The Orange County track is putting on quite a show during the 11-day winter thoroughbred meeting that ends Sunday, in part because of Golden Gate Fields’ closure for COVID-19.
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 Bob Baffert-trained colt tested positive for scopolamine after winning the Santa Anita Derby, but the case was quietly dismissed and he went on to sweep the Triple Crown.
Both reported zero fatalities at recent meets, a sharp contrast to last year when critics were literally at the gates of both facilities after a spate of horse deaths.
The Classic features one of the most accomplished fields assembled for the 1¼-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, with eight of the 10 entrants having earned more than $1 million.
In a stunning reversal, Ahmed Zayat filed for bankruptcy protection this week, just five years after American Pharoah, a colt he bred and owned, captured the Triple Crown,
Betting the Kentucky Derby at Las Vegas racebooks Saturday was a hit-or-miss proposition, with different wagering schemes and payoff caps in place at various resorts.
The 3-5 morning line favorite in the delayed Derby has all the attributes you look for in a major league racehorse: natural speed, quick acceleration and proven stamina.
The buzz is building among racing fans over Tiz the Law, the expected heavy favorite in the 146th running of the race on Sept. 5 and a potential superstar.
If approved by the Gaming Commission, the arrangement will require racebooks to book the bets as they did before the advent of parimutuel wagering in Nevada in the early 1990s.
It’s rare to see a 3-year-old colt dominate to the degree that Tiz the Law has in four races this year, including last weekend’s Travers Stakes, the Belmont Stakes and Florida Derby.
Saturday’s $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga, usually the next big thing for 3-year-olds after the Triple Crown, this year lands smack dab in the middle of the series.
Many players fail to follow up their paper handicapping with a visual review of a horse’s previous race or races. That puts them at a big disadvantage.
Several tracks this week imposed new policies prohibiting jockeys from riding at other racetracks as a measure to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Trainer Bob Baffert will fight any adverse ruling by Arkansas racing authorities after two horses were “unknowingly and innocently exposed” to lidocaine, his lawyer said.
That would be crazy talk in any year but 2020, but this year, when the Breeders’ Cup will follow hard on the heels of the Derby and the Preakness Stakes, it makes some sense.
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