The Experimental Free Handicap is a weight-based assessment of the previous year’s leading 2-year-olds for a hypothetical race at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, the exact conditions of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies. It has been published by the Jockey Club since 1935. Read article »
Algorithms, a runaway winner of the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes here Sunday, had his Beyer Speed Figure for the race elevated from a 98 to 105. That’s the highest number earned by any 3-year-old to this point of the season.
Andrew Beyer of Beyer Associates said the change was made due to what he believes is a problem with the timing system.
In a little more than a minute and a half this past Sunday, the Kentucky Derby picture changed.
Hansen, the 2-year-old champion, was beaten for the first time in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, and the horse who did the beating – Algorithms – went from being promising recent allowance horse to suddenly one of the favorites for the Derby.
It wasn’t without reason. Algorithms did everything right, rating kindly behind a blistering pace set by Hansen and cruising to an easy victory in fast time over off going.[bc_video_id:243134:]
Liaison is not the typical offspring of Indian Charlie, says someone who should know, Bob Baffert, who trained Indian Charlie and now has Liaison. And while that might not have made Liaison the most precocious of runners, it may serve him well in the long run. And the runs for Liaison are going to get longer in the next few months.
Prospective will attempt to continue his run through Tampa Bay Downs’s trio of Kentucky Derby preps when he tries to add Saturday’s $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes to his impressive victory in the seven-furlong Pasco three weeks earlier.
Prospective tops a field of 11 3-year-olds entered in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 3 Sam F. Davis, which serves as the final major prep for the track’s marquee event, the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 10.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Six years ago, Bernardini used the Grade 3 Withers Stakes as a springboard to success in the Preakness. Saturday, one of Bernardini’s sons hopes to use the same race as a way to get into the Kentucky Derby.
Cracked heels are usually a problem in January, what with the cold weather, dry skin, and a natural shyness about regular exfoliation. Then there’s Garrett Gomez and Robby Albarado, who took the problem to extremes.
Last year, on the second day of 2011, Albarado was tossed on the way to the track at Fair Grounds and landed right heel-first on a concrete curb along the fence line of the pathway leading from the paddock. Two weeks later he had surgery to repair the fracture, which was serious enough to require a plate and screws.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Isn’t He Clever ran himself out of New Mexico.
When the colt won the $104,200 Riley Allison Futurity over 6 1/2 furlongs by 11 3/4 lengths at Sunland Park on Dec. 30, owners Kirk and Judy Robison and trainer Henry Dominguez decided to try for a loftier goal – Saturday’s $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.
The Grade 2 Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles will be Isn’t He Clever’s first start around two turns and provide a stern test for a gelding who has won 3 of 4 starts.
Coming off a three-win day last Saturday, the Kiaran McLaughlin stable hopes to keep the good times rolling this weekend when it sends out Count Fleet Stakes winner Alpha as the probable favorite in the Grade 3, $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
On Monday, Alpha turned in his one and only workout between starts, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.02 over Belmont Park’s training track. It was the fastest of 14 recorded moves at the distance.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Though he may no longer be undefeated, Hansen, the recently crowned 2-year-old champion of 2011, remains on the Triple Crown trail with a likely next start coming in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 26.
Trainer Mike Maker said Monday that, despite stumbling at the start, Hansen came out of his second-place finish to Algorithms in Sunday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Holy Bull in good shape.
