Saratoga should be on every horseplayer’s bucket list. Not only as a racetrack destination, but as a historic sports venue. It’s like going back in time with a big smile on your face.
Richard Eng
A lightning bolt named Shared Belief won the $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday. The barometer of his win was he absolutely toyed with a good 3-year-old colt named Candy Boy.
When Hollywood Park closed forever last year, it set up a scenario in Southern California racing in which “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
If you want to know how good a job Santa Anita Park has done with this extended race meet, just ask yourself this: How many horseplayers do you hear complaining about not racing at Hollywood Park?
One of the worst-kept secrets in racing was the leaking of the rotation of Breeders’ Cup sites in coming years.
California Chrome gave us a five-week joy ride that energized the sport of horse racing. But his failure to win the Triple Crown is no reason to change the process.
There will be no free lunch for the Chrome in the Belmont Stakes. His foes will be set on preventing him from winning the Triple Crown. And the 1½-mile race on an enormous oval is an unknown factor.
Last weekend, Dan Borislow, of Palm Beach, Fla., won more than $6.6-million as the only winner of the Gulfstream Park Rainbow Pick 6. He did it, not by any great handicapping, but by smart betting.
The most exciting race in horse racing is when a Triple Crown is on the line in the Belmont Stakes. We will have that this year thanks to California Chrome. His victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness again have put us on the precipice of sports history.
I think the best horse, California Chrome, will win the Preakness and set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont. If I were jockey Victor Espinoza, I would practically ignore the others horses and ride his own race.
Extremely dry conditions and temperatures over 100 degrees have led officials to cancel racing Thursday at Santa Anita.
There was no doubt that California Chrome, as a 5-2 odds favorite, was the people’s choice to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The Kentucky Derby is the one race that makes everybody a horse racing fan for a day. And if you’re lucky enough to pick the winner, it’s a boast you can live off for the next 51 weeks.
I’ve long suggested adding the Kentucky Derby to your bucket list. It is a unique piece of Americana in the heart of the bluegrass.
When Churchill Downs announced a big takeout increase for the season that starts on April 26, the anger of horseplayers overflowed and prompted one group to call for a betting boycott at the storied track.