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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 ...

Having covered the Triple Crown races in one form or another for the past 32 years, including writing the features Derby Doings for Daily Racing Form and the Derby Dozen for BloodHorse, I can state emphatically that I cannot remember a horse maturing physically and mentally and turning into a polished professional as quickly as Code of Honor. ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman In analyzing the field for Saturday's $1.25 million Travers Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga, I'm struck not only by the lack of division leaders entered in this 1 ¼-mile race, but also by the extraordinary lack of speed horses in the mix. The three classic winners of 2019—Country House, ...

Through some magical combination of glass, tinting, and air conditioning, sunshine immerses occupants of the atrium dining room at the Thoroughbred Club of America in Lexington while keeping heat and stuffiness at bay. On a mid-August Wednesday in Central Kentucky where high temperatures and humidity had locals referencing dogs and days instead ...