Tag: Keeneland

By Richard Rosenblatt   The last time these two champions met, it was no contest in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). Preakness (G1) winner Swiss Skydiver stumbled at the start, and lost all chance of …

Another big weekend of stakes races is set, topped by the matchup of champions Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park on Saturday. Oaklawn’s Saturday card …

By Noel Michaels You know the Kentucky Derby is close now that racing has returned to Keeneland for the Spring Meet, which opened last weekend and runs through April 23 before shifting to Churchill Downs …

By Richard Rosenblatt and Ed McNamara Essential Quality, Medina Spirit and 26 other 3-year-olds will be off and running Saturday in a trifecta of Kentucky Derby prep races with ‘win-or-run-second-and-you’re-in’ implications. The star of the …

By Margaret Ransom The 97th running of the Blue Grass Stakes (G2), the Bluegrass State’s most prominent prep for the Kentucky Derby (G1), is set for Saturday with a field that includes unbeaten champion Essential …

By Richard Rosenblatt Nearly a year ago, I was ready for a Steve Asmussen breakthrough in the Kentucky Derby. The Hall of Fame trainer was 0-for-20 in the Run for the Roses, and had a …

Eddie Mac’s Book: Good Idea To Go With The Favorites on Pegasus Day 2021 By Ed McNamara It was a great idea: an eight-figure stakes at sunny Gulfstream Park in late January, when not much …

In the days leading up to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, usracing.com will profile the horses in the race set for Jan. 23. The profiles …

By Ed McNamara Bobby Frankel was a hard-edged guy who didn’t hand out compliments casually. So when he touted an obscure young rider from the Dominican Republic, jockey agent Ron Anderson paid attention. “Late in …

By Maryjean Wall Forlorn in his fate, forced to stand forever upright in the position he was stuffed, Cocaine Bear is one of the few remaining monuments to the freewheeling days of the horse business, …

By Maryjean Wall Forlorn in his fate, forced to stand forever upright in the position he was stuffed, Cocaine Bear is one of the few remaining monuments to the freewheeling days of the horse business, …

By Richard Rosenblatt Charlatan, who returned to the races after an absence of eight months with a dominating 4 ½-length victory in the Grade I Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on opening day Dec. 26, …

By Richard Rosenblatt Let’s take a detour on the road to the Kentucky Derby, and shift our attention to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park in less than three weeks. A …

By Ed McNamara It was a late autumn afternoon at Turfway Park, a minor-league outpost in northern Kentucky, near the Ohio border. Not much that happens there is memorable, yet for Brad Cox it provided …

By Noel Michaels The year 2020 will go down as one of the strangest in thoroughbred racing, with no fans in attendance most of the year, many tracks closed for significant amounts of time, and …