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Bill Mott stood in the road outside his barn on the Oklahoma bend Wednesday morning and directed traffic. Making sure there were no cars, golf carts or horses, Mott asked for his paddock schoolers to make the walk, hoping to slip through a break in a relentless rain.

What kind of running style historically wins the Travers? How have favorites performed? What are the average & median win payouts? We look at a cross section of chart data since 1991 to find out this and more.

Spendthrift’s flagship sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) is a remarkable stallion. For proof, just look at three of the six Grade l stakes entries at Saratoga on Saturday: he’s represented by Owendale and Chess Chief in the Runhappy Travers S.; Mia Mischief in the Ketel One Ballerina S.; and Rowayton

Saratogians are proud of the Travers Stakes. Most of the thousands of fans who show up every year probably don’t know that the race was first run in 1864, or that it was named for one of the men who established Saratoga Race Course; they do know that the day

The familiar red and blue Herringswell sign is gone, as are the matching table and chairs that for years had been set up on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course, right in the middle of the final turn. It was one of the most prominent and visible spots on the

With horse racing under a microscope because of increased awareness of equine fatalities at Santa Anita earlier this year, regulators and stakeholders in California have responded with a series of changes to medication rules and safety protocols that appear to have lowered fatality rates and are gaining nationwide attention. In

There are roughly 150 breweries in San Diego County, according to the San Diego Tourism Authority (click here for the list), making it one of the hoppingest beer meccas in America. I have not visited them all … yet. The most famous of these is almost certainly Ballast Point, founded

We look ahead to weekend action including Friday stakes at Saratoga, the Pat O'Brien from Del Mar, and the Play The King from Woodbine.  The BARN Jury then come in to discuss the upcoming Travers Stakes and their favorite Travers races ever.   The post BARN Podcast 8/23/19 appeared first on

It would not shock me if any of the 12 entrants in this year’s Travers Stakes hit the wire first. If you’re playing the multi-race bets, using the ALL button probably isn’t insane. No, I don’t give Everfast much of a shot (watch him win), but since he did manage

Betting on horses requires you to have opinions. Some opinions are going to be stronger than others, and some bets will be larger than others. Occasionally, an opinion will be a negative one about a favorite. Other times, the opinion will be a positive one about a non-favorite. Every so

On this week's episode of the Who Do Ya Like Podcast over the BetAmerica Radio Network, Scott Shapiro welcomes in the voice of Churchill Downs, Travis Stone. Travis and Scott chat about the 2019 summer meeting at Saratoga and then dive head first into the loaded card in Upstate New

It's Horseplayer Thursday and we're discussing all the big stakes races coming up at Saratoga on Saturday for Travers Day. Elate vs. Midnight Bisou, Mitole looking to get back on track, and does Tacitus finally break through? We talk about it all. The post BARN Podcast 8/22/19 appeared first on

The racing world in recent weeks has heard a lot about the relative benefits of Category 1 and Category 2 stewarding:  Which is better, which is more consistent, which will yield more fair outcomes? A presentation earlier this month at the Saratoga Institute on Equine, Racing and Gaming Law from

The 2019 Travers Stakes is on August 24th at Saratoga Race Course. The inaugural Travers in 1864 was won by the colt Kentucky, who was co-owned by two of the founders of the Saratoga Racing Association, William Riggin Travers and John Hunter. William Travers (1819-1887) made a fortune on Wall

We're excited to welcome in Ron Flatter from VSIN to talk Las Vegas, media, his horse racing podcast, and more!  The post BARN Podcast 8/21/19 appeared first on BetAmerica Extra.

I finished a decent book recently - Digital Marketing in an AI World - about artificial intelligence in marketing, and big data.Author Fred Vallaeys was one of the earliest google employees and he was involved in a lot of the big data (and systems) google has created over the years

Paul Ruchames, executive director of the Backstretch Employee Service Team in New York, compares the late Marylou Whitney to Johnny Appleseed. “She's put these seeds all over that will outlive her and keep her good works going,” he said. One of her great works and one her husband, John Hendrickson,

It ranks as one of the greatest sporting events in history – Secretariat's Belmont that broke a long Triple Crown drought and gave Americans something to root for in a time of Watergate and Vietnam.  What is lost in all of those feel good moments is the performance of the

We start to look ahead to Travers Weekend at Saratoga as we welcome in Anthony Stabile to talk about the Saratoga meet, the Travers field, and much more!  The post BARN Podcast 8/20/19 appeared first on BetAmerica Extra.

My interview with the late Bobby Frankel today on his former assistant Chad Brown? It would go something like this:SH: So Bobby, what do make of your boy Chad Brown? Could you have envisioned the amazing success he's had?BF: Why do you think I had him saddle Ginger Punch in the

Last year, in mid-September, Godolphin was in the enviable position of owning two highly promising sons of Darley’s outstanding stallion Dubawi. The unbeaten Too Darn Hot had won the G2 Champagne S., and was to be even more impressive in the G1 Dewhurst S. Then, a day after the Champagne,

For as long as I've covered horse racing, I've been asking people to define their biggest concern about the sport. For my entire career, the top two, conveniently dovetailed answers have been the same: central regulatory authority and uniform rules. Those who want a commissioner of horse racing usually want

We look back at the weekend including Pacific Classic Day at Del Mar, Alabama Day at Saratoga, and Jason talks about his visit to Laurel Park.  The post BARN Podcast 8/19/19 appeared first on BetAmerica Extra.

The tack trunk sits in the corner, next to a Saratoga 2-year-old winner, under the overhang of the T-shaped barn inside Clare Court. A bag of timothy hay cubes folds and falls. Ankle paint, a soft-bristled, long-stemmed brush dropped in the plastic holder taped around the jar, you know, the