Kentucky Derby

The decision to bet with or against Verrazano as the 4-5 favorite in the Wood Memorial Saturday is less of a pure handicapping choice than an internal struggle between two voices that emerge in many a horseplayer’s mind this time of year.

Ted Aroney, the co-owner of Hear the Ghost, likes to think he’s learned the secret of winning the Kentucky Derby, although it’s not much of a secret. More like fortune-cookie wisdom, so obvious that to deny its truth is nothing more than a waste of ...

Ten years ago Barclay Tagg was accused of showing dangerous signs of Kentucky Derby fever for having the gall to publicly suggest that a New York-bred gelding who hdd never won in open company and had lost every start as a 3-year-old still had the ...

The Louisiana Derby may not have the same success rate of producing Kentucky Derby winners as the Florida Derby. But take it from retired trainer Frank Brothers. It's a very special race if you're from Louisiana.

Dennis Cardoza goes back to the border region on Sunday to watch his talented 3-year-old Shakin It Up carry David Flores and a whole lot of high hopes in the $800,000 Sunland Derby, just across the New Mexico state line.

A $600,000 purse, perfect calendar placement for a follow-up prep and Grade 2 status of Saturday’s Rebel Stakes all conspired to produce the deepest field of 3-year-olds I’ve seen so far this year. The lineup of 11 includes horses that have been graded ...

Not even the biggest proponents of the occasional handicap race believe that racing’s most important events, such as the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup, should be run at anything except equal weights. So it is increasingly unclear why the key preps for ...

No one said there would be this much arithmetic in horse racing beyond odds, fractions, Beyer Figures and beer prices. But here we are, on the brink of the final push to the Kentucky Derby, obsessively consulting point charts and point totals.

Three-year-old stakes horses capped the 2011 – 2012 Fair Grounds racing season with a burst of insanity when 109-1 shot Hero of Order won the Louisiana Derby. Oxbow restored a measure of order winning the first 3-year-old stakes this meet, the Jan. 19 ...

When the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Grounds are run on Saturday, people who follow thoroughbred racing will watch intently, even if they don’t have a financial stake in the outcome.