All Blogs / Entertainment / Gambling / Track Betting / Popular
Tested
The top three finishers in the Preakness Stakes were making their 10th or 11th career starts — it’s been a while since anything like that’s happened in a Triple Crown race, as Superterrific confirmed by compiling 2007-2013 results. What will be interesting to see, going forward, is how this year’s classic contenders perform over the [...]
Not So Slow
Left at the Gate posted a Preakness Stakes pace analysis that you should read in full, but the upshot is that on a slow track Oxbow: … was a running fool and bottomed them all out, the way I see it. Which is why Oxbow’s Preakness Beyer speed figure is 106, something Bill Oppenheim writes [...]
Tarnished Encke
The British Horseracing Authority released on Monday the results of tests done on all Godolphin-owned racehorses based in Newmarket, revealing that seven additional horses trained by the now-suspended Mahmood al Zarooni turned up positive for steroids — including the 2012 St. Leger winner Encke. That name atop the list was explosive, immediately raising the question [...]
Orb and Swale
Post-Preakness, Marc Attenberg started a conversation on Twitter about the historical significance of Orb’s off-the-board finish by asking: Last time a sub even-money Derby winner failed to hit the board in the Preakness? Not in 20 years or more? Anyone got the answer? Swale was the answer. The 1984 Kentucky Derby winner, running second for [...]
Don’t Be Disappointed
Oxbow spoiled nothing winning the Preakness, writes Bill Dwyre, because he put trainer D. Wayne Lukas back in the spotlight: In this age of owners looking for quick prominence and quick return on investment, a Triple Crown winner offers a nice temporary buzz before disappearing into the breeding shed. Lukas coming back, with plenty left [...]
Preakness Bow
If Orb’s Kentucky Derby victory was a win for the old school, then Oxbow’s Preakness Stakes upset was a win for the old timers. “The experience thing is huge in these races,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, 77, speaking of the Triple Crown series at Pimlico on Friday. “And [the Preakness] may be more of [...]
Oxbow Upsets Orb in Preakness
(BALTIMORE) — Oxbow has won the Preakness, ruining Orb’s bid to capture the Triple Crown. Oxbow led from start to finish. It was the sixth Preakness victory for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and 15th Triple Crown victory, most in horse racing history. Show More Summary
Running Again
Rachel Alexandra in her Stonestreet paddock, May 2012. I’ll take any excuse for a Rachel Alexandra post, and Melissa Hoppert gives me a good one with a story about visiting the 2009 Preakness Stakes winner, who is recovering well from her near-death post-foaling ordeal earlier this year: “Running is not the word for it,” Comer [...]
Orb Will Be A Tremendous Underlay
Orb is great Orb is this and Orb that, c'mon people, the horse won in the goop. I've been handicapping races for a long long time and one of my steadfast rules is to not rate off track races unless it is the only race the horse has in its past performances, and if that is the case, do so with extreme reluctancy. Show More Summary
Lady Liberty, Redeemed
An essential part of Kentucky Derby winner Orb’s origin story is that he almost didn’t exist. His dam, Lady Liberty, seemed a subpar producer after three foals, only one a winner. Ogden Phipps wanted to sell. Others within Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm believed in the Unbridled mare, and so Lady Liberty visited Malibu Moon. [...]
More Recent Preakness History
Chris Rossi looks at the three Preakness Stakes winners in the last 20 years who didn’t start in the Kentucky Derby and finds a few commonalities. Related: Recent Preakness history: How have Kentucky Derby winners and favorites fared in the second leg of the Triple Crown since 2001? See also: Paul Moran ponders jockey Eddie [...]
Have you been keeping up with The Racing Biz?
Have you been keeping up with The Racing Biz? If not — well, there’s no time like the present! Here’s what you’ll find there today: The Racing Biz, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association have joined forces to give away two tickets to the Preakness — plus a $1,000 win wager on the … Continue reading »
Sporting
Bill Shanklin on the upcoming Orb vs. Departing Preakness Stakes: This refreshing scenario means that racing, at least in the eyes of the connections of Orb and Departing, is more of a sport, rather than a business, and the objective is to see who has the fastest horse on a given day … Orb worked [...]
The Consensus and the Contrarian
A week before the Preakness Stakes, the Baltimore Sun considers the question of why modern-day contenders in Triple Crown races may be slower than past generations. Thoro-Graph founder Jerry Brown disagrees that they are: Brown’s studies have found that track surfaces are significantly different than they were in the 1970s, with as much as an [...]
Keep ‘Em Going
Part two of the six-part series on drugs in racing by Ryan Goldberg for the TDN considers the current, not-so-pretty situation (PDF): It seems a trainer would have to be crazy to use illegal drugs when so many legal ones are at his disposal. Before the days of pharmacological drugs, the goal was to “hop [...]
The Unethical Report
Sometimes I miss the Thoroughbred Times, and not just for their reporting and analysis, but because TT staffers and contributors were some of the few in racing media who pushed back on the Paulick Report and its unethical aggregation practices. Since its launch in 2008, the Paulick Report has succeeded by publishing its own original [...]
Recent Preakness History
Preakness winners 2001-2012, where they finished in the Kentucky Derby, and their Preakness odds / Kentucky Derby winners, where they finished in the Preakness, and their Preakness odds / = Preakness post-time favorite About a dozen have been declared as likely starters in the Preakness Stakes, with seven plus Orb coming out of the [...]
Shug School
Andrew Beyer on the philosophy behind Orb’s Kentucky Derby win: The old school believes a trainer should not manage a horse to fulfill the personal ambitions of the owner or trainer. The old school believes a trainer should be guided by the development and the capabilities of the animal. The old school believes judicious handling [...]
Classic Orb
Kentucky Derby winner Orb is already on his way back to New York, where he may breeze once at Belmont Park before shipping to Pimlico early Preakness week. The colt was given a Beyer speed figure of 104 for his 2 1/2 length win over the sloppy Churchill Downs track — a nice jump forward [...]
Orb Comes From Behind to Win Kentucky Derby
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Orb splashed through the slop to win the Kentucky Derby, giving Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey his first victory in the 3-year-old classic. (PHOTOS: The 139th Kentucky Derby, In Pictures) When the field turned...Show More Summary
