#Art Collector

Horse racing owners, trainers and jockeys will try to get their hands on the most valuable trophy in American sports on Saturday when they compete for the Woodlawn Vase, which will be presented to the winner of the 2020 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. Standing 34 inches and weighing 29 pounds, 12 ounces, the elegant silver vase was…

Essential Quality, shown winning the Grade I Travers, is among the favorites in a Breeders' Cup Classic field announced this week. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association Oct. 29 (UPI) -- It's a week for looking forward as horse racing around the globe nears its annual champion-making events and youngsters get in final licks to make a case…

Headlined by classic winners Authentic, Swiss Skydiver and Tiz The Law, 184 horses were drawn Monday afternoon into 14 fields for the $28 million Breeders' Cup championships Friday and Saturday at Keeneland. The morning lines were determined by handicapper Mike Battaglia. [] Below are the fields and odds for the 14 Breeders' Cup races in reverse…

It is the great story of the understudy getting that one shot to step in for the star. One shot to step into the spotlight. And maybe even stay there. When Drew Bledsoe got hurt, in came Tom Brady. Wally Pipp was replaced by Lou Gehrig. Phil Fulmer less elegantly for Johnny Majors. On the other hand, sports are full of one-hit wonders like Jeremy…

Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law will try to win one of the signature races on the horse racing calendar when he leaves the starting gate on Saturday in the 2020 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Nicknamed the Mid-Summer Derby, the Travers ranks alongside the Triple Crown races as the most prestigious three-year-old events of the year.…

ARCADIA, Calif. - It's proving time for 3-year-olds in the barn of trainer Bob Baffert. The next four months will weed out the best of the bunch as the calendar moves closer to May and the start of the Triple Crown series. "See what you have, see what they like to do," Baffert said. "You learn from the races and hope they stay healthy. That's the…

That the third running of the $20-million Saudi Cup, with a post time of 12:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. Riyadh) on February 26, has drawn a patchwork quilt of talent and also-rans out of the woodwork to its full field of fourteen was widely expected, since the one-turn race is - right now, until some other promoters cook up a brighter idea - the horse…

The Breeders' Cup Classic pits the top horses from around the world against each other in the ultimate showdown to finish out the year in horse racing. Here's everything you need to know about racing's grand finale this weekend at Santa Anita: What is the Breeders' Cup Classic? The $6 million Classic is a 1 1/4-mile race on the dirt with 14 spots…

History awaits Mishriff in the third running of the $20 million Saudi Cup, where victory would make him the sport's leading prize-money earner of all time. With a cool $10m (£7.5m/€9m) to the winner, a repeat Saudi Cup win would take him clear of global giants Winx, Arrogate and Almond Eye at the top of the money list and cement his legacy among…

The Kentucky Derby is one of the most iconic sporting events in the world. Every year, millions of fans tune into NBC to watch top race horses from around the globe compete in "The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports." The 2021 Kentucky Derby will air on May 1 from 12 to 2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage is also…

Brad Cox's Essential Quality opens as the 2-1 favorite for the 2021 Belmont Stakes ahead of Preakness winner Rombauer (3-1). Essential Quality and Rombauer will break side-by-side from the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively. The 153rd Belmont Stakes airs on Saturday, June 5 from 3-5 p.m. ET on NBCSN and from 5-7 p.m. on NBC. Coverage is also…

A historic 15 weeks after it began, the 2020 Triple Crown drew to a close as Swiss Skydiver crossed the line first in the 145th Preakness Stakes at a spectatorless Pimlico to become the sixth filly to win the race. She was the first filly to run in the Preakness since Ria Antonia in 2014, who finished last. Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra was the…

The Preakness Stakes is traditionally the second leg of the American Triple Crown but in this most unusual of seasons, the 2020 Preakness concludes the series this year at Pimlico on Saturday (10.45pm BST). Routinely flanked by the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, this renewal of the Preakness moves from second to third in the Triple Crown…

No less than 10 stakes races, including the first step toward the 2023 Florida Derby, will be held New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at Gulfstream Park this Saturday and Sunday. The New Year's Eve card includes 6 stakes, 5 of them graded, with a strong dose of grass action slated. New Year's Day features the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Stakes for…

The post positions for the 2020 Kentucky Derby are set, and the entry list includes 18 horses for what's now the second leg of horse racing's annual Triple Crown. Yes, the Triple Crown races are being run out of their traditional order for the first time since the early 1930s, but the Kentucky Derby specifically is experiencing significant change…

Keeneland Barn Notes: Basin Gets Final Prep for G2 Blue Grass Stakes (Trainer Steve Asmussen / Photo by Holly M. Smith) From the Keeneland Media Team: GRADE 1 WINNER BASIN WORKS FOR TOYOTA BLUE GRASS Toyota Blue Grass (G2) hopeful Basin, who races for Terry Green's Jackpot Farm, was the first horse to breeze over Keeneland's fast track Monday when…

The post positions for the 2020 Preakness Stakes are set, and the entry list includes 11 horses for what's now the final leg of horse racing's annual Triple Crown. The Preakness has typically been the second leg of the Triple Crown race, with the Belmont Stakes to follow. But COVID-19 has affected the Triple Crown schedule, pushing the Belmont…

Defending race champion Mishriff will once again take on a strong group of American shippers when he tops a field of 14 entered for Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack. Mishriff is well proven on dirt, but has done all his recent running on the turf. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the 5-year-old son of Make Believe has…

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic is the marquee race for the upcoming World Championships for US Racing. Since it started in 1984, the 1¼m race has ascended to one of the most important races on the global racing calendar. The Classic regularly draws the best horses from across the world that love the dirt track. The race has seen numerous…

The Bob Baffert-trained Gamine will try to establish herself as the top three-year-old filly in the country on Friday when she leaves the starting gate in the nation's top race for three-year-old fillies, the 2020 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. This daughter of Into Mischief has never trailed in any of her four career starts. She is coming off a…

Nine of the top horses in the world are set to enter the starting gate at the 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, Calif. The Breeders' Cup Classic 2021 field includes a pair of 2021 Triple Crown winners. Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality will break from the No. 4 post. Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit,…

The horses for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby, which was moved to Saturday from May 2 and will have no spectators present because of the coronavirus pandemic, are listed in order of post position, with comments by Joe Drape and Melissa Hoppert of The New York Times. The morning-line odds were set by Mike Battaglia of Churchill Downs. Tiz…

Horse of the Year honors could be on the line Saturday when the country's top dirt horses square off in North America's richest race, the 2020 Breeders' Cup Classic. Saturday's race features three of the top four horses in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Top Thoroughbred Poll: No. 1 Improbable, No. 2 Maximum Security and No. 4 Tom's…

The 2021 Breeders' Cup organizers are doing their darn best, in the form of the stellar weekend's $31 million in purses, to bring both this series and the sport at large back to the fore, despite the rough-and-tumble of the second year of the pandemic. The Classic brings us quite the bright nosegay of favorites in Medina Spirit, whose hardy Derby…

Life Is Good, shown winning the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January, is favored in Saturday's Grade I Whitney at Saratoga. Photo courtesy of Katsumi Saito Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Life is Good and Olympiad square off in the heavyweight match that is Saturday's Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, just one race after an international Group I rematch on…

Epicenter, shown training before his second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, meets the winner of that race, Rich Strike, again Saturday in the Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga. Photo courtesy of Churchill Downs Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The "Midsummer Derby" at Saratoga pits the first three finishers from the Kentucky Derby against one another again in…

All 13 of the Triple Crown winners in horse racing history earned that signature victory at Belmont Park, which hosts the 2021 Belmont Stakes on Saturday evening. But none was greater than Secretariat's run in 1973, as the Triple Crown winner smoked the field by 31 lengths and set both the Belmont Stakes and world record for a 1 1/2-mile race in a…

Churchill Downs has hosted the Kentucky Derby continuously since 1875, making it the longest-running major American sporting event, but last year it faced one of its most serious challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic. The race was postponed to September and no fans were allowed in attendance, but the Kentucky Derby 2021 brings back…

The final leg of an unforgettable Triple Crown is set for Saturday, as 11 three-year-old colts will take the starting gate for the 2020 Preakness Stakes. As was the case with the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby, no fans will be in attendance at Pimlico Race Course due to COVID-19 concerns. While Belmont winner Tiz The Law is not in the 2020…

Trainer Todd Pletcher will try to win the Haskell Stakes for the fourth time when he sends out the up-and-coming Following Sea in the 2021 Haskell Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. The 54-year-old Pletcher, who will be inducted into racing's Hall of Fame next month, won the race in 2006 (Bluegrass Cat), '07 (Any Given Saturday)…

The popular view of Tiz the Law did not change with his victory Saturday in the Travers Stakes. In fact, his odds to win next month's Kentucky Derby were cut to as short as odds-on. But the skeptical view of Tiz the Law was not drowned out by his 5½-length valedictory at Saratoga Race Course. The argument may still be made that he has not faced any…

The Mid-Summer Derby is now the Mid-Summer Derby Prep thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $1 million Travers Stakes was shifted to Aug. 8 from its traditional spot on the last Saturday in August so that the Grade 1 fixture can serve as a stepping stone to the rescheduled Kentucky Derby, now set for Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. And this year the…

After lots of last-minute decisions, the 145 Preakness (G1) is set - a field of 11 was entered Monday with Kentucky Derby winner Authentic the morning-line 9-5 favorite leaving from post No. 9. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Authentic has won five of six career starts, and put in his final workout - 4 furlongs in 47.60 seconds - earlier…

Making the 33rd start of her career, her 19th in the last two years and ninth of her 5-year-old season, Lothenbach Stables' She Can't Sing (Bernardini) may just be better than ever and earned an extremely valuable first victory at the graded level in the GIII Chilukki S. as the sun began to set on Churchill Downs Saturday afternoon. A highly…

After almost four months of waiting, the 2020 Kentucky Derby is finally ready to go off Saturday from historic Churchill Downs. When the 16-horse 2020 Kentucky Derby field is called to the post at 7:01 p.m. ET, a normally raucous Churchill Downs will be eerily quiet due to no spectators in the grandstands or infield. Favorites have lost 12 of the…

Imagine for a moment being loaded with money. So loaded there was plenty to unload on any of the three sure-fire ways to blow an investment. As some financial wizard told Tony Kornheiser, they are a private plane, a restaurant and a racehorse. Forget about the plane and the restaurant. How about being someone like Jack Wolf? He and his wife Laurie…

The post position draw sponsored by Twinspires for the 2020 Kentucky Derby was Tuesday morning from Churchill Downs, and the Sept. 5 race has another record to review. Tiz the Law, winner of six of his seven starts, is the shortest-priced morning line favorite since 1989 when Easy Goer (4/5) finished second on a muddy track to winner Sunday…

The two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships will conclude Saturday at Del Mar. Saturday's nine Breeders' Cup races will start at 3:05 p.m. EDT with the Filly & Mare Sprint and finish with the Classic at 8:40 p.m. Here's the TV schedule: NBC Sports (2:30-8 p.m.), NBC (8-9 p.m.). Here's an analysis of each race. All times EDT. The pick: Gamine…

A Thoroughbred Experience. That's the pitch to potential renters of an historic breeding shed where three Kentucky Derby winners were conceived, which has been converted to a vacation rental cottage on Sherri and Ken McPeek's Magdalena Farm in Lexington. Trainer McPeek and owner Peter Callahan have had quite the experience with Swiss Skydiver in…

Just Cindy wins the Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Thursday's opening day at Saratoga. Photo by Chelsea Durand, Cognianese Photos, courtesy of New York Racing Association July 15 (UPI) -- Saratoga is back into action this weekend, with trainer Chad Brown ready to make a statement on the turf course and the usual top-self competition…

Despite being clouded in controversy, for all of 2020 Maximum Security has been the favorite for the Breeders' Cup Classic. On Saturday he lost to Improbable and now is no longer the chalk. There has been significant movement in futures prices, and they are well worth pondering at this juncture. Over the last week or two, and during the next two…

With fans watching at home instead of cheering from the stands, the 145th running of the Preakness Stakes, the final race in the Triple Crown, is set to take place on Saturday at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Traditionally the middle jewel of the American Triple Crown held after the Kentucky Derby and before the Belmont Stakes,…

Art Collector came through with a masterpiece in the $600000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland on Saturday, rolling past the filly Swiss Skydiver near the eighth-pole and cruising to a 3 ½-length victory. Sent off as the second choice just behind slight favorite Swiss Skydiver, Art Collector stamped himself as a Kentucky…

The Breeders' Cup prep season begins to draw to a close beginning this weekend, with major domestic stakes at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, and Santa Anita on Saturday. There's also significant racing on both Saturday and Sunday at Longchamp in Paris, site of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1). The TwinSpires Jury of James Scully, Kellie Reilly, and…

A busy weekend of Breeders' Cup challenge series races already is underway as Santa Anita Park kicked off its fall meet Friday with three "Win and You're In'' races. Hopefully, your handicapping is about complete for Santa Anita's opening day, which features the $300000 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) for 2-year-olds. Post time for this one is 8 p.m.…

Though it takes place every year, essentially the Breeders Cup is horse racing's Olympics. Regardless of the surface or distance you like to run, the best of the best are matched up and a winner in each division is crowned. The Breeders Cup Classic is a terrific race led by Improbable, Tiz the Law, and Maximum Security. Breeders Cup Classic odds…

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) - The opposition knew Knicks Go would charge out of the starting gate. Yet, none of his rivals went after him. He had it all his own way in setting an uncontested lead and winning the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic by 2 3/4 lengths on Saturday at Del Mar. Knicks Go ran 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.57. He earned his fourth straight…

For bettors who enjoy competitive fields with high quality, the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Saturday looks like a great race to study. This edition of the 1 1/4-mile dirt race for older horses features nine well-matched horses. The 3-1 morning line favorite Express Train is a capable horse, as well as a consistent one with 10…

The brilliantly fast Gamine, a dual Grade 1 winner owned by Michael Lund Petersen and trained by three-time Oaks-winning trainer Bob Baffert, has been installed as the even-money favorite for Friday's $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. The 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief drew post position 5 for the 1 1/8-mile race with Hall of…

Friday of the Breeders' Cup features the rising stars of racing. Saturday however, is a chance to see some the best of the best competing to be a world champion in their division. The two-day card from Del Mar can be a war of attrition for even the most experienced handicappers. Along with more races and larger fields foreign form makes the puzzle…