorite hero of 2004, Smarty Jones. But fortunately the rains came and went before Smarty’s appearance. It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman You have to give the New York Racing Association some credit. By inaugurating three new stakes races worth a combined $2.05 million and scheduling them for Saturday, September 7, they've taken a typically quiet post-Labor Day racing weekend and turned it into a can't-miss showpiece ...

Summer is gearing down, the Hopeful and Del Mar Futurity have been run, and September means the beginning of fall. And the beginning of fall means 2-year-olds, and in this case a double dose of them. Of course you have to start ranking them with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in mind, but you also have to start looking at these babies as ...

To be a success in any endeavor, it helps to create one’s own luck. Generally that’s achieved by strong principles, a conviction to the business plan, and good old-fashioned hard work. It’s no wonder then that Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stud near Versailles, Ky., has been on a tear of late. The horsewoman, a national breeder of the year, has ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman The final Saturday of the 2019 Saratoga meet brings another action-packed card featuring four graded stakes races, including the $750,000 Woodward Stakes (gr. I). The 1 1/8-mile Woodward has been overshadowed in recent years by Saratoga's similar Whitney Stakes (gr. I) held four ...

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All of the stories and anecdotes about Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Race Course just might be true. The upstate New York haven for horses and humans offered a splendid week with perfect weather for the big show Aug. 24 capped by the 150th running of the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1). Walking the backstretch area for a few days, one sees the ...