By Jarrod Horak Saturday’s Churchill Downs card features three competitive graded stakes races on the main track, and I’ll break down each one using the pace analysis, trip notes, and figures from past performances provided by Today’s Racing Digest. The races covered in this analysis include the Grade 2 Shawnee Stakes, Grade 3 Aristides Stakes, and […]
Tag Archives: Bob Baffert
By Jarrod Horak The Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs headlines Saturday’s card as Race 12, featuring a $5 million purse for three-year-olds going 1 1/4 miles on the main track. With a full field of contenders and a projected honest pace, this year’s Derby shapes up as a wide-open betting race. For this […]
By Jarrod Horak As we get closer to the first Saturday in May, I’ve gone through the latest data to identify the strongest Today’s Racing Digest numbers for the top Kentucky Derby 2026 contenders. This is the time of year where understanding how a race will unfold becomes just as important as who is fastest […]
By Jarrod Horak The Road to the Kentucky Derby rolls through Santa Anita Park with the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, a $500,000 event for three-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. This is one of the most important West Coast prep races, and I’ve been tracking all the Derby points races closely—producing […]
By Jarrod Horak The Road to the Kentucky Derby rolls through Aqueduct with the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, a $750,000 test for three-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the main track. As the 12th race on the card, this is a pivotal Derby points race, and I’m looking to separate contenders from pretenders based on […]
By Jarrod Horak I’m breaking down the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, a $1.5 million Kentucky Derby points race at 1 1/8 miles. This race consistently produces serious Derby contenders, and this year’s field brings a mix of proven stakes runners and lightly raced upside types. From a pace perspective, Redland Rebels figures […]
By Jarrod Horak The Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park is the next Kentucky Oaks prep race on the calendar. With a $1 million purse and 200 total Oaks qualifying points on the line, this mile-and-a-sixteenth test for three-year-old fillies drew a compact field of six headed by even money favorite Explora. I broke […]
By Jarrod Horak The Road to the Kentucky Oaks continues on Sunday at Santa Anita Park with the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes. This $100,000 event for three-year-old fillies covers one mile and one-sixteenth on the main track and serves as an important Kentucky Oaks qualifying race. For this race, I’m using data from the […]
By Jarrod Horak On Sunday, March 1, I’m breaking down two major Kentucky prep races at Oaklawn Park: the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes (Race 9), a Kentucky Oaks 2026 points race, and the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes (Race 11), a Kentucky Derby 2026 points race. For this analysis, I’m using the Complete Digest, which provides […]
By Jarrod Horak There’s a $198,741 Pick Six carryover at Santa Anita for Friday, February 27, and with a two-day carryover, the total pool is expected to climb north of seven figures. That’s the kind of opportunity I circle. I’ve taken a couple of shots at similar carryovers this meet on $16 tickets—cashable efforts with four and […]