All News

May 30, 2012
Hovdey: How would world react to a Triple Crown winner?
By Jay Hovdey
Of all the thorny questions dividing the nation, nothing seems to stir the emotions quite like the rampant speculation over the potential impact of what could be the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years. Of course, 33 years is not an eternity. It only ...
May 25, 2012
Hovdey: Whitaker eager to see another Triple Crown
By Jay Hovdey
Jack Whitaker does not want to sound greedy. After all, having turned 88 on the day before this year’s Preakness, there already had been 10 Triple Crown winners in his lifetime. But then, when I’ll Have Another came through the following afternoon to ...
Triple Crown bid is a race against history
By Andrew Beyer
The Triple Crown series almost unfailingly thwarts horses who are not among the sport's all-time greats. In the past 64 years, only Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed have swept the 3-year-old classics.
May 19, 2012
Beyer: A defining moment for I'll Have Another in the Preakness
By Andrew Beyer
When I’ll Have Another made his last surge in the stretch of the Preakness and caught Bodemeister, this wasn’t simply a case of a stretch-runner overhauling a tired leader. I’ll Have Another’s performance - though the winning margin was only a neck - ...
May 17, 2012
Beyer: Bodemeister looks best - again - in Preakness
By Andrew Beyer
When I’ll Have Another defeated Bodemeister in the Kentucky Derby, many handicappers (including me) thought it was obvious that the loser had run the better race after setting an extraordinarily fast pace. But this opinion was not unanimous.
Lucky's got burned this year by Derby, but likely to keep offering future wagers
By Dave Tuley
Although Lucky’s Race & Sports Books took what was termed a "signifiicant" loss on I'll Have Another's upset in the Kentucky Derby, it is unlikely to prevent the firm from offering future wagers in the future.
Hovdey: McCarron looks back at memorable Preakness rides
By Jay Hovdey
The Preakness poses a whole new challenge in a shorter race, a smaller field, and a two-week turnaround. Chris McCarron, who still considers Pimlico ground zero of his illustrious career, had just about every possible experience in 13 Preakness rides, ...
May 16, 2012
Hovdey: Pimlico Special and Endorsement both making a comeback
By Jay Hovdey
Eoin Harty won a Pimlico Special in 1999, his final season as Bob Baffert’s top assistant, when 1998 Preakness hero Real Quiet defeated 1997 Preakness runner-up Free House. Harty will be back on Friday with Endorsement.
May 15, 2012
Hovdey: At the Preakness, Reddam will be a celebrity
By Jay Hovdey
On the Monday morning following the Kentucky Derby, still wiped out and hoarse from cheering home I’ll Have Another, Paul Reddam sat down to a series of meetings with fund managers in the financial district of New York.
May 14, 2012
Beyer: Reddam learns it's not all academic en route to the Preakness
By Andrew Beyer
Paul Reddam, owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another, went from academia to Churchill Downs and now to Pimlico on Saturday for the Preakness, though in the middle there was another key phase - a business innovation that allowed him to go from ...
May 09, 2012
Hovdey: Gutierrez gives agent Puhich a needed boost
By Jay Hovdey
A couple weeks is all it took for Ivan Puhich to be in the right place at the right time when Doug O’Neill needed a jockey for a key workout aboard I’ll Have Another, the best 3-year-old in the barn. After 1 1/16 miles in the Robert Lewis Stakes on ...
May 07, 2012
2013 Monmouth Park Stakes Schedule
Track information and stakes schedule for the 2013 Monmouth Park meet.
May 03, 2012
Tuley: Union Rags remains top choice at Vegas books
By Dave Tuley
Bodemeister opened as the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 138th running of the Kentucky Derby, and a check of early betting on offshore websites shows that might end up being the case, but Nevada race books still consider Union Rags as the betting ...
Hovdey: Derby-winning riders recognize luck plays a part
By Jay Hovdey
To a man, the 32 living riders who have won a Kentucky Derby understand the remorseless formula required to win the Derby. It takes the right horse and the right trip, each ingredient in perfect proportion.
May 02, 2012
Hovdey: Shah has sights on Kentucky Oaks with Eden's Moon
By Jay Hovdey
Winning an American classic would fit neatly with owner Kaleem Shah’s personal history.
2013 Arlington Park Stakes Schedule
Track information and stakes schedule for the 2013 Arlington Park meet, which starts on Friday, May 3, highlighted by G1 Arlington Million XXXI during the Arlington International Festival of Racing on Saturday, August 17.
May 01, 2012
Hovdey: Hunter Thompson's bizarre Kentucky Derby experience reborn via new CD
By Jay Hovdey
Hunter Thompson's story of the 1970 Kentucky Derby, entitled “The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved,” now has been released in a rousing CD version, unabridged, with the role of Thompson – narrator and star – read by Oscar winner Tim Robbins.
April 27, 2012
Hovdey: Stevens takes zero-tolerance stance on race-day medication
By Jay Hovdey
Among the many things a jockey might consider as an activity in retirement, testifying before a Congressional committee is well down the list. Golf, yes. Mountain climbing, maybe. Sitting at the witness table under oath, not hardly.
Crist: Here's why picking Kentucky Derby winner is so hard
By Steven Crist
The 21st century horseplayer trying to handicap the Kentucky Derby is equipped with tools that were almost unimaginable 25 years ago – unlimited replays, lifetime past performances with sophisticated speed figures, comprehensive coverage of workouts, ...
April 26, 2012
Hovdey: Paying back those responsible for big scores
By Jay Hovdey
Whether life imitates art or the other way around really does not matter, not when the story hits home as a tale imbued with the assuring touch of truth.