#Blazing Sevens

Each week, this important article will provide the standings, power rankings, and recent transactions for every league member. Not only will you see the latest claims in the league (which will show you what horses might be up-and-coming), but you will also get updates on the runners as they prepare for their next starts along the Kentucky Derby…

Southern California's first points-paying Kentucky Derby prep of 2023 features only two runners eligible to collect those points. National Treasure is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Grade 3, $100000 Sham Stakes. Post time from Santa Anita is 6:30 p.m. EST, with FanDuel TV showing the one-mile trip for 3-year-olds. Bob Baffert trains National…

The trail toward the first Saturday in May reaches its next step on the first Saturday in January. Arctic Arrogance is the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the $150000 Jerome Stakes. Post time from Aqueduct is 3:16 p.m., with FS2 showing the one-mile event for 3-year-olds. The Jerome awards its top five finishers Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a…

The Road to the Kentucky Derby series opened in late September, but the prep season doesn't get into full swing until the New Year. And the first qualifier of 2023 took place at Oaklawn Park on New Year's Day, the Smarty Jones. Twenty-six additional point races will be offered for the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1) over the next 3 1/2 months. Let's…

Each week, this important article will provide the standings, power rankings, and recent transactions for every league member. Not only will you see the latest claims in the league (which will show you what horses might be up-and-coming), but you will also get updates on the runners as they prepare for their next starts along the Kentucky Derby…

The Grade 1, $500000 Champagne produced another unlikely winner on Saturday at Belmont at the Big A, with trainer Chad Brown's Blazing Sevens closing down the center of a sloppy and sealed main track to prevail by 3 1/4 lengths en route to a potential start in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The 151st running of the Champagne, run at one mile…

Each week, this important article will provide the standings, power rankings, and recent transactions for every league member. Not only will you see the latest claims in the league (which will show you what horses might be up-and-coming), but you will also get updates on the runners as they prepare for their next starts along the Kentucky Derby…

Each week, this important article will provide the standings, power rankings, and recent transactions for every league member. Not only will you see the latest claims in the league (which will show you what horses might be up-and-coming), but you will also get updates on the runners as they prepare for their next starts along the Kentucky Derby…

Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports Breeders' Cup Juvenile offers a first look at potential runners for the Kentucky Derby 2023 Bob Baffert's Cave Rock looks like a solid favorite in the betting The Breeders' Cup is nearly upon us, as the world's very best racehorses descend on Keeneland for two days of high-quality Grade 1 action. The competitive races…

An automatic berth in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Juvenile will be on the line when the starting gate opens in the 2022 Champagne Stakes on Saturday at Belmont At The Big A. The Brad Cox-trained Verifying is the 9-5 favorite in the 2022 Champagne Stakes odds. This son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify won his only career start. The Steve…

Last week, Churchill Downs offered the only opportunity to wager on the winning 2023 Derby sire through the Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager pool, which closed on Sunday with interesting results. As with any other race, the pool ended with notable underlaid and overlaid sire options. Surprisingly, the underlaid sire is arguably the popular Gun…

KY Derby Advance Wager #2 To Be Offered This Week (Forte / Coady Photography) From the Churchill Downs Media Team: Fans will have their second of six opportunities to bet on the 149 running of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) Thursday-Sunday where Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI)…

Churchill Downs' Barn Notes: Curly Jack May Set Them Straight In G2 KY Jockey Club (Curly Jack / Photos by Holly M. Smith) From the Churchill Downs Media Team: Michael McLaughlin's $300000 Iroquois Stakes (Grade III) winner Curly Jack headlines a field of nine 2-year-old colts that were entered in Saturday's 96 running of the $400000 Kentucky…

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte ($12.04) swept past odds-on favorite Cave Rock at the sixteenth pole and went on to post a 1 1/2-length victory in the 39th running of the $2 million FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for 2-year-olds Friday afternoon at Keeneland. Trained by Todd Pletcher and…

Welcome to our regularly scheduled "Team Tuley's Thoroughbred Takes" Saturday column, though it's extra-special this week as our crew is looking at the 9 Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland. "Future Stars Friday" didn't go too well for our crew overall, though I did have #4 Forte as my top pick in the BC Juvenile, paying $12.04 to Win as he upset…

The Breeder's Cup began in 1984. The idea was simple, the public falls in love with the Triple Crown, and then moves on to other sports. By creating a year-end spectacle, with all the best horses, it would not only be a day for the sport to get a lot of attention and crown champions, but it would make all of the summer and fall stakes races into…

Welcome to a special Friday edition of "Team Tuley's Thoroughbred Takes" as we have 5 Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland on "Futures Stars Friday" with another 9 on Saturday (a separate column with those plays will be posted on Friday). We're proud to be joined each day by DraftKings' head oddsmaker John Avello with some of his top selections. We…

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Bob Baffert knows a thing or two about getting 2-year-old racehorses to perform at an elite level on the biggest stages. The Hall of Fame trainer has conditioned six Eclipse Award winners for Champion 2-Year-Old Male and a record-tying five winners of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Baffert appears primed to add to both of those…

The most promising juveniles on the east coast line up on Saturday, October 1 for the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct, which is hosting Belmont's fall meet this year. The one-turn mile race features a $500000 purse, and the winner receives an expenses-paid berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland. Keep reading to learn about the…

Curly Jack out on the track before sunrise. Coady Photography Breeders' Cup Notes/Edited LEXINGTON, Ky.-The son of 2017 Sentient Jets Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Good Magic, Curly Jack, had a 2m gallop followed by a gate schooling session Wednesday. He had his final timed workout on Oct. 28 going 4f in 49 4/5 a few days after shipping from…

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Breeders' Cup World Championships begin on Friday, with online racebooks and sportsbooks offering odds on all five Juvenile races. Bovada is offering odds on all five Grade 1 races, which will be a mix of Fillies and Colts that are all two years old. Despite the youth and relative lack of experience of many horses, researching…

LEXINGTON, KY - Mike Repole is heading into Breeders' Cup weekend with' Uncle Mo' on his side. After fulfilling a lifelong dream by running one-two in the GI Belmont S. with the recently retired and Spendthrift-bound Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Nest (Curlin)-one of Repole's seven Grade I victories on the year-the momentum has continued to build for…

In the second of two special Racing Roundtables, James Scully, Kellie Reilly, and Vance Hanson look back on the final weekend of major Breeders' Cup preps and offer thoughts on whose stock is on the rise and on decline. James Scully: Slammed in the Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). A five-time restricted stakes winner over New Mexico-bred rivals, the…

The most promising two-year-olds in the country will stretch out to two turns on Saturday for the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland! The 1 1/16-mile race offers a $600000 purse and an automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile for the winner, and an overflow field has lined up. A maximum of 14 horses can run, though the field also contains…

The highlight of the 2022 Belmont Fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack is finally here as the 2022 Champagne Stakes looks to run this Saturday. The field is small but has a great field of two-year-olds as it is one of the first looks for the 2023 Kentucky Derby. In Last year's Champagne Stakes, we saw 2022 Woody Stephens Stakes winner Jack Christopher…

Life Is Good warms up for Breeders' Cup with a win in Saturday's Grade I Woodward at Aqueduct. Photo by Dom Napolitano, courtesy of New York Racing Association Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Some monumental showdowns loom in next month's Breeders' Cup World Championships after impressive weekend performances by the likes of Life Is Good, Hot Rod Charlie, Ce Ce…

Life Is Good, seen winning the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January, warms up for the Breeders' Cup Classic in Saturday's Grade I Woodward at Aqueduct. Photo courtesy of Katsumi Saito Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Seven Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" races, from New York through Kentucky and on to California highlight the weekend U.S.…

Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports Some of the brightest two-year-olds in the U.S. will be in action in the Champagne Stakes this weekend As well as being a Breeders' Cup Challenge Race, it also offers ten points on the Road To The Kentucky Derby There will be a great deal of excitement this weekend, as we will get a first look at some of the brightest…

Gulfport, second in the Grade 1 Hopeful last out, headlines a field of six 2-year-olds set to battle it out in Saturday's Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at the Belmont fall meet being held at Aqueduct. After a pair of very impressive wins at Churchill Downs to begin his career, including the Bashford Manor Stakes, the Steve Asmussen charge was a troubled…

Sometimes, in assessing stakes races, it is best to look at the history of the race and see if there is a dominant factor in that history. This weekend's racing features both the Champagne Stakes and the Miss Grillo Stakes, two Win and You're In races for the Breeders' Cup (coverage begins Saturday at 4 pm ET on NBC). For both races, you need to…

Todd Pletcher's favorite Mo Donegal ran down a furious pacesetting We the People at the start of the stretch to win the 154th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. Irad Ortiz Jr. was in the irons for the winning ride. This is the fourth Belmont Stakes win for Pletcher and was his debut in the final leg of the Triple Crown. This is Donegal Racing's first…

OZONE PARK, N.Y.- Jonathan Poulin, Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor's regally-bred Verifying, a half-brother to 2019 Champion Older Dirt Female Midnight Bisou, will make his stakes debut in Saturday's Grade 1, $500000 Champagne, a one-turn mile for 2-year-olds, at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet.

Staying on top of the key horse racing information is pivotal at this stage of the season, as connections begin to detail whether they will be targeting Breeders' Cup races in November. However, who are some of the key 2022 Breeders' Cup contenders that should be on the radar of all racing fans? Horse: Flightline Jockey: John Sadler It goes without…

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte made the grade with a decisive three-length score in Monday's Grade 1, $300000 Hopeful, a seven-furlong main track sprint for juveniles, on Closing Day of the 40-day summer meet at Saratoga Race Course. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and piloted by the Spa's leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr., Forte…

Closing day at Saratoga features six 2-year-olds aiming to take a division lead on the road to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Gulfport (9-5) is the morning-line favorite for the Grade 1, $300000 Hopeful Stakes. Post time from Saratoga is 6:11 p.m. EDT, with FS2 showing the seven-furlong sprint for juveniles. The Hopeful is the first Grade 1 race of…

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Steve Asmussen fielded a question Sunday morning asking for an example of a 3-year-old he's trained who experienced aftereffects later in the season from having weathered the grueling Kentucky Derby prep season and Triple Crown series. He laughed and said, "Every single one of them that wasn't Curlin or Gun Runner." Judging from…