Like a 5-1/2 furlong sprint, this won't take long. If I'm all over the track, well . . . I'm sick of talking about Arlington Park and with the world going to hell anyway, it's inevitable. Like a toddler on a 22-year temper tantrum, Arlington Park management, led by corporate...

The Travers Stake is widely known as “the Midsummer Derby” and sometimes as “the fourth leg of the Triple Crown.”  Only Whirlaway in 1941 has managed to win the Triple Crown and also win the Travers.  The only colt with a chance to replicate this difficult feat in 2020 is...

There’s never a good time for a crisis, but it’s hard to imagine a less convenient time for Covid-19 to have hit the New York racing and breeding industries than mid-March. Mares were foaling and being bred; high-stakes races were on the calendar at Aqueduct; and the popular sales for...

  …the silence was most striking moments later, when track announcer John Imbriale let us know that the stewards were taking a look at the stretch run and that Midnight Bisou’s rider, Ricardo Santana Jr., had lodged an objection against the winner. Ordinarily, we’d have heard cries of disgust from...

The guard at Keeneland will soon be changing, as Shannon Bishop Arvin has been named as the successor to retiring Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason. Arvin will serve as President-elect starting Sept. 1 and will take over the role officially on Jan. 1. Arvin comes to the position with...

From the evidence of the sums paid for stallion syndications and for price of nomination fees to these unproven sires, …Continue reading →...

Christina Blacker from TVG will try to break a scoreless tie in week three of Del Mar's Beat Ray Everyday Beach Boss contest on Saturday, and if her past performances are any indication she will come armed with sophisticated statistical models from STATS Race Lens that will make my head...

Many racing jurisdictions throughout the United States and around the world are taking steps to change how the whip – or riding crop if you prefer – is used in our sport. While there doesn't seem to be consensus on exactly what changes should be made, there is widespread agreement...

The advent of Twitter over the last decade or so has made racing results quickly accessible to fans and observers anywhere in the world, so much so that it seems that a greater number of people in the U.S. are more familiar with European racing than ever before. Back when...

The past few weeks have been hotter than the horses would like. Horses’ favorite temperatures range in the forties and fifties. But they’ve been taking this sultry weather sensibly. They’re hanging out in the shade, enjoying the good, clear water … Continue reading →...

Horse owners and trainers should very much beware when a racetrack advocates on behalf of a new horsemen's organization. That is what is happening in Kentucky as Churchill Downs Inc. in Louisville and The Red Mile in Lexington have endorsed a fledgling group to rival the 47-year-old Kentucky Harness Horsemen's...

I saw this tweet this morning:This is not breaking news to anyone, but it certainly strikes a chord, doesn't it? And to me it shows just how unhealthy the game has gotten.For systems to thrive (and price things correctly) there is an immutable truth - the volume of buyers and...

Covid-19 pandemic shelter-in-place devastated conventional gambling, as brick-and-mortar casino locations closed and the most popular sports to bet on were suspended.  However, so-called igaming–which includes online casino, poker, horse racing, and esports–flourished. Whether esports—video gaming competitions—are really sports is a matter of opinion.  What is not debatable is the huge...

Morfhis  swooped late to score a stunning victory in the SBS Sports Sprint at Seoul, diving home to deny Do Kki Blade and Eoma Eoma under a fine steer from jockey Johan Victoire. Busan Ilbo Cup top two Do Kki Blade and Gaon Champ renewed hostilities disputing the lead in...

Into Mischief picked up his sixth Grade 1 winner on July 18 with Authentic’s victory in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes …Continue reading →...

As I browsed the Saratoga entries for Saturday, July 25, seeking both good betting races and possible story ideas, I did a quick search for maiden special weights, hoping that some promising juvenile(s). One raced turned up, that for New York-bred fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. I...

For years, when I would come to Saratoga Springs, New York, a week or two before the summer meeting began, I would wander around the racecourse, marveling at its beauty, soaking in its silence. Saratoga is my hometown, and, for those few days, I felt like the track was all...

Opening weekend at Saratoga Race Course was an exercise in cognitive dissonance. No one lined up outside the gates pre-dawn, waiting to get in and snag their preferred picnic table. No one watched morning workouts. No one joined track announcer John Imbriale in the kick-off toast, “They’re off at Saratoga!”...

Yoshimiparis Photographie, a reader of this blog, kindly posted a comment with a link to ABC coverage of Dinard’s win in the 1991 Santa Anita Derby. Not only is it fabulous to see Dinard at three winning this prestigious race … Continue reading →...

I read a story this morning about a whack of members of the Florida Marlins baseball team testing positive for COVID-19. Baseball season just started, and boom just like that we see a story placing it in peril.This is nothing new, and no, we should not be surprised if baseball...

After writing the Hangin' With Haskin column for 12 years and the Derby Dozen, numerous features and columns, and providing lead coverage of all the major stakes for 22 years, I no longer will be writing for the Blood Horse and Bloodhorse.com due to my contract coming to an end. So this...

The only good thing I can say about racing being cancelled last weekend at Del Mar is that I didn't have to lose another round in the track's Beat Ray Everyday online handicapping contest. But with the return of racing on Friday kicking off a four-day, stakes-packed weekend at the...

In the annals of history, who or what gets either remembered or forgotten is always a messy business. And thoroughbred horse racing is no different.     There’s nothing sweeter than a mystery and it was the depiction in this photo that grabbed our attention. The delighted crowd around the...

With a stylish 3 1/2-length victory over leading 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at …Continue reading →...

Lots of people consider their pets part of their families. And while a racehorse might not exactly fit into the category of “pet,” that doesn’t change how trainer Ron Moquett and his family feel about Whitmore, the seven-year-old gelding that will make his 35th start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000...