#Turf Classic

It is sometimes called the most important turf meeting in the U.S. this side of the Breeders' Cup. But is the Arlington Million card really all that? The ingredients are certainly there. Impressive purses for three Grade 1 races that have endured for more than three decades. Horses from around the world representing the sport's biggest powerhouse…

Lovely Ride wins Saturday's Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park Coady Photography, courtesy of Oaklawn Park Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Trainer Bob Baffert saddled the first three finishers in Sunday's $100000 Grade III Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, a "Road to the Kentucky Derby" race, while the other weekend qualifier went to a colt who might find the Derby distance…

Trainer Peter Miller was worried he might not have Thirsty John fit enough for Saturday's Cal Cup Derby at Santa Anita off an eight-month layoff, but his plan worked out just fine on a racing day devoted to Cal-breds. Miller had Thirsty John fit enough to go gate to wire and hold off stablemate Giver Not a Taker by a half length in the $200000 race…

Cheval Grand, shown winning the 2017 Japan Cup, returns seeking a repeat victory in Sunday's renewal. Photo courtesy of Japan Racing Association Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Weekend horse racing action stretches from Tokyo to Bahrain with a stop in England and a quick look at Hong Kong's preparations for its big weekend two weeks down the calendar. The Grade 1…

Carmelita's Man. (Benoit Photo) Stable Notes By Victor Ryan / ARCADIA, Calif.-The 10th and final race on Saturday's California Cup program is the $200000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic for older state-breds going 1 ⅛ miles on turf. While a field of nine was entered, led by 2-1 morning-line favorite Carmelita's Man, only eight will go postward as The…

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…

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…

The Saturday card from Santa Anita Park features the California Cup Sprint. Giver Not a Taker was installed as the morning line favorite. Post: 12:00 PM PT; $150k Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint S. going 6 furlongs on dirt; Entries: 6 #2 BIG CITY LIGHTS (8-5) gets the top selection. He shouldn't have trouble with the 6 furlong distance. This one…

In the United States there were stables such as Calumet Farm that dominated horse racing for decades. In Canada, the gold standard begins and ends with Sam-Son Farm. Founded in 1972 by Ernie Samuel, Sam-Son has left an imprint on racing and breeding in Canada that has been second to none. It all started when trainer Art Warner claimed Takaring…

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…

The rains stopped at Pimlico Thursday morning just as Kentucky Derby winner Justify (pictured) stepped out to test the track in preparation for Saturday's Preakness. Photo courtesy of Maryland Jockey Club The sun didn't shine on My Old Kentucky Home on Derby Day this year and it's unlikely to shine on Saturday's Preakness, either. But for Derby…

The 2022 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series comes to Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Jan. 29 (4:30-6 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock). Both winners of last year's marquee events return to Florida in the hopes of defending their titles. Knicks Go leads the 2022 Pegasus World Cup (G1) field with 6-5 odds despite drawing the far inside post position. The likely…

SARATOGA SPRINGS - After trying two turns, Jack Christopher returned on Saturday to what he is - an exceptional 3-year-old sprinter. In his first start since a third-place finish in the nine-furlong Haskell at Monmouth Park last month, Jack Christopher cut back in distance impressively with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade I Allen Jerkens run at…

Channel Cat, shown winning the Grade I Man o' War in May, is among the favorites for Saturday's Grade II Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association Nov. 19 (UPI) -- High-class graded stakes racing is spread across North America this weekend, with a turf showdown in New York, a tough mile event for fillies and mares…

Regal Glory, shown winning the 2021 Matriarch at Del Mar, takes on male rivals in Saturday's Grade I Fourstardave at Saratoga. Benoit photo, courtesy of Del Mar Turf Club Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Turf racing at Saratoga, Del Mar and Churchill Downs tops the weekend agenda, with a pair of Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" slots up for grabs. A third…

Nine juvenile colts whose connections harbor Kentucky Derby dreams are expected to go to post Saturday in an intriguing edition of the Grade 2, $400000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs. Instant Coffee, a lightly raced son of Bolt d'Oro trained by Brad Cox, is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the 1 1/6-mile race for 2-year-olds, a Derby…

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 two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships will conclude Saturday at Del Mar. Saturday's nine Breeders' Cup races will start at 3:05 p.m. EDT with the Filly & Mare Sprint and finish with the Classic at 8:40 p.m. Here's the TV schedule: NBC Sports (2:30-8 p.m.), NBC (8-9 p.m.). Here's an analysis of each race. All times EDT. The pick: Gamine…

Just Cindy wins the Schuylerville Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Thursday's opening day at Saratoga. Photo by Chelsea Durand, Cognianese Photos, courtesy of New York Racing Association July 15 (UPI) -- Saratoga is back into action this weekend, with trainer Chad Brown ready to make a statement on the turf course and the usual top-self competition…

The day has finally arrived! The 148th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs is here and we are locked and loaded with expert picks and analysis! Will Epicenter go off as the favorite? Is Taiba the real deal? Can Zandon show up big again? Keep reading. This 28-page Inside Track to the Kentucky…

SARATOGA SPRINGS - To have the best chance of beating Jackie's Warrior, you probably want to try him in the Breeders' Cup or at a track not named Saratoga. In non-Breeders' Cup races, the reigning sprint champion has won 11 of 13 starts and was second (by a neck) and third in the other two. At Saratoga, he is a perfect 4-for-4, all in graded…

The Arlington Million, which has been rerouted to Churchill Downs following the sale of Arlington Park, is one of the big weekend graded-raced this Saturday. But we've also more top-notch contests at Saratoga and Del Mar to look forward to. Let's take a look at the best races this Saturday and the probable runners. We've three Grade 1 turf races to…

In South Africa, daughters of Querari (a son of Green Desert's champion sprinter son Oasis Dream) in the form of Maria Querol and Fleeting, ran first and second respectively in Saturday's Listed World Sports Betting Stormsvlei Stakes, while Green Desert sire sons and grandsons made their mark overseas on the same day. Oasis Dream made headlines in…

Churchill Downs To Offer Special "Wagering Menu" for KY Derby Week (Twin Spires of Churchill Downs / Coady Photography) From the Churchill Downs Media Team: A new $3 All-3-Year-Old Pick 3 and a 50-cent All-Dirt, All-Stakes Pick 5 that close with the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I), highlight the spectacular…

From the Belmont to the Breeders' Cup, Godolphin made its mark on the U.S. racing scene in 2021. Godolphin posted 25 graded-stakes wins last year, most of any owner. Essential Quality, Maxfield, Mystic Guide, and others won prominent events under jockeys wearing the trademark royal blue silks. Listed below are the top 10 owners from 2021 in terms…

When jockeys are in the starting gate, you often hear the starter tell them "Let's get tied on," which means they should be ready for the gate to spring open. For people who bet on horse races, the Breeders' Cup represents the greatest opportunity to "get tied on" in the entire year. Where else will you have two days of 14 world championship races,…

LEXINGTON, Ky.- Bass Racing's Annapolis will attempt to become the 12 3yo to win the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) presented by PDJF on Friday. The 39 running of the race drew a full field of 14, including the most recent 3yo winner of the race in Order of Australia, a horse that Annapolis beat here last month in the Coolmore Turf Mile. "That's a…

When jockeys are in the starting gate, you often hear the starter tell them "Let's get tied on," which means they should be ready for the gate to spring open. For people who bet on horse races, the Breeders' Cup represents the greatest opportunity to "get tied on" in the entire year. Where else will you have two days of 14 world championship races,…

When jockeys are in the starting gate, you often hear the starter tell them "Let's get tied on," which means they should be ready for the gate to spring open. For people who bet on horse races, the Breeders' Cup represents the greatest opportunity to "get tied on" in the entire year. Where else will you have two days of 14 world championship races,…

When jockeys are in the starting gate, you often hear the starter tell them "Let's get tied on," which means they should be ready for the gate to spring open. For people who bet on horse races, the Breeders' Cup represents the greatest opportunity to "get tied on" in the entire year. Where else will you have two days of 14 world championship races,…

When jockeys are in the starting gate, you often hear the starter tell them "Let's get tied on," which means they should be ready for the gate to spring open. For people who bet on horse races, the Breeders' Cup represents the greatest opportunity to "get tied on" in the entire year. Where else will you have two days of 14 world championship races,…

The picks are IN for the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 7, 2022. With Bob Baffert suspended from Churchill Downs, will this year's most exciting two minutes in sports end with a major upset? This 28-page Inside Track to the Kentucky Derby combines some of the best…

Keeneland Barn Notes: Twilight Gleaming Headlines Field for Sunday's Franklin Stakes (Twilight Gleaming / Coady Photography) From the Keeneland Media Team: TWILIGHT GLEAMING (IRE) HEADS OVERFLOW FIELD FOR SUNDAY'S FRANKLIN Stonestreet Stables' Twilight Gleaming (IRE), winner of last fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) at Del Mar,…

Led by Red Knight, the winner of the 2020 edition, a loaded field of 16 older turf males have been entered in Friday's Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland. The 8-year-old gelding has been perfect so far in 2022 for trainer Mike Maker, with a pair of stakes wins at the same 1 1/2-mile distance he will see on Friday. Most recently, the stakes record…

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…

Cave Rock wins the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, on to the Breeders' Cup. Benoit Photo, courtesy of Santa Anita The final weekend of prep races for the Breeders' Cup World Championships produced some impressive efforts and identified some likely favorites for the big weekend just a month down the road. War Like Goddess earned a spot against…

George Krikorian's War Like Goddess took on a new task of facing males and handled it with flying colors, defeating a field that included three other Grade 1 winners by 2 3/4 lengths in Saturday's Grade 1, $500000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont at the Big A. The 46th running of the 12-furlong test over the inner turf marked its first running at…

These are the kinds of days that horseplayers live for: There are excellent stakes races from one end of this great continent to the other. There are so many, in fact, over three dozen by our count, that we cannot even begin to cover them all, so we've selected six of the most important, which are worth watching purely for entertainment, but which…

We know everyone (at least it seems like everyone, or at least everyone in our world) is immersed in the football season with wall-to-wall college football on Saturday, but Team Tuley is still looking for value at tracks from coast to coast. Last Saturday, our friend Duane Colucci, race and sports book manager at the Rampart, took the day off and…

Older sprinters take the spotlight in the Vosburgh (G2) at Aqueduct on Saturday, October 8. The seven-furlong dirt race offers a $250000 purse as well as an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint for its winner. The race features a field of five, a combination of experienced and hard-knocking sprinters as well as a couple of four-year-olds…

Join our channel to stay up to date on the latest in marketing Saturday's American Pharoah Stakes, at Santa Anita, is dominated by the Bob Baffert yard, who have won the prize 10 times in the past and he means business again with 50% of the 8 runners. With the winner also getting a free ticket for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov 5 there is an…

OZONE PARK, N.Y.- Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will saddle Public Sector, L'Imperator and Lonesome Fugitive as he looks for his third consecutive score in Sunday's Grade 3, $150000 Knickerbocker, a nine-furlong inner turf test for 3-year-olds and upward, at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet. The Knickerbocker is slated as…

Ivar wins the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 9, 2022 The 2022 edition of the Grade 1, $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile, an opening weekend staple at Keeneland and run since 1986, drew a full field of 12 plus four also-eligibles. The race will be held on Saturday, Oct. 8. Among the group vying for the top share…

Did you know active subscribers receive our Inside Track wagering guides absolutely FREE? Subscribe today and be the first to receive our upcoming MONSTER wagering guide to the 2022 Breeders' Cup! Godolphin's Santin and Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait, the 1-2 finishers in the Arlington Million (G1) at Churchill Downs in August, head a…

Did you know active subscribers receive our Inside Track wagering guides absolutely FREE? Subscribe today and be the first to receive our upcoming MONSTER wagering guide to the 2022 Breeders' Cup! Dublin Fjord Stables, Racepoint Stables, Kevin D. Hilbert and Thomas E. O'Keefe's Drafted will vie for his third graded victory of the year in Saturday's…

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dublin Fjord Stables, Racepoint Stables, Kevin D. Hilbert and Thomas E. O'Keefe's Drafted will vie for his third graded victory of the year in Saturday's Grade 2, $250000 Vosburgh, a seven-furlong main track sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet. The winner of the Vosburgh will earn a berth in the…

OZONE PARK, N.Y.- NBS Stable and Elements Racing's stakes winner Danse Macabre will look to make the grade in Saturday's Grade 3, $150000 Matron, a six-furlong outer turf test for juvenile fillies, at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet. The Matron, set for Race 6, is part of a stacked card that includes the Grade 1 $500000 Joe Hirsch Turf…

OZONE PARK, N.Y.- For the past two seasons, George Krikorian's War Like Goddess has displayed superiority amongst her staying female counterparts at graded stakes level on grass. In Saturday's Grade 1, $500000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the talented bay mare will target a new task when facing males for the first time for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. The…

A field of 10 were assigned post positions Tuesday for the Grade 1, $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, a new addition for 2019 to run at 1 3/16 miles on the grass. The companion to the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus dirt race, the Turf is headlined by Yoshida, a Grade 1 winner on multiple surfaces, and includes a pair of international…

Join our channel to stay up to date on the latest in marketing The Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes this Saturday is another top Grade 1 contest taking place this weekend. It's a race the Chad C. Brown barn have won three times since 2015, while the Todd Pletcher and Bill Mott yards also have decent records in the 1m4f event. Interested in horse…