All News

April 25, 2012
Hovdey: Southern California tracks aim to hike fun factor
By Jay Hovdey
Have you heard? Horse racing is no longer fun, or at least that’s how the story goes these days, and therefore horse racing must be made fun again if it is to survive in a climate rife with entertainment alternatives that are unimaginably fun. As a ...
April 20, 2012
Hovdey: Good luck making sense of this year's Kentucky Derby preps
By Jay Hovdey
As of Friday, 30 of the graded stakes races leading up to the Kentucky Derby listed on Daily Racing Form’s 2012 Road to the Kentucky Derby had been run. Those 30 were won by 26 different 3-year-olds.
Crist: On Lasix, practice what you preach
By Steven Crist
If some people really believe that furosemide is bad for horses and racing, why don’t they just stop racing their horses on it? By failing to do so, the small but vocal group of owners and breeders who are crusading against the use of furosemide come ...
April 19, 2012
Race to post NFL opening-game odds goes to offshore book BetOnline
By Dave Tuley
Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the traditional first sports book to put up betting lines for the NFL's Week 1 games, was beaten to the punch by BetOnline.ag, an offshore book.
Hovdey: San Juan Capistrano is in Clancy's blood
By Jay Hovdey
It is difficult to convey the high esteem in which the San Juan Capistrano Handicap was once held. Might as well wax rhapsodic over the Rainbow Room, and wonder if it ever will be churning out those New York memories again.
April 18, 2012
Hovdey: Straight family keeping the faith
By Jay Hovdey
The Straight family was already having a bad day last Sunday at Keeneland when Big Flirt, their family jewel, was claimed out of the second race.
April 13, 2012
Hovdey: Crockett stays positive at Emerald Downs
By Jay Hovdey
As the man synonymous with Emerald Downs, Ron Crockett may not be the absolute last of the independent racetrack operators, but he is the only one doing business at a track of regional significance without an onsite revenue stream from a room full of ...
April 12, 2012
Hovdey: Oaklawn Handicap shares spotlight, but refuses to play second fiddle
By Jay Hovdey
On the face of it, the signals coming from Oaklawn Park were decidedly mixed. Tradition, a hallowed concept in Hot Springs, was looking like a slippery concept.
April 11, 2012
Hovdey: Kentucky Derby rookies have no fixed course
By Jay Hovdey
It is no big deal to win the Kentucky Derby with your first mount. Check that – it’s a very big deal. It just won’t get you a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.
April 05, 2012
Tuley: Union Rags remains future book Derby favorite in Vegas
By Dave Tuley
Even after losing last weekend in the Florida Derby, Union Rags is the 7-2 favorite in the future book for the Kentucky Derby at Wynn Las Vegas.
Hovdey: Winning team seeks Santa Anita Derby payday
By Jay Hovdey
It is not necessary to be in the Hall of Fame, or at least well on your way, for a trainer or jockey to win the Santa Anita Derby. It only seems like it.
Crist: Wood, Santa Anita Derby overdue to produce something positive in Kentucky Derby
By Steven Crist
In the 23 years since Santa Anita Derby winner Sunday Silence and Wood winner Easy Goer ran one-two in the Derby, the winners of those two races have combined to go 1 for 34 in the Kentucky Derby.Here's a tepid vote that this is a run of bad luck and a ...
2013 Woodbine Spring Stakes Schedule
Track information and stakes schedule for the 2013 Woodbine Spring thoroughbred meet, which starts Saturday, April 20, highlighted by the 154th $1 million edition of the Queen's Plate, the first jewel in Canada's Triple Crown of Racing, on Sunday, July 7.
April 04, 2012
Hovdey: One man's five favorite Santa Anita Derbies
By Jay Hovdey
Here are five Santa Anita Derbies among the 75 run that still reverberate to this day:
March 29, 2012
Hovdey: Producer doesn't have to look far for story
By Jay Hovdey
Family is not the most important thing in Thoroughbred horse racing, but just try getting from the quarter pole home on Derby Day without it.
Crist: Home-brewed stats skew Times analysis
By Steven Crist
“Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys,” a 6,400-word article splashed across the front-page of last Sunday’s New York Times, might have been a fair and useful piece of investigative journalism had it stuck to its scope
Beyer: Looking for the next Triple Crown star
By Andrew Beyer
Thoroughbred racing badly needs a 3-year-old star. The sport’s popularity – as everybody knows – has been declining for years. Racing gets minimal attention on network television, and it has disappeared from most sports pages during most of the year. ...
March 28, 2012
Hovdey: Return of champion Havre de Grace reason to celebrate
By Jay Hovdey
The return of champion Havre de Grace is a good thing for fans and the sport.
March 26, 2012
Beyer: Racing confronts another crisis
By Andrew Beyer
Even if the sport’s critics distort some aspects of the horse-safety issue, Thoroughbred racing is facing a crisis that has been brewing since the Eight Belles tragedy at the 2008 Kentucky Derby.
March 23, 2012
Crist: Older horses need more spring Grade 1 races
By Steven Crist
There are no Grade 1 route races for older males between the Santa Anita Handicap in early March and the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs in mid-June. Here are a few possibilities to fill the gap.