Riding the wave of Thoroughbred horse racing
During the final days of 2015, several contenders for the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes turned in workouts at Oaklawn Park as they gear up for the first Kentucky Derby prep race of the Oaklawn meet. The most prominent worker was Discreetness, winner … Continued
The Oaklawn-based trainer Jinks Fires is already poised for a run down the Kentucky Derby trail with his promising three-year-old Discreetness, but according to the Oaklawn Report for December 29th, Discreetness might not be the most talented of Fires’ potential Derby … Continued
The impressive two-year-old Synchrony, who won a 7 1/2-furlong allowance race at Churchill Downs last time out, is expected to make his next start in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park on January 18th. On December 17th, Synchrony gave the track … Continued
© Benoit Photo Welcome to Part 2 of my weekend recap analyzing the results of the racing action on December 19th and 20th. Part 1, which can be read here, recapped the results of the many maiden and allowance races for … Continued
Photo by NYRA/Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand With less than two weeks remaining in the year, a remarkable number of two-year-old races were held last weekend, including the Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I). We’ll recap that race in Part 2 of this weekend recap and focus … Continued
According to the Fair Grounds Barn Notes for December 19th, the Tom Amoss-trained two-year-olds Mo Tom and Harlan Punch both have the $1,000,000 Louisiana Derby (gr. II) on March 28th as their major goal for this winter. Mo Tom, who won the Street Sense … Continued
Benoit Photo © As is typical of Saturday morning, the work tabs at racetracks across the country were filled with the names of prominent stakes winners and Derby contenders gearing up for future races. First and foremost was 2014 Horse of the … Continued
Photo by Keeneland Photo The talented two-year-old Exaggerator, who won the Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (gr. III) in gritty fashion last month, will make his 2016 debut in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes (gr. II) on February 15th. The news was reported … Continued
© Benoit Photo The weekend racing action of December 12th and 13th was a bit quiet by some standards, but did feature several quality stakes races, including the grade I Starlet Stakes (gr. I) at Los Alamitos. But the star … Continued
Early in the morning on December 13th, while many racing fans in the U.S. were asleep, a terrific series of four group I races were held at Sha Tin racecourse in Hong Kong. These were the Hong Cup Vase, Hong Kong … Continued