Going all the way back to 2004, I have come up with my list of the Top 10 performances by a Thoroughbred in the United States during the first half of the year for Xpressbet.com. Starting on New Year’s Day, I keep an eye out for a performance that I deem a possibility for […]
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Bob Baffert is probably best known for training two Triple Crown winners. He won the three races in 2015 with American Pharoah, who ended an excruciatingly long 37-year Triple Crown drought, and again in 2018 with Justify. The legendary “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons is the only other trainer to have won the Triple Crown twice. His […]
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Now that the calendars have been flipped over to July, it’s time for my list of the Top 10 performances by a Thoroughbred in the United States during the first half of 2020. When there were just a handful of tracks conducting live racing for several weeks earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, […]
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Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes Saturday like a good thing should. He comfortably stalked the early pace, moved up effortlessly, responded when asked in the lane and drew off to win decisively. He was much the best against a less than stellar bunch and there’s little reason to expect any of those foes […]
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As a result of Tiz the Law’s emphatic triumph in last Saturday’s 152nd running of the Grade I Belmont Stakes, he solidified his position atop this week’s NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll. It was nearly unanimous. I think it should have been unanimous. Tiz the Law received 28 first-place votes last week, while Honor A.P. garnered […]
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Unconventional as it may be, Saturday is Belmont Stakes Day, which means a full palate of stakes action! Below is my Pick 5 ticket for races 6 through 10. This economical ticket comes in at just $18. Good luck to all! Race 6 Highland Glory (#3, 2-1) has recency, which is something that most of […]
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On any date, at any distance, we’re fortunate to have the Belmont Stakes this year. By the time the race is over, we may count ourselves fortunate in another aspect: We may get to see an eventual Triple Crown winner in action. We know, we know, it’s early, and if we do see a sweep […]
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This Sunday is Father’s Day. Not only that, it would have been my father’s 91st birthday if he had not passed away on June 1, 2017. I miss my dad so much. I do. My dad loved horse racing. He also loved baseball, basketball and football. But horse racing was his favorite sport. His love […]
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The field is taking shape for the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 20, which for the first time will kick off this country’s Triple Crown series. The 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby then will be held at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5. It will be followed by the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes […]
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If a horse sweeps the Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes this year, will the horse be a Triple Crown winner who deserves an asterisk? That question is being pondered now that we know the Triple Crown is going to be radically different this year. The three-race series has been forced to undergo a […]
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Saturday night, I received an e-mail with the following headline: Breaking News…Baffert Sweeps Oaklawn 3-year-old Stakes! What’s next? Just In…Sun Set in the West! Film at 11. It should be breaking news only when Bob Baffert doesn’t train the winner of a 3-year-old graded stakes race at Oaklawn Park. The Hall-of-Fame trainer has been treating […]
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Can Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in 2019 extend his streak to five consecutive 3-year-old male champions? I posed that question back in January. Daily Racing Form first conducted voting for champions in 1937. The Eclipse Awards were born in 1971. Going back to 1937, Baffert is the only person who has trained four […]
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Now that it is July, it’s time for my list of the Top 10 performances by a Thoroughbred in the United States during the first half of 2019. A Thoroughbred’s performance can make this list for a variety of reasons, such as: –A win by a big margin while showing brilliance. –Recording a fast final […]
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We are just about halfway through 2019. With that in mind, what if there were such a thing as Mid-Year Eclipse Awards? These would be my votes, excluding the 2-year-old, human and steeplechase categories. MID-YEAR THREE-YEAR-OLD MALE: 1. War of Will, 2. Maximum Security, 3. Omaha Beach. If Maximum Security had won the Pegasus Stakes […]
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Both 2019 Kentucky Derby winners—Country House and Maximum Security–and the 151st Belmont Stakes victor—Sir Winston–hit rough patches this week. Country House, who originally finished second in the Derby but was elevated to first via disqualification, has been shelved for the rest of the year. Sidelined by an illness following the Derby, he hasn’t raced since […]
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