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Trainer Martin Drexler has gleaned a large following among local horseplayers since becoming a regular at the Gulfstream Park Championship meet earlier this decade. And while the 2025-26 session has not been up to his usual standards, Drexler has begun to catch fire of late, a streak he hopes to continue when sending out Clay Soldier as arguably the horse to beat in Friday's $54,000 feature race.
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More than 600 contestants are once again expected to vie for the title of Horseplayer of the Year when the 27th National Horseplayers Championship begins its three-day run Friday at the Horseshoe Las Vegas in Nevada.
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With another sharp statebred allowance victory last month, it became undeniable that 5-year-old mare Intentious has turned a corner in New York. Having bucked her long-standing reputation as an Aqueduct also-ran, trainer David Duggan will now bring her into open company for Friday's fourth race, an $83,000 first-level allowance.
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The Fair Grounds racing office allowed a conditioned dirt-sprint allowance race onto the Friday card with just five entrants – and for good reason. The small field contains a wide swath of talent, and, really, any among the quintet could win.
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Kant Believe It will have several key variables working in her favor Friday when she moves into a ratings handicap for the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park.
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It might have taken a few weeks of consideration, but Lonesome Road will make his long-awaited stakes debut in the $150,000 Boston Handicap at Colonial Downs on Friday. The gelding has been one to watch on the Mid-Atlantic circuit since his maiden victory at the very end of last year.
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This weekend's lone Kentucky Derby points race is the Virginia Derby. The morning-line favorite is multiple graded stakes-placed Buetane, a seven-figure juvenile last year by a rising young sire and from a female family that has knocked on the door in the classics.
Despite a perfect record in four steeplechases, the latest a famous race at Christmastime, The Jukebox Man is somewhat short of respect for the biggest race of his career in Friday's Grade 1 Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham Racecourse in western England.
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Kentucky Derby: Who's hot, who's not for March 11, 2026
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The ninth and final race Friday at Santa Anita might offer the most attractive wagering opportunity on the card, though bettors salivating at the 9-2 morning line on a talented second-start maiden could be in for a rude awakening.
