What’s up with this Breeders’ Cup? In three words, World Championship racing! The relentless COVID-19 pandemic has imposed many changes in every aspect of life and racing was not spared. Fortunately, thoroughbred horse racing has stayed the course, though augmented. Most tracks were able to offer live racing at some point during the calendar year and we eventually experienced the thrill of each of the Triple Crown Races! Now, as we have done every year since 1984, it is time to witness and honor the best thoroughbred race horses in North America and the world as a whole!
Share This:Count on Keeneland for Stars and Stakes
Keeneland kicked off its Fall Meet with Fall Stars Weekend. Live racing at Keeneland from October 2nd through 24th foreshadows the Breeders’ Cup set for November 6th and 7th at this very same racecource. This meet features 18 stakes races, 10 of which are “Win and You’re In” races for an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup! Check out what this Fall at Keeneland has to offer.
Share This:Fifteen Years of Old Friends Farm
Old Friends Farm is celebrating its 15th year of rescuing retired Thoroughbreds. Operating at 3 locations and home to hundreds of horses, the Georgetown, KY farm is full of famous champions and a broad spectrum of former Thoroughbred racehorses. On a beautiful Kentucky Fall day I paid the farm another visit.
Continue reading “Fifteen Years of Old Friends Farm”Share This:
Breeders’ Cup Summed Up
Today, we welcome the world back to my old Kentucky home! Once again, Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY welcomes visitors and viewers from all corners of the earth. This racetrack continues to take the international spotlight for grand Thoroughbred racing! Churchill Downs is known for delivering the “Greatest Two Minutes In Sports” for over 144 years and is now hosting it’s ninth of 35 Breeders’ Cup Events. The Breeders’ Cup is serving up 2 days of 14 World Championship races with $30 million in purse money. I just could not help but attend Dawn at the Downs to see the last morning workout before Breeders’ Cup 2018 (BC18) begins!
Continue reading “Breeders’ Cup Summed Up”Share This:
Breeders’ Cup has Broad Borders
With just 60 days to go before the 2018 Breeders’ Cup World Championships the entries for the contenders of each race are filing up fast. While the BC races take place in America and Canada, we have entries from all over the world. 85 Challenge Series races held in 12 countries help to define the field of each race. The 35th year of BC races will be hosted by Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY on November 2nd and 3rd. Several of the entries in the 14 BC races are contenders that were bred or live abroad. BC18 welcomes the world!
Continue reading “Breeders’ Cup has Broad Borders”Share This:
A Trio for Travers Day
Saratoga is happy to tie in Runhappy with the Travers and H. Allen Jerkens Stakes!
- Saturday at Saratoga serves up several stakes! The Midsummer Derby is only one of seven graded stakes on the day’s card of a lucky 13 races. Five of the stakes offer an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup! Three stakes will be covered by NBC. Who will win the Forego, the Sword Dancer or the Travers Stakes?
Following the Classic Path
The Breeders’ Cup Classic field is filling up fast! Who will earn the next berth? We will find out this coming Saturday following the great Pacific Classic Stakes. After the 2016 edition, when California Chrome won, the Pacific Classic will always be a favorite stakes race of mine. Does this stakes hold a special memory for you or will you have a new found interest after this 2018 running?
Triple Crown Trends
This week brought the disappointing news that no one wanted but many had already suspected. Our 13th Triple Crown winner, Justify, retired from racing. Justify achieved more than I ever would have expected but his 111 day racing career ended sooner than I anticipated. There are several more races I would have enjoyed seeing him participate in but tragically that won’t happen now. This got me to thinking, what are our assumptions about a triple crown winner? Thus, I set out to examine the triple crown trends.
Continue reading “Triple Crown Trends”Share This:
Ascot Aftermath
All good things must come to an end. The 5 days of racing at Royal Ascot concluded today. There were several contenders representing America and with a scattering of races that provide a berth into the Breeders’ Cup we will see many of these Thoroughbreds compete in champion races again. Now that the races are over, let’s see the results in the aftermath of the Ascot.
Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, Berkshire, England opened for live racing in 1711. The racecourse was founded by Queen Anne of the British Royal Family. The Royals still attend and enter contenders annually. In the same year of the racecourse’s inauguration, Queen Anne also initiated Royal Ascot, the 5 day highlight of British racing’s calendar year. In 2018, the races were held Tuesday, June 18th thru Saturday 6/23. 18 Grouped (the British version of Graded) Stakes took place. 8 races were Group One. The purse was over 7.3 million pounds (more than 9.6 million in U.S dollars). The event is very ritzy, with the classiest of fashion. 4 races offered automatic berths into the 2018 Breeders’ Cup.
Here is a listing of the 8 Group One stakes with the distance and the winner as well as another BC berth race:
- The Queen Anne Stakes- 1 mile – Accidental Agent -berth into the BC Mile
- The King’s Stand Stakes – 5 furlongs – Blue Point
- The St. James’s Palace Stakes – 1 mile – Without Parole
- The Prince of Wales’s Stakes -1 mile and 2 furlongs – Poet’s Word -berth into the BC Turf
- The Norfolk Stakes (this is the only Group 2 on this list)-5 furlongs – Shang Shang Shang -berth into the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint
- The Gold Cup -2 miles and 4 furlongs –Stradivarius
- The Commonwealth Cup – 6 furlongs –Eqtidaar
- The Coronation Stakes – 1 mile –Alpha Centauri
- The Diamond Jubilee Stakes – 6 furlongs – Merchant Navy -berth into the BC Turf Sprint
Congratulations to all of the Royal Ascot winners and for the talented American racehorses that were worthy to attend. Royal Ascot is on my bucket list. I would love to experience the glamor and royalty of this 5 day racing event. I hope you were pleased with the aftermath of the Ascot. Keep following for more information on this summer’s top races and all things Thoroughbred.Share This:
Jumping for Joy over Justify
I waited most of my life to witness a Triple Crown victory. Seattle Slew and Affirmed did it back to back when I was a toddler and the great Secretariat won shortly prior to my birth. I was raised on the stories but I did not know what it was like to see it with my own eyes. After following the career of champion California Chrome, I wasn’t sure if I would ever see a Triple Crown winner race. Then, in 2015, my dream came true. American Pharoah won after a 37 year drought. It was emotional and something I knew would always stick with me. I also thought it may never happen again in my lifetime. Then, to my surprise a great horse won the Kentucky Derby and once again there was hope for another Triple Crown winner, the hope was in Justify and he did not disappoint. Justify left me jumping for joy with his win in the Belmont Stakes, our lucky 13th Triple Crown winner!