This past week on a rainy Friday morning at Saratoga, they inducted into the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame, the class for 2023, and it had a very strong California flavor for the inductees. Three champion race horses, all who made their home on the Southern California circuit, were unanimous selections in their first year of […]
The Grade 3 La Jolla Stakes for sophomores at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf was the headliner on Sunday as 8 went to the post. They made a maiden the 3/1 favorite in this race, maybe because the meet’s leading rider had the mount, and sure enough, with his only mount of […]
They ran four stakes over the weekend at Del Mar, two each on Saturday and Sunday. The Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch was the headliner on Saturday, and though only five went to the post, it was still a good horse race. Baffert’s Adare Manor was made the solid 3 to 5 favorite in this […]
By Jarrod Horak The stakes action just keeps on coming at Saratoga, and the big event this Saturday is the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap, named in honor of The Sultan of Saratoga. I was a fan of the iron horse in the 80’s and 90’s. He captured at least one race at Saratoga from 1987-1994, […]
By Jarrod Horak We are well into the second half of the year and the 3-year-old male division title is still very much up for grabs. Forte, last year’s 2-year-old champ, captured his third graded race in 2023 in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday, July 29. A win in the […]
By Jarrod Horak The third week of the Del Mar summer meet included five stakes races. Two were of the graded variety and three were restricted to California-bred horses, and the stakes star of the week award goes to Bus Buzz. The state bred sophomore sprinter put on a show in the Real Good Deal […]
Del Mar is a great place to visit, no doubt about it. Cool temps to get away from the summer heat, those cool ocean breezes coming off the Pacific, and lots of pretty people taking in all of the sights, sounds, and even the smells of a race track. And yes, at Del Mar, they […]
By Jarrod Horak We cannot begin this recap article without discussing the tragic events surrounding the Test Stakes, and that race is almost impossible to talk about given what happened just before the wire. The ending was almost too tragic to believe. Maple Leaf Mel, an extremely talented and fleet New York-bred filly, was in […]
Lots of stakes action this week starting on Friday with the Real Good Deal stakes at 7 furlongs on the main track for Cal bred sophomores. There is plenty of speed nominated to this race with the very fast Kangaroo Court joined by the almost as fast Bus Buzz. Peter Miller’s Giver Not a Taker […]
1ST RACING, AKA, THE STRONACH GROUP: Since 1st Racing announced back on July 16 that they will shut down Golden Gate Fields at the end of the year, they have been pretty “mum” about what all this entails. I’m not sure they really have any plan in place for Northern California, but what they really […]