Originally published in the June 18, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine . Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column. By Evan Hammonds A soggy Belmont Stakes (gr. I) day and a New Jersey-based longshot winner of the “Test of the Champion” couldn’t dampen the optimism...

Incredibly, 2011 was the first time in history that all three Triple Crown races were won by horses with double-digit odds, but longshot or not, siring a classic winner is an achievement not to be taken lightly, especially for a young sire. The chart below shows longshot (10-1 or longer) classic winners...

Complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced reports are available for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) field listed below. Click on the horse's name or letter grade to view the report. To help analyze which horses may have the profile for the 12-furlong Belmont distance, each cross's average winning distance is included...

Originally published in the June 11, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine . Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column. By Evan Hammonds Even without a horse going for the Triple Crown in New York, we’re getting jacked up for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Belmont Park...

By Jennifer Wirth, of The Saturday Post Every now and then, a remarkable racehorse can elude you when it is in your direct line of sight. And, in our home, there are few places to fix your eyes without finding a photo of some racehorse that was a remarkable horse for varying reasons, ranging from claimers...

Having come within a furlong of stealing the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) off very slow early fractions, Shackleford succeeded in capturing the Preakness Stakes (gr. I, video below) after what appeared to be a suicidal first quarter. We’d noted that the victory of the turf-bred Animal Kingdom in the Derby...

(Originally published in the May 28, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine . Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column. ) By Eric Mitchell - @EJMitchellKy on Twitter All American grade school children grow up hearing the story. Anyone with enough drive and ambition...

The last 10 Preakness winners went on to be named champion 3-year-olds, confirming it as the most formful Triple Crown race over the past decade. But what makes the Preakness such a great race? Click here for complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced Reports for the 2011 Preakness field. Year Preakness Winner...

Complimentary TrueNicks Enhanced reports are available for the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) field listed below. Click on the horse's name or letter grade to view the report. To help analyze which horses may have the profile for the 9.5-furlong Preakness distance, each cross's average winning distance is...

(Originally published in the May 21, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine . Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column. ) Will Alberts is the son of trainer Nancy Alberts, who died May 3 from complications following a stroke. Nancy Alberts finished second in the 2002...