#SANTA MARIA

Below are detailed notes on the individual lots: Lot 3: Cadenza - colt by Rafeef out of Casadesus: By the same sire as Gr1 winners Aragosta, Master Archie and Thunderstruck, as well as recent G2 Dingaans winner Union Square, Cadenza hails from a truly exceptional female line. She is out of the smart race mare Casadesus, who won three times up to…

Ramon Vazquez / 7 Edwin Maldonado / 5 TRAINERS / WINS Philip D'Amato / 8 Doug O'Neill / 7 Bob Baffert / 6 Peter Miller / 5 George Papaprodromou / 4 Friday • $175000 Real Good Deal Stakes, 3-year-olds bred in CA, 7 furlongs Saturday • $400000 Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles • $150000 California…

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…

Due to the vast number of'conditions' type races, together with a host of conditions attached to the Graded races (mainly on the Highveld), many of the ratings that are published do not reflect the Handicapper's final assessment of those horses affected by these conditions. This issue is especially affecting the current 3yo crop as they are…

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.…

Last week, Belmont Park was the focus of the racing world with the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, preceded by a host of stakes for other Thoroughbred divisions. Earlier this week, the action shifted across the pond to England's Ascot racecourse for the Royal meet. On Saturday, the Jersey Shore will be the place to be as Monmouth…

The Spring season proper gets underway at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday, 1 October with the Hollywoodbets Matchem and Diana Stakes being run over 1400m. Both are Grade 3 events. Cosmic Highway (speed score 112) impressed in the Diadem Stakes and is a high-quality sprinter miler. He has not run for 17 weeks and is drawn widest of all at 10,…

Once in a while you are reminded of a horse that inspires curiosity. Perhaps a mention in a pedigree or a press release. A photo pops up in a search for something completely unrelated. This reminder came in the form of an Ebay listing. Oh yes, the horse, his name is Wallenda. The Ebay item was a winner's plaque from a very special race. The Suffolk…

Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}), a Group 1 winner in her native country, scored her first top-level win in the big leagues of American racing Saturday, conquering odds-on defending champion Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) and three other rivals in Del Mar's GI Clement L. Hirsch S. The victory in the Win and You're In qualifier…

In his regular gambling blog, John Piassek presents his top picks for the upcoming weekend in horse racing, offering betting options at different budget levels. Piassek's Plays is brought to you by Horseplayers.com, the official online qualifying site of the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC) and National Horseplayers Championship (NHC).…

In this week's edition of the Racing Roundtable, James Scully, Kellie Reilly, and Vance Hanson recap the Whitney and address the future of two star mares. James Scully: Life Is Good showed his terrific turn of foot from the starting gate, and speed can play favorably at Keeneland in the fall, but the Whitney reinforced concerns surrounding the 1…