#Kentucky Oaks

Item: Malathaat, the undefeated winner of the Kentucky Oaks, will not race next month in the Belmont Stakes. So much for the battle of the sexes. Item: Because of his ongoing medication contretemps, Bob Baffert and anyone associated with his stable have been ordered to stay away from New York Racing Association tracks. That means Kentucky Derby…

Knicks Go, seen winning the Grade I Pegasus World Cup in January, is favorite for Saturday's Grade I Whitney at Saratoga. Photo courtesy of Gulfstream Park Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Rich purses drew some top foreign talent for the Saratoga Derby and Oaks on Saturday and Sunday on the upstate New York turf to highlight a big weekend of Thoroughbred…

Trainer Ramon Minguet and jockey Samuel Marin had a strong feeling their 3-year-old gelding Zydeceaux was prepared for his winning effort in Saturday's seven-furlong $125000 Pasco Stakes for 3-year-old males at Tampa Bay Downs. "He's a very, very fast horse," Minguet said. "I believed in my horse. I knew he was getting good and that he was going to…

As the 2023 Kentucky Derby trail takes a one-weekend pause, the 2023 Kentucky Oaks path continues Saturday in New York. Occult is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the $100000 Busanda Stakes. Post time from Aqueduct is 3:47 p.m. EST, with FS2 showing the 1 1/8-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The Busanda is the first prep race to pay points on a…

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…

Friday's Race Recap from Gulfstream: (All odds US) Replays for Friday's races from Gulfstream can be found here (no subscription necessary. Just click the "videos" link: Gulfstream: Race 1: 2nd@ 1.50/1 Race 2: 2nd@ 3.60/1 Race 8: 1st@ 0.90/1 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Race 9: 4th@ 6.50/1 Days in a row with at least one winner given out to our members: 10 🔥🔥 In…

Largent, shown winning the 2020 Fort Lauderdale Stakes, returns from an 11-month layoff to contest Saturday's Tropical Turf at Gulfstream Park and could be considered for the Grade 1 Pegasus Turf with a good effort. Photo by Ryan Thompson, courtesy of Gulfstream Park Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A potential prep for the Pegasus World Cup Turf in Florida, a…

Matt Bernier, handicapper for the Daily Racing Form, is a Massachusetts resident who is one of the sport's most enthusiastic young ambassadors. He's a regular presence as an analyst on NBC Sports' television coverage of the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup and is also a leading expert on handicapping tournaments. Matt previously worked in real estate…

Kentucky, well known for its picturesque rolling Bluegrass and signature libation (bourbon!), is perhaps most famous for hosting one of the greatest parties of the year: the Kentucky Derby. If you can't be a part of the Derby experience at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on the first Saturday in May, there are plenty of ways to bring the…

This is "last call" weekend for Breeders' Cup hopefuls with more than a dozen "Win and You're In" races spread across three U.S. tracks. It's also Arc weekend in Paris and Winx seeks her 28th straight win in Australia. There's even more, with important 2-year-old races in Canada and the Group 1 Sun Chariot in England. Twenty-eight straight wins? It…

Great news for cocktail lovers and horse racing fans. Woodford Reserve, the "Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby" has renewed its partnership with Churchill Downs Racetrack. "We are proud to renew this partnership, as it unites together two of Kentucky's greatest attractions,bourbon and thoroughbreds," Lawson Whiting, CEO of Brown-Forman…

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…

This content was produced in partnership with Sean Miller. If you are a casual fan of horse racing, you will know the first Saturday in May is for the Kentucky Derby. But that is just the culmination of months worth of qualifying to get into the main race, let alone all the other races on Kentucky Oaks and derby day. That is where we are at now:…

Justify, ridden by jockey Mike Smith, crosses the finish line to win the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5, 2018, in Louisville, Kentucky. Rob Carr/Getty Images The 145th Kentucky Derby takes place this weekend at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The first event of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, the…

The official state song "Maryland, My Maryland" will not be performed before the Preakness next month because the lyrics are perceived by some to be racist. A spokesperson for Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness, said Friday the tradition of playing the song before the race will be scrapped on Oct. 3, when the Triple Crown series comes to…

The 2023 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series comes to Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Jan. 28 (4:30-6 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock). Some of the biggest names in the sport are potentially going after the $4.5 million at stake. Cyberknife is most likely the biggest name that is probably to be in the field of the headline dirt race. He finished second in…

Whoknows how much money Las Vegas bookmakers could have pocketed had they opened their Preakness Stakes betting before Monday afternoon's post-position draw? HadNevada casinos posted futures odds last week with the usual rule that all betsare immediate action, they would have held onto more than a few dollars wagered on KentuckyDerby winner Rich…

The 154th Belmont Stakes this Saturday will either prove to the racing world that Rich Strike was an overlooked star in the Kentucky Derby, or a fluke who got a lucky break in America's most famous horse race. The Derby champ, trained by Eric Reed and ridden by Sonny Leon, was kept out of the Preakness Stakes, forgoing a chance at Triple Crown…

In this biweekly series, racing analyst Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future. New to the Watch List A daughter of two-time horse of the year Curlin and a half-sister to Toboggan (G3) winner Great…

Now we are talking Kentucky Derby preps. This time we mean it. Life Is Good can race across, up and down or diagonally through the San Felipe. Greatest Honour can close on pedestrian fractions in the Fountain of Youth. Concert Tour can be anointed prince of the Bob Baffert Invi … er … Rebel Stakes. Essential Quality can be forgotten with his…

Kentucky Derby 147 champ Medina Spirit will run from the No. 3 spot in the gate at Pimlico in the 146th Preakness Stakes on May 15 with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert agreeing to a special set of conditions after the colt failed his post-Derby drug test. He opens as the 9-5 favorite. The 2021 Preakness Stakes will air on Saturday, May 15 from 2…

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…

Finally out from under And Tell Me Nolies's (Arrogate) shadow, ICE DANCING (Frosted) broke through for her first graded-stakes win in two prior tries and earned 10 points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks with a 3 1/4-length closing performance in the rescheduled GIII Santa Ynez S. Third behind the daughter of Arrogate when debuted at Del Mar Aug.…

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…

Keeneland Announces Spring Stakes Schedule (Keeneland / Photos by Holly M. Smith) From the Keeneland Media Team: Keeneland will award a season record $8.05 million for 19 stakes to be run during its 2023 Spring Meet, which will cover 15 days from April 7-28. Leading the schedule are the 99 running of the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass (G1) and 86…

Repole Stable's Chocolate Gelato fought off a determined You're My Girl coming out of the turn to win the $400000, Grade 1 Frizette Stakes by a length on a sloppy main track at the Belmont at the Big A meet held at Aqueduct Oct. 2. The victory earned the 2-year-old daughter of Practical Joke a spot in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile…

Fresh off a visually impressive win in an ungraded stakes Nov. 19, C R K Stable's Justique heads a field of six sophomore fillies going seven furlongs in Sunday's Grade III, $100000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita. Originally scheduled to be run on New Year's Day, the Santa Ynez was re-drawn Thursday due to this past Sunday's races being…

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…

The first full weekend of live racing action in 2023 features a pair of Kentucky Derby prep races - the Jerome Stakes from Aqueduct on Saturday and the Sham Stakes from Santa Anita on Sunday. Both races offer 10-4-3-2-1 qualifying points towards the Kentucky Derby to the top five finishers. Saturday's $150000 Jerome Stakes has drawn a field of…

Keeneland will award a season record $8.05 million for 19 stakes to be run during its 2023 Spring Meet, which will cover 15 days from April 7-28. Leading the schedule are the 99 running of the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass (G1) and 86 running of the $600000 Central Bank Ashland (G1), both major targets of the nation's top 3-year-olds. Keeneland has…

Santa Anita Barn Notes: The Chosen Vron Seeks 4th Straight Stakes Win (The Chosen Vron / Benoit Photo & Courtesy of Santa Anita) From the Santa Anita Media Team: THE CHOSEN VRON GOES FOR 4TH STRAIGHT STAKES WIN IN CAL CUP SPRINT The ultra-consistent and versatile California-bred The Chosen Vron, a winner of three-straight stakes for trainer Eric…

Titleholder wins Sunday's Takarazuka Kinen, now targeting the Arc d'Triomphe. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association June 27 (UPI) -- Tawny Port's victory in Saturday's Ohio Derby serves notice the scramble among U.S. 3-year-olds is far from over while Westover's dominance of the Irish Derby indicates he's not out of the frame, either, despite…

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…

In the Untapable, Pretty Mischievous settled nicely in the pocket then split foes to take over and win the $100000 event by 3 1/4 lengths and earn 10 points towards qualifying for the Longines Kentucky Oaks. Pretty Mischievous, a Godolphin homebred, clocked 1 mile 70 yards over a fast track in 1:41.98 under Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode the winner…

Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin) kicked home convincingly in Saturday's GI Cotillion S. at Parx to earn a first highest-level victory and snap a five-race winless streak while capping an exacta for her sire. A neck winner of the GII Rachel Alexandra S. in February, the Steve Asmussen pupil was second best to familiar foe Travel Column…

There is an old saying that if something looks too good to be true it probably is. So what of Arazi, hailed as the wonder of the age after a spectacular victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile but regarded as a flop as a three-year-old? Arazi's demonstrable superiority over the best two-year olds in North America - following a string of victories in…

And now we wait. Post positions are drawn and morning line odds set for all 14 Breeders' Cup races to be run Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs, which will host the championships for the first time since 2011. Get a look at the fields below. Friday, Nov. 2 • 10 races total carded; first post time 12:55 p.m. It's an overflow field, as expected…

Rich Strike schools in the Keeneland paddock in preparation for the Breeders' Cup (Coady Photography) Churchill Downs Press Release LOUISVILLE, Ky.- It's been eight years since both the winners of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) have run in the Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) and Distaff (GI),…

There is no complete Triple Crown at stake this year when the 154th Belmont Stakes is run this Saturday, June 11 (post time 6:45 p.m. ET, NBC). But after missing the Preakness Stakes following his shocking Kentucky Derby win, Rich Strike will return to the field to try to take a non-consecutive second jewel. While Preakness winner Early Voting and…

The Kentucky Derby, traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, is one of the most well known Grade 1 Thoroughbred stakes races in the world. First run in 1875, this 1 1/4-mile (10 furlongs) race kicks off the American Triple Crown of horse racing. When and where is the 2021 Kentucky Derby? The 147th running of the Kentucky Derby is set for…

HENDERSON, Ky. -- Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. won on four his five mounts Friday on Ellis Park's eight-race card, including with the promising 2-year-old colt Tiz the Bomb. The race he lost? Gus Gus, owned by trainer Ian Wilkes' wife, Tracey, and Hernandez's wife, Jamie. The two couples also bred the 2-year-old gelding. But Gus Gus' second place in…

Desert Encounter, winner of the 2018 and 2019 Pattison Canadian International, is back trying for a "three-peat" in Saturday's renewal at Woodbine. Photo courtesy of Woodbine Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Belmont Park returns to action this weekend with Irish and English horses, including Bolshoi Ballet, chasing the third leg of New York's rich turf…

A Triple Crown sweep lies silent this year with Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike side-stepping Saturday's Preakness Stakes. But a trio of big-time talents make this year's middle jewel a fabulous, triple-threat race. Kentucky Derby runner-up and beaten favorite Epicenter was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite by Pimlico oddsmaker Keith…

The ball drops at Times Square, fireworks explode around the globe and North American Thoroughbreds celebrate their birthdays at midnight on Jan. 1. A few of the newly turned 3-year-olds waste no time starting their once-in-a-lifetime quest for the Kentucky Derby starting gate as Aqueduct rings in 2018 with the $150000 Jerome Stakes. On New Year's…

Notes & Quotes From Gun Runner Stakes & Untappable Stakes: Jace's Road & Pretty Mischievous (Jace's Road / Hughes Photo & Courtesy of the Fairgrounds) From the Fairgrounds Media Team: Trainers have a lot of customary language to go to when describing their horses on a regular basis. One line that is thrown around a lot is - "the horse will tell us…

Esteemed horse racing expert Steve Kornacki made his 2022 Preakness picks and predictions. Find out which Preakness horses Steve Kornacki is betting on at Pimlico Race Course in 2022. The Preakness may not have as much excitement this year because of the absence of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. However, there are some interesting storylines…

From the Turfway Park Media Team: Lucrative purse money and Kentucky Derby qualifying points will be on the line during Turfway Park's annual Winter/Spring Meet, which will begin Sunday, Jan. 1 and feature the Grade III, $700000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday, March 25. Led by the Jeff Ruby Steaks on the Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by…

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella can add to his record number of wins in the Malibu Stakes when he sends out the speedy Forbidden Kingdom in the 2022 Malibu Stakes on Monday at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. The 72-year-old Mandella has won the Malibu six times, most recently in 2019 with Omaha Beach. He goes for No. 7 with two-time Grade…

The principal action for Kentucky Derby 148 occurred more than 2000 miles west of Churchill Downs Thursday morning as Santa Anita Derby (GI) winner Taiba worked six furlongs in 1:12.80. "It was very straight forward," trainer Tim Yakteen said. "He worked three-quarters from the five-eighth pole. It was a typical Taiba work and we accomplished what…

While much of the country is suffering through extreme cold and winter storms, officials at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., are preparing for their traditional day-after-Christmas opening on Monday, Dec. 26. Temperatures are expected in the upper 70s and there is no rain in the forecast for Monday, though a storm is expected to roll into…