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HORSE BETTING
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Hialeah Park, 84 years after its debut in the Roaring ’20s, is back from the dead and on track to hold the first of two meetings 48 hours after Thanksgiving.
It has been eight years since the last thoroughbred race was staged at the historic South Florida landmark. At one time Hialeah was known as “the most beautiful racetrack in the world” because of its grand architecture, fountains and statues besides exotic scenery and a magnificent turf course.
While the facility is a shell of itself today, scores of construction workers are laboring feverishly in double shifts repairing, landscaping and painting so the grand reopening can take place on Nov. 28.
All three floors of the clubhouse, including several restaurants, will be open to fans, but other parts of the facility will be closed as renovations continue.
Horses began arriving Nov. 12 and will be stabled in nearly 1,000 temporary stalls. This time, however, the stars... -
Favorites generally win one-third of the time at American racetracks. During the current Oak Tree meeting, however, top choices scored 40 percent through Oct. 29.
The Breeders’ Cup, dating back to the inaugural event in 1984, has produced winning favorites 34 ½ percent in 196 races.
The biggest upset in BC history came in the ’93 Classic when European import Arcangues triumphed at a whopping 133-1.
Eight of 14 winners last year at Santa Anita returned double-digit payoffs. The highest return was compliments of Desert Code who paid $75 on the front end, producing a $29,663.30 superfecta.
In the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, two horses that won at the 1 1/16 miles are capable of springing an upset: Smart Seattle, 8-1, and Lisa’s Kitten, 12-1.
In the Filly and Mare Sprint, Evita Argentina appears the best of three 20-1 shots with a chance off her 3 for 6 record on synthetic surfaces despite the presence o... -
Here are my picks for the 26th Breeders’ Cup starting with Friday:
$500,000 Marathon, 1 ¾ miles: None of the 10 horses has gone this far. Nite Lite, Cloudy’s Knight and Mastery show the best recent form. But I’m passing.
$1 Million Juvenile Fillies Turf, a mile: My exacta box is Smart Seattle, Lisa’s Kitten and Tapestry, all winners at the distance.
$2 Million Juvenile Fillies, 1 1/16 miles: Blind Luck and Always a Princess, 1-2 in the Oak Leaf on the Pro-Ride, will battle it out. There’re in the first leg of my Pick 3.
$2 Million Filly and Mare Turf, 1 ¼ miles: Forever Together, aiming to repeat, and Pure Clan possess best running style and haven’t been off the board in graded stakes during the year. The latter is 3 of 5 at the distance. I’m tossing in Connie and Michael, impressive maiden winner at Keeneland.
$1 Million Filly and Mare Sprint, 7 furlongs: Ventura just might be the... -
The 2008 Breeders’ Cup saw no runner going wire to wire in any of the 14 races at Santa Anita Park on the Pro-Ride surface or the grass in sprints or routes.
Only Midshipman led after a half-mile after breaking slowly and went on the win the BC Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles by 1 ¼ lengths.
The son of Unbridled’s Song came the closest to bucking the trend last fall during the Oak Tree meeting when only 5 percent of the first 14 winners led all the way at the distance before the two-day event.
Midshipman, after missing the Triple Crown season this year because of an injury, goes in the Dirt Mile on Saturday, Nov. 7, against a formidable full field that will include Mastercraftsman, Cowboy Cal, Regal Ransom, Bullsbay, Chocolate Candy and Pyro, the only returnee hoping to improve his sixth-place finish.
Last year, 18 percent of 11 winners were in front at every call at a mile on the main track before the BC races.
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A surprising number horses pre-entered in this year’s Breeders’ Cup 14 races are looking to defend their titles or register their second victory in the 26th renewal of the World Championships.
Six of the 166 horses are defending their 2008 BC titles, three are gunning for repeat victories in a different race and one hopes to triumph again after a three-year interval during the Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park meeting.
Thirty-seven thoroughbreds were pre-entered in two races during the two-day event, but a final choice must be made Tuesday when post positions are drawn. ... -
Breeders’ Cup officials, not to be outdone by President Obama, have decided this is the year of change for the 26th renewal of the World Thoroughbred Championships.
Early on two fan friendly changes were made. First, tickets to the BC races at San Anita Park during the Oak Tree meeting were made available online for the first time.
Secondly, those hard-to-read purple saddlecloths were pulled in favor of the more sensible variety of colors used at North American tracks. Naturally, the purple saddlecloth with the traditional No. 10 remains. In addition,
sponsors of specific races will still display their logos.
The switch was made, BC officials said, after consulting with a fan advisory council and bettors across the U.S. and Canada.
There’s also a new betting wrinkle involving the Pick 6. There will be another one on the first BC program. The $500,000 Marathon was shifted to Friday, Nov. 6, to lead off five consecutive c... -
Jackson Bend will attempt to become the sixth 2-year-old to sweep all three open Florida Stallion Stakes divisions in the 18th renewal at Calder Race Course on Saturday.
The son of Hear No Evil has won three in a row, including the Affirmed and Dr. Fager. In the Affirmed on Aug. 29, the colt defeated Mr. Green by 1 ½ lengths with Bim Bam another four lengths back in third. Time for seven furlongs was 1:25.
In the Dr. Fager on Aug. 8, it was the same order of finish: Jackson Bend edged Mr. Green by three-quarters of a length while Bim Bam finished three lengths further behind in third. The six furlongs was covered in 1:12 2/5.
In both races, Jackson Bend came from off the pace to catch Mr. Green in the stretch.
On Sept. 26, Bim Bam record his first stakes victory in the Foolish Pleasure, covering the mile and 70 yards in 1:45 3/5.
Last Saturday, Bim Bam prepped for the 28th In Reality, going five fu... -
Mine That Bird attempts to become the first Kentucky Derby champ to win the $350,000 Goodwood Stakes as a 3-year-old during Oak Tree’s 41st meeting at Santa Anita Park.
Two others that triumphed in the Run for the Roses captured the Goodwood as 4-year-olds: Silver Charm in 1998 and Ferdinand in ’87.
Only two sophomores have scored since the inaugural in ’82, including Tiznow, who won in ’00 before posting the first of two consecutive Breeders’ Cup Classic victories.
Two other winners also were victorious in the BC Classic: Pleasantly Perfect in ’03, the last back-to-winner, and Ferdinand in ’87.
Tiago, one of this year’s contenders, scored two years ago as a 3-year-old after running seventh to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby. The 5-year-old son of Pleasant Tap, second last year to Well Armed, covered six furlongs in 1:12 2/5 handily last Saturday at Hollywood Park.
Mine That Bird, the probable favorite hop... -
Five new honorees will be inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Saturday at Retama Park.
The new members are racing legends Harold V. Goodman and Jeff Carr, plus three horses. In addition, former Texas Sen. O. H. “Ike” Carr of Dallas will receive the JoAnn Weber Distinguished Service Award.
Goodman, a prominent horse owner and breeder, was 1994 Texas Breeder of the Year. His Two Altazano, one of the few Texas-bred fillies to win a Grade 1, captured four graded thoroughbred stakes 15 years ago.
In ’92, Goodman purchased an interest in A.P. Indy, the Breeders’ Cup Classic champ and Horse of the Year. He succumbed to cancer on Jan. 13, 1995, one day before he was scheduled to accept the award as the top Texas breeder of ’94 and the award for Two Altazano as the year’s champion Texas-bred 3-year-old filly.
Goodman’s son, Harold, will accept the Hall of Fame award for his father at the South Texas track.
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Woodrow Wilson was president, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 660 and Sir Barton became the first Triple Crown winner when Belmont Park inaugurated the Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational.
The year was 1919. The winner: Purchase. The purse: $5,850.
Purchase was headed to the Kentucky Derby when he reared up in his stall, caught a front hoof in a haystack and was slightly injured. The son of Ormondale also missed the Preakness.
The colt still won nine of 11 races during his sophomore year, including a three-length victory over Sir Barton in the Dwyer, and was the runner-up in two other stakes.
Four Triple Crown champs have captured the Gold Cup, including Gallant Fox in ’30 and Citation in ’48. Two others scored when they turned 4: Whirlaway, ’42, and Affirmed, ’79. &nb... -
Louisiana Downs launched the Super Derby in 1980. It pitted winners of two Triple Crown races: Kentucky Derby champ and Belmont winner Temperance Hill.
Genuine Risk was the second filly in history to capture the Run for the Roses since Regret in ’15. Temperance Hill defeated Genuine Risk in the Belmont while Preakness victor Codex was injured finishing seventh and never raced again.
The $500,000 Super Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 ¼
pitted Genuine Risk, also runner-up in the Preakness, and Temperance Hill, who missed Pimlico’s premier race because of a minor injury after skipping the Derby.
The winner: Temperance Hill. Genuine Risk ran second to become the first female to hit the board in all three Triple Crown events.
The last of three Belmont champs to take the Super Derby came in ’96, Editor’s Note, who also was the last winner of a Triple Crown event to score.
The 1980s was Super Derby’s shining dec... -
The $750,000 Woodward Stakes is named for the breeder and horse owner that chaired the Jockey Club from 1930 to ’50, the breed registry for thoroughbreds in North America.
William Woodward’s famous Belair Stud colors (white silks with cherry red dots) were carried to victory 631 times from ’23 to ’53. Belair Stable, part of Belair Stud, was one of the premier racing outfits.
Woodward winners included the father-son Triple Crown duo of Gallant Fox in ’30 and ’Omaha in ’35. He also owned Nashua, ’55 Horse of the Year who only lost as a 3-year-old in the Kentucky Derby, but defeated victorious Swaps in a match race.
Until closing in ’57, Belair Stable in Bowie, Md., was the oldest continually operated horse farm in the United States that dated back 250 years. It was later restored and is a museum open to the public.
The last sophomore to capture the 1 1/8-mile contest was Easy Goer in ’89, only the 12th in 55 renewals. But tha... -
It will be an all-male field when the 140th Travers Stakes is staged Saturday at Saratoga, featuring Belmont winner Summer Bird and six challengers.
That’s because owners of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra have other fish to fry. In addition, Kentucky Derby champ Mine That Bird is skipping the 1 ¼-mile contest, his co-owners announced Wednesday, because he needs time to fully heal from entrapped epiglottis surgery on Aug. 18.
“We decided to err on the side of caution and pass this race up and aim down the road to the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Chip Woolley said with his bosses Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach beside him at Saratoga.
“There’s one little spot underneath the epiglottis pushing up just a tiny bit and after studying and looking at it,” Woolley said, “we’re going to hold off and make sure the horse is okay and not take any chances with the rest of his career.”
Mine That Bird looked good breezing a half-mile i... -
Rachel Alexandra’s command center should call the shot that would be heard around the racing world – send the filly to the Travers Stakes.
That’s probably the only time winners of each Triple Crown race could meet. Alexandra the Great won’t be at Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup since her camp is against running on synthetic surfaces.
All three are working at Saratoga so it makes sense to race in the Mid-Summer Derby. The Bird brothers, Mine That and Summer, are scheduled to run.
But there’s only a one-in-five chance that the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro will make the Travers even though she fired a bullet 1:00 1/5 for five furlongs over the Oklahoma training track on a foggy Monday morning.
“She looked beautiful coming down the lane,” trainer Steve Asmussen told Brisnet.com: “I saw her approaching the eighth-pole and past the wire down to the turn. And the words (that) came out of (exercise rider) Dominic’s (Terry) mouth: ‘... -
Saratoga Springs attracted visitors before the American Revolution when wealthy pilgrims journeyed to the carbonated mineral springs running through the area.
The two Battles of Saratoga, considered the first Colonial victory and a turning point in the Revolutionary War, ended with British Gen. John Burgoyne’s surrender on Oct. 16, 1777.
During the Civil War, several men pursued an idea that would put Saratoga Springs on the map again – a racetrack. The principal players:
William R. Travers, a lawyer that made a fortune on Wall Street, owned thoroughbreds and became ppresident of the Saratoga Racing Association.
John “Old Smoke” Morrissey, former American bare-knuckle champ, gambler and a soon-to-be lawmaker on state and national levels.
John “Dareveil Jack” Hunter, fearless horseman and reckless rider who owned horses that raced on both sides of the Atlantic.
Leonard Walter Jerome, flamboyant entrepreneur, father of Winston Chu... -
All three winners of this year’s Triple Crown races will be in action on the weekend at two different tracks. Three big graded stakes totaling $2.5 million have attracted some top 3-year-olds to Mountaineer, Saratoga and Monmouth.
On Saturday, Kentucky Derby champ Mine That Bird goes in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer. The 40th renewal at 1 1/8 miles is valued at $750,000.
It will be the son of Birdstone’s first outing in eight weeks since running third to Summer Bird in the Belmont Stakes. No horse has crossed the wire on top in Mountaineer’s premier events off such a lengthy layoff.
Mine That Bird “had three hard races back-to-back (he ran second to Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness) and we wanted to give him plenty of time to settle and build up again,” said trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr.
There was a time when one to three weeks between races was considered a sufficient break, “but modern training methods have changed,” said Mark Pat... -
Winners of this year’s Preakness and Belmont are headed for a showdown in the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2. Too bad the Kentucky Derby winner opted for the $750,000 West Virginia Derby a day earlier.
It would have a most historic race. During the past 41 editions of the Haskell, 3-year-olds that captured 10 Triple Crown events visited the Monmouth Park winner’s circle. None of the past 39 West Virginia Derby champs even won a Triple Crown race.
In 1987, Derby-Preakness winner Alysheba hooked up again with Bet Twice, who had denied him the Triple Crown by taking the Belmont. The son of Alydar came up short again to Bet Twice with pacesetter Lost Code finishing third, all separated by two necks.
Two years earlier, Derby champ Spend a Buck clashed with Belmont winner Crème Fraiche, but were upset by Skip Trial. Not only did the son of Bailjumper return the biggest win payoff in Haskell history, $73, he set the current track record for 1 1/8 miles... -
The Summit of Speed will be in the sprinting spotlight on Saturday at Calder Race Course where it debuted 10 years ago. The 2000 event offered five stakes with purses totaling $950,000 and was an immediate hit.
In ’02, purses were boosted to $1.35 million and
attracted classy thoroughbreds like Orientate, who won the Smile Sprint Handicap en route to a Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory and an Eclipse Award. That afternoon Calder enjoyed a single-day total mutuel handle record exceeding $8.8 million.
Two years later, the $1.75 million event featuring six stakes helped to establish the track’s one-day handle mark of more than $10.8 million.
Then Mother Nature rained on the ’05 renewal that July 9, which featured eight races valued at $1.9 million. The effects of Hurricane Dennis forced the Saturday card to be rescheduled Sunday. Unfortunately, total wagering plummeted to just over $7 million.
Lady Luck abandoned Calder last year when a contract dispu... -
Rachel Alexandra was among 24 nominations to Saturday’s 53rd Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Stakes. But it appears only four fillies will challenge the Preakness champ in the one-turn Grade 1 at 1 1/8 miles.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin nominated three fillies, but nary a one will run. On Monday, he announced multiple graded stakes winner Justwhistledixie would instead be pointed to another Grade 1 -- the seven-furlong Test Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8.
He had hinted earlier Dream Play might be entered if the field was small, but apparently changed his mind. I’m a bit puzzled because with the race bumped up 20 percent to $300,000, sixth place is worth $6,000.
Well, the small field does not surprise me since Music Note scored on a DQ in a four-horse field last year.
I thought this was horse racing and the top dogs were supposed to race against each other going for the big bucks.
Justwhistledixie, who scratched out of the Kentucky Oaks the a... -
The Belmont Stakes has become a tricky race to handicap lately for several reasons.
Favorites have triumphed nearly 43 percent in the past 140 races, but during the last 30 years only six scored – 23 percent. And a dozen winners paid double-digits -- 40 percent.
By now most Triple Crown fans know that horses rallying from far off the pace don’t usually visit the winner’s circle after 1 ½ miles. The numbers are more stunning upon closer examination.
During the past decade the winners averaged less than two lengths behind after a mile. While there was only a single wire-to-wire winner, seven had the lead after 1 ¼ miles, two were second and another was third.
Amazingly, all 10 were in front in the stretch. Those figures show vast improvement over the previous decade.
From 1989 through ’98, only one winner was in front after a mile. After 1 ¼ miles, five had the lead, three were second and two were third. Six led in the stret... -
Calvin Borel has emerged as the star of this year’s racing scene and stands a good chance of becoming the only jockey to win the Triple Crown on two different horses.
With Preakness winner Rachel Alexander sitting out the Belmont Stakes, Borel climbs aboard Mine That Bird, who he guided to a surprising Kentucky Derby victory.
Borel and Mine That Bird trainer Chip Woolley got the news at Churchill Downs, BloodHorse.com reported.
Woolley received a phone call from Rachel Alexander co-owner Jess Jackson. “It showed a lot of class on Mr. Jackson’s part,” he said.
“Whatever Mr. Jackson wanted to do, I was 110 percent behind,” Borel said. “I think Mr. Jackson is all about the horse, not the races. It’s not money -- it’s his horse. I think he has more confidence in his horse and he wants to keep her safe and make sure she’s healthy and everything.
“She ran hard the other day. She struggled a lot, like I said when I come back (from the Preaknes... -
Fillies, it might surprise you, have done well in Triple Crown events dating back to the late 1800s. Overall, one-third of 114 female runners hit the board.
In the Belmont Stakes, 10 fillies that ran in 22 races finished in the money since Ruthless captured the inaugural in 1867 – that’s 45 percent. The two other winners: Tanya, 1905, and Rags to Riches, 2007.
Nearly 40 percent of fillies in 53 runnings of the Preakness hit the board, including this year’s winner Rachel Alexander. The other four victors: Florcarline, 1903; Whimsical, 1906; Rhine Maiden, 1915; and Nellie Morse, 1924.
More than 25 ½ percent of the 39 Kentucky Derby runners finished in the money. The winners: Regret, 1915; Genuine Risk, 1980; and Winning Colors, 1988.
The big question for the 141st Belmont: Will Alexandra the Great take on the boys again?
After the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro worked on Monday for the first time since her Preakness victory May 16, co-o... -
The leading stamina-bred horse in this year’s Belmont Stakes is Charitable Man. He’s the son of 1999 Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid and has been on a layoff from racing due to a saucer fracture to his shin that required surgery. He was away for seven months b...
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Rachel Alexandra proved to the world that she is truly a once in a lifetime animal. The magnificent filly showed that her 20 ¾ length victory in the Kentuck...
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