#ST BET

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…

It is easy see why Tiz The Law is a heavy favorite for the Belmont Stakes. His two Grade 1 wins and his 4-for-4 record on fast tracks put him alone in the front of the plane while the rest of the field is stuck in coach. But if it is easy to declare that he will win Saturday, why is it so hard to figure out who will lead him there? Blame it on Fore…

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…

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…

The nation's newest wager premieres this Saturday and Sunday when the Coast-to-Coast Pick Five ties together races from Gulfstream and Santa Anita. The $1 pick five bet will be offered each weekend in January, February, March and April and has a low 15% takeout. Races selected for the weekly wagers will be announced each Wednesday (for Saturday)…

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…

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…

Last Saturday's Florida Derby, Arkansas Derby and Jeff Ruby produced as many as seven starters for the Kentucky Derby on May 7. A similar allotment may be known by the end of racing Saturday after the Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass and Wood Memorial. The Santa Anita Derby in California features the brilliantly fast Forbidden Kingdom and Messier in…

Arkansas' iconic Oaklawn Park, literally situated within a National Park, kicks off its biggest season ever Friday and runs 68 dates through Kentucky Derby Day on May 6. A track record 45 stakes races will be offered and total nearly $14 million purses alone. Friday's opening day feature will be the $150000 Advent Stakes, a 5-1/2 furlong dash for…

Clockers' Corner was not as crowded as it was two springs ago, but it still felt lively Thursday morning. Trainers Carla Gaines and Vlad Cerin brought around their dogs, who playfully breached whatever canine protocols there are for social distancing. Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux was the best-dressed gent in the joint, sporting a colorful…

Coast-to-coast Grade 1 stakes races are in the offing this weekend as Aqueduct and Del Mar start the month of December with a bang. Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile in New York and Hollywood Derby in California will set the weekend table for Sunday's Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes on the west coast. It's a month on the racing calendar that will build to a…

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…

After a record-setting $28.1 million was bet at Keeneland for Blue Grass Day, Week 2 of the four-week spring meet features five more prominent stakes races going off Friday or Saturday. The Kentucky Derby trail quiets a bit after a flurry of major preps in recent weeks, but potential Preakness players will be in action in Keeneland's Lexington…

The mile-and-a-half Test of the Champion at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday is all that awaits the Triple Crown season for 2022. In reality, it will be more of a test to see if 80-1 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike is more akin to the Beatles or Chumbawamba. Do we have a superstar or one-hit wonder in our midst? The answer comes against a field…

Fair Grounds opens its racing season Friday, while Tampa Bay Downs will follow suit the following week. Those may not sound like the first signs of winter to many, but they are for horseplayers. And a reduction in takeout at Fair Grounds for the 80-day meeting in New Orleans will be music to bettors' ears. The pick 5 takeout has been reduced to…

The name Phil Thomas does not appear in present-day past performances. The last race on his training record was run more than three years ago. His last winner was at the end of the summer of 2013. But something he said resonates to this day with horseplayers handicapping the Kentucky Derby. "I bet if you looked at it," he said, "horses that won the…

The ever popular John Rich Tracking College Football Betting Strategies blog comes at a great time this week. I haven't been feeling very creative lately. The only blog I really enjoyed writing this week was my Stop Texting Frank The Tank blog. I haven't been struck with much inspiration. Maybe a gambling blog will help get my creative juices…

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,…

It showed up like clockwork last week in my email. Remember email? About 240 of us voters for the Eclipse Awards received our annual packets of digital information, complete with the usual advice to tamp an eagerness we may have to cast an early ballot. "It is strongly encouraged," the instructions said, "that you consider waiting to vote until…

Now that we have a good idea of the fields for next week's 38th Breeders' Cup "World Championships," let the serious handicapping begin. Maybe those cynical quotation marks should come off of "World Championships," especially since a record 58 internationals were among the 196 horses pre-entered into the 14 races that will be run next Friday at…

The eyes of thoroughbred racing are on the final preparations for the more than 150 equine stars set to shine at Keeneland on Nov. 4-5 in the Breeders' Cup. Morning workouts are abuzz with horses across all 14 divisions as handicappers try to get one last edge and piece of knowledge for the betting bonanza. The free Breeders' Cup portal at XBTV…

The short but elite racing seasons at Del Mar and Kentucky Downs will hit the finish line Sunday, but not before the two tracks put forth some more important stakes races and top betting opportunities. It's an untraditional week, to be sure, with Del Mar extended beyond Labor Day against calendar norms. Meanwhile, the New York circuit goes dark…

A sentimental renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and the turf marathon known as the Sycamore Stakes will put Keeneland's grass course front and center during the second week of its Fall Meeting. Friday's $300000 Sycamore is three weeks and a day out from the Breeders' Cup Turf and could provide a member or two to that field. The…

Opening weekend of the prestigious meeting at Keeneland runs Friday through Sunday, including 11 key stakes preps that will be showcased at this year's Breeders' Cup host site. Stars like Golden Pal, Letruska and Malathaat are just some of the names expected to grace the Lexington oval. But Keeneland won't fly solo on the national marquee, which…

Premier Turf Club, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of PointsBet USA Inc., on Wednesday announced a partnership agreement with 1/ST Technology, a business division of The Stronach Group ("TSG"), North America's dominant Thoroughbred horse racing company. The agreement encompasses 1/ST's broad portfolio of products and services including 1/ST Bet,…

ARCADIA, Calif.-Santa Anita's 18-day Autumn meet which begins Friday will be highlighted by 26 stakes, 15 of them graded. Overnight purses remain the same as last year. Most all stakes purses are the same as in 2021, with the following exceptions: both the Golden State Juvenile and the Golden State Juvenile Fillies have had purses increased from…

He will be the favorite next week for the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. But is it too soon to declare Essential Quality the favorite for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic? Not in the dark recesses of offshore futures. After holding off Hot Rod Charlie in a signature stretch duel to win the Belmont Stakes, Essential Quality burnished his place in…

We're just five weeks from the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland, and final rehearsals are taking place around the world. Santa Anita's fall meet opens Friday with a welcome sign for prospects across as many as 10 divisions, while Belmont-at-Aqueduct hosts superstar Life Is Good for Saturday's Woodward Stakes. Meanwhile, Kentucky Derby…

It's last call for the 3-year-olds - including several Triple Crown alumni - in big-money spots before they'll have to start battling older horses. Parx, with Saturday's Grade 1 $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, and Remington Park, with Sunday's Grade 3 $400000 Oklahoma Derby, will put on their season's most important races this week. Parx will run 10…

Five weeks before Tarnawa won last year's Breeders' Cup Turf, she served notice that she could win anytime on any surface. In what looked more like a regatta than a horse race, Christophe Soumillon took her from the back of the pack and sailed her - almost literally sailed - to a short-neck victory in the Prix de l'Opera in Paris. Not long after…

The $3 million Pegasus World Cup, winter's richest and most important thoroughbred race, takes flight Saturday at Gulfstream Park in greater Miami. The mile and one-eighth test is contested at a middle distance that brings together elite horses at varying skill sets, and this year's event lured the winners of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Life is…

America's three premier horse racing circuits - New York, Kentucky and California - all will have a change of address this week with the opening of new meets at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs and Los Alamitos. The New York scene will call Aqueduct home until spring of 2023 because of construction at Belmont Park. The September meets at Churchill and Los…

The Artificial Intelligence programs at 1/ST BET offers more than 50 data points (such as speed, pace, class, jockey, trainer and pedigree stats) for every race. Parx Race No. 3 (1:49 p.m. ET/10:49 a.m. PT) #1 My Brother Neil (4-1 ML) 27% Win Projection from 1/ST BET offers fair odds between 3-1 and 5-2. Rates 9 points higher than next-closest…

Back after a one-year hiatus and relocated from suburban Chicago to Churchill Downs, Saturday's Grade 1 Arlington Million will have an eerie feel. It's like seeing Joe Namath in a Los Angeles Rams jersey or Hakeem Olajuwon playing for the Toronto Raptors at the end of their careers. This American turf icon moves in front of America's most iconic…