In 55 of the last 59 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, the winner was either on the lead with an eighth of a mile to go in the race, within a length of the lead, or running second although more than a length off the leader.
It's the end of the Polytrack era at Keeneland, so let's take a look at the what we have in the last Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on synthetic.
The decision to put Poker Player into the Spiral Stakes lends confidence in the motivations of his connections.
Dick Downey, an attorney and founder of the "Downey Profile" that is a regular feature at Bloodhorse.com, has been appointed by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear as a Warren (Bowling Green) Circuit Family Court Judge.
The Robert B. Lewis Stakes drew only seven entries, but that's consistent with the average field size for this race the last seven years. Let's take a look at who might win it.
There's no shortage of good sprinters lining up for what is, every year, one of the most exciting races of Breeders' Cup.
The list of probables for the Breeders' Cup Classic will undoubtedly change before pre-entries are due on Oct. 22, but here's the best we know based on the information that's out there.
With nearly all of the prep races for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) completed, here are the rankings by earnings in graded stakes races that will be used to determine the 20 starters in the classic.
There's reason to believe Mucho Macho Man could be beaten in the Grade II Louisiana Derby, but there's also reason to think he'll run well.
Question: Which horse in the grade I Toyota Blue Grass has run best on Keeneland's Polytrack?
I'd rather try my longshot and lose than take a short price. There are several quality horses that will offer decent odds.
With Square Eddie the center of attention in the Grade II Coolmore Lexington Stakes, we look for the contenders to upset him.
They say in the markets, or used to say it anyway, that the trend is your friend. Not always so in the Kentucky Derby, however. Will this be yet another year for a Kentucky Derby barrier to fall? Let's take a look at the past, which is known, and the future, which is unknowable. As the clock tower at The Curragh says, "Time Reveals All."
Shaun Bridgmohan, who's been riding all three of the Steve Asmussen entries in the Risen Star--Dumar (Worth Watching), Soul Warrior (Worth Watching) and Uno Mas (Worth Watching)--has chosen to get on board Dumar, who's a 20-1 morning line.
On Monday, Steve Asmussen sent two colts out to breeze on the track, one at Oaklawn Park, and one at Fair Grounds. But both are entered in the Grade II Rebel Stakes.
Four of the seven starters in Saturday's Whirlaway Stakes were purchased for six figures at four different sales, and our focus is on most of them.
If four or five contenders start in the 2007 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) off only two prior 3-year-old starts, history shows us it's been tried before--but not much, and with mixed success. Here are some hard statistics.
Pace makes the race, but when it comes to big races, it doesn't hurt to study the trends, either. The Emirates Airline Distaff is no exception.
The Kentucky Derby picture may start looking somewhat muddled at some point, but so far this year, the Road to the Derby has been pretty clear-cut. Favorites won the San Rafael (gr. II), Holy Bull (gr. III), Sham (gr. III), San Vicente (gr. II), Whirlaway, Sam F. Davis, Southwest, Santa Catalina (gr. II), and the California Derby. The gravitational pull is so hard, a disqualification placed the favorite first in the Fountain of Youth (gr. II). The issue this weekend is whether we view the trend as our friend in the Rebel Stakes (gr. III). We'll take the contrarian view, if things develop as we think they will.
At TheDowneyProfile.com, we utilize 13 factors more common to Kentucky Derby winners than non-winners, based on our 33-year study, in order to create an objective, weighted-factor predictor of Kentucky Derby success. One factor that we do not use is the "horse for the course" handicapping angle, the one that looks to horses that have run well at Churchill Downs.
Here are the top 35 three-year-olds in graded stakes earnings.
The question in the 67th Santa Anita Derby, with Lion Heart going to Lexington to run in the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass Stakes instead of here, is who will go to the lead.
