The early picture for the Kentucky Derby became blurred Friday when three long shots finished 1-2-3 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park.
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Mike Brunker
Mike Brunker is an assistant city editor at the Review-Journal and he writes a weekly horse racing column. The column is posted on Thursday's and appears in Friday's print edition. He previously covered horse racing for the San Francisco Examiner, the Thoroughbred Times and NBCSports.com. Follow @mike_brunker on Twitter
The 14 races to be run over the next two days promise plenty of drama. But there’s also an underlying tension arising from the surge of horse deaths this year at the racetrack.
With pre-entries drawn, the temptation for handicappers is to get down to intensive analysis of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita. Don’t do it.
As much as handicappers would love to get started chewing over the fields for the 14 races Nov. 1 and 2 at Santa Anita Park, it’s too early to get a clear picture of who’s coming.
Trainer Bob Baffert informed Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith that his services would no longer be required aboard McKinzie, who may be the favorite in the $6 million Classic.
“The Great Race Place” will be under the microscope during the 23 days of racing following the deaths of 30 horses during its winter-spring meeting.
California Horse Racing Board Executive Director Rick Baedeker discusses the recent furor over the 2018 Triple Crown winner’s positive result for scopolamine.
The New York Times report on the 2018 Triple Crown winner’s positive test for scopolamine before the series suggests California racing authorities quietly dismissed the case.
Winchell, a longtime Las Vegas resident, was so taken with the unique racetrack in Franklin, Kentucky, that he decided he needed to buy it.
Del Mar and Saratoga are closing their doors on Labor Day, but two other horse racing success stories are stepping into the spotlight to lift our spirits.
A rainstorm, gathering darkness and lack of lighting resulted in an unreadable finish line photo. What happened after that is known only to the NYRA stewards.
Assessing the horses in a particular race is Job A as a handicapper. But it pays dividends to know as much as possible about the surface they’re running over.
Florent Geroux, Julien Leparoux and Flavien Prat have been good friends since their teens and cheer for one another except when they are in the same race.
The Hall of Fame trainer “will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction is not issued,” wrote the San Diego judge who issued the order.
A 4-year-old thoroughbred named Mr. Changue who was swallowed by a sinkhole early this month returned from his ordeal this week to win a race at Fort Erie racetrack.