One Contest Winner's Day at the Santa Anita Derby

Horseplayers at Santa Anita have a problem this season that non-gamblers might find puzzling. It's too easy to pick winners. Betting favorites are winning 46% of the races since the meet opened on Dec. 26. That's much higher than normal in thoroughbred racing (about 33%), higher than the highest for any of Santa Anita's 85 previous winter-spring…

FOX Sports star Joy Taylor is chomping at the bit to attend the Breeders' Cup for the first time on November 3-4. The Speak co-host fulfilled a lifelong dream by attending the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in May. Now Taylor will continue her new-found love affair with horse racing by attending the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa…

In horse racing, fans often get to see moments that defy all expectations. Something like that happened on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields. The Morning Addiction secured a noteworthy victory in a waiver-claiming event. The 6-year-old spayed mare's $5.20 win showcased her adaptability in various racing situations. This 6-year-old mare is a descendant…

For the seventh year in a row, America's Best Racing is challenging some of the brightest minds in horse betting to come up with their top three picks for key races every weekend leading up to the 2023 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2023 Breeders' Cup World Championships. The handicappers face off in what we like to call the "Big Race…

Mike Willman/Santa Anita Press Box ARCADIA, Calif.-In addition to world class racing, Santa Anita's upcoming Autumn Meet will feature a wide variety of promotions, including free parking and admission as well as $3 beers and $5 margaritas on opening day, Friday, Sept. 29 and most all Fridays throughout the 19-day stand. With the 40 running of the…

After you've become comfortable making basic horse racing bets such as win, place, and show, it's time to raise your game and try for bigger payouts. ABR's Dan Tordjman explains the high risk, high reward world of making exotic bets at the track. Three of the most popular exotic bets require you to pick combinations of horses in a single race. They…

If you're visiting a racetrack for the first time and are ready to lay down some cash on the ponies, ABR's Dan Tordjman has three basic bets to get you started: win, place, and show. Bet on a horse to win and if it crosses the finish line first, you're cashing. If you like a horse but want a safety net, bet it to place and you're set if it finishes…

If you're new to betting on horses and visiting the track for the first time, ABR's Dan Tordjman has some tips to help make sure you make your bets in time, with minutes to spare before each race goes off. First, sketch out your bets early and get in line 10 minutes before the race's post time. Then, be ready to share your bets with the teller, and…

A wrestling injury became a serendipitous gateway to destiny in the world of galloping and majestic horses. Corey S. Nakatani, a thoroughbred horse equestrian legend, was born on a crisp October day in Covina, California. Nakatani's journey from a curious teenager to a US Hall of Fame jockey is awe-inspiring. With 3909 victories under his belt,…

For the seventh year in a row, America's Best Racing is challenging some of the brightest minds in horse betting to come up with their top three picks for key races every weekend leading up to the 2023 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2023 Breeders' Cup World Championships. The handicappers face off in what we like to call the "Big Race…

LOUISVILLE - The late, great John Asher, former vice president of communications at Churchill Downs and unofficial chief historian, was fond of saying, "Nothing is bigger than the Kentucky Derby." Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has certainly put that maxim to the test over the past eight years. Baffert came into the 2015 Kentucky Derby…

On the day before racing at Santa Anita is scheduled to resume Friday with five turf races following an 11-day break that had been planned before recent grass-course drainage issues arose, staffers with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) deemed the turf to be ready to handle horses. The last two dates that Santa Anita had raced, Apr. 8 and 9,…

Alexa Zepp, a 27-year-old artist from Lawrence, Kansas, traveled to Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., for the Grade One Gamble betting/handicapping tournament April 15 that offered fantastic cash prizes as well as multiple berths to major handicapping tournaments later in the year. Zepp has established a deep passion for horse racing in a short amount…

Paul Calia had never won a horse betting contest in his life. So when he drove from his home in Kansas City all the way to the National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas, his primary goal was to make enough money to cover the cost of his trip. He not only won the NHC, the world's most famous horse betting tournament, he also picked up another…

This upcoming late week and weekend in North American horse racing promises to be the quietest of 2023 so far. There are no qualifying points races for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on the schedule - which will not be the case for every subsequent weekend through April 15 - and only two graded stakes races on tap, both Saturday,…

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club/Ben Sever February 25, 2023 The Breeders' Cup has selected Del Mar to host the 41st world championships next year, marking the third time the picturesque Pacific track will stage the season-ending graded stakes races that feature the top thoroughbreds. Del Mar will present 14 Grade 1 races with purses worth more than $31…

In addition to a full menu of world-class racing highlighted by six graded stakes, Santa Anita's Classic Meet opening day, Monday, Dec. 26, will offer fans a number of promotions, including the track's traditional wall calendar, a magnificent Flightline print giveaway and signing with jockey Flavien Prat and trainer John Sadler, a $1-million Single…

Horse Racing Analyst Samantha Perry spent a fantastic Breeders' Cup weekend with America's Best Racing at Keeneland Race Course in early November. Perry takes us inside the world of horse racing on one of the biggest wagering weekends of the year, while touring the historic racetrack. The Breeders' Cup is the year-end World Championships of racing,…

Imagine a race day like no other. Two legendary racetracks 15 stakes races 14 graded stakes Coast-to-coast Pick 5's on dirt and turf with a low 12-percent takeout The chance to win a $5 million sweepstakes An Ultimate Betting Challenge Welcome to 1/ST Saturday, an extraordinary, unprecedented and innovative day of Thoroughbred racing Saturday,…

When California legalized pari-mutuel betting in 1933, there was a mad dash by the sport's wealthiest entrepreneurial fans to build racetracks. Many of the investors had trouble raising enough money or finding suitable locations. A successful dentist named Charles H. "Doc" Strub couldn't find a good location in Northern California, and bigshot…

By the time the Great Depression descended on the nation like a bitter cold front, horse racing in the United States was already in a deep freeze. It had gone cold during the first decade of the twentieth century, after a series of race-fixing scandals triggered a wave of legislation making betting illegal. The sport crumbled. At the turn of the…