Is Maximus Mischief another Smarty Jones? Smarty Jones won his first two career starts as a 2-year-old in 2003, both at Philadelphia Park, the track now known as Parx Racing. He won those races by 7 3/4 and 15 lengths. Smarty Jones then made it three for three with a victory at Aqueduct. He took […]

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Creator eked out a narrow win over Destin in last Saturday’s 148th running of the Belmont Stakes. But the performance of the day, of the week, of the month and of the year so far was the spectacular victory by Frosted in the 123rd edition of the Metropolitan Handicap. “That race yesterday was just a […]

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The Kentucky Derby is a bit more than two weeks away and that means it’s time to review what we’ve seen at coast-to-coast tracks in preparation for an all-out assault on Derby mutuel payoffs. Loyal readers will recall that this horseplayer annually sets his sights on the Kentucky Derby superfecta bulls-eye. Sometimes we hit it; […]

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The races in which horses can earn points for the 2016 Kentucky Derby are over. It all began when Cocked and Loaded won the Iroquois at Churchill Downs to earn 10 points last year on Sept. 12. The Iroquois was the first of the 34 races offering points to “get into the starting field” for […]

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Dave Joseph’s crack publicity staff at Gulfstream Park immediately followed Wednesday’s $1 million Xpressbet.com Florida Derby post-position draw with a press release featuring quotes from several trainers with runners in the main event. As usual, horseplayers and fans alike ought to digest such hors d’oeuvres with a proverbial grain of salt. No trainer’s ever attempted […]

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Despite the thermometer’s somewhat effective protest–currently displaying a frosty 23 degrees–spring is in the air. How do I know? Because there’s no surer sign of spring’s imminent arrival than that distinctive crack when bat meets ball.

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