The Wire

Real Writing on Racing 💯...

Let’s get this out of the way first – Jim Key, trainer Kathy Neilson’s entrant in Saturday’s second race at Shawan Downs – can’t spell, count, tell time or recognize flags of different countries. And doesn’t know who the president is....

Detailed analysis of the 2021 Pennsylvania Derby field by Vance Hanson of TwinSpires....

Two weeks...three weeks. Been a while. Saratoga has come and gone. I did reentry and exit all at the same time with Miles and Annie in Middleburg, caught two baseball games (1-1), a movie on the lawn and a few heartfelt home-cooked meals. Then nine days in Lexington, looking at...

Just as there are “baby” races at the track, off-track Thoroughbreds have their own kind of competition restricted to newcomers — the Thoroughbred Makeover, scheduled for Oct. 12-17 at the Kentucky Horse Park near Lexington, Ky. The event, offering $100,000 in prize money and consisting of 10 different disciplines, brings...

Horse racing is a game with a past, and it’s a game obsessed with its past. People, myself included, love … More...

Incredibly, a multi-billion dollar sport/industry is tarnished by 21 picograms of a legal medication. To borrow the words of tennis icon John McEnroe, “You cannot be serious!”——————— When news of Medina Spirit’s drug positive in the 2021 Kentucky Derby broke, the national media understandably reported the story as a sensational...

I was there on June 29, 1973. Arlington Park was chosen for the return race for Secretariat, his first since capturing the Belmont Stakes, and the Triple Crown, by 31 lengths. I was a month away from turning two, but at least I can say I was there when arguably...

Detailed analysis of the 2021 Jockey Club Derby field by Vance Hanson of TwinSpires....

Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, has put together a blockbuster weekend of racing on Saturday and Sunday with four Grade 1 stakes and one Grade 2 event comprising the Woodbine Turf Racing Festival. Three of the races – Saturday's Woodbine Mile and Sunday's Natalma and Summer Stakes are Breeders' Cup...

NFL football is in full swing and fantasy leagues are immensely popular as well.  A niche sport like horse racing will never achieve the following of this mainstream sport, but it may be possible to expand racing’s fan base through digital versions. Especially among younger people, who are so immersed...

On June 2, Churchill Downs Inc. suspended trainer Bob Baffert from running horses at any of its racetracks, including its flagship facility in Louisville, Ky., for two years, meaning the sport's most recognizable face and name will not be eligible to add to his record number of Kentucky Derby victories...

Family connections and the power of pedigree fueled particularly sweet victories for the connections of City Man and Giacosa, winners of the turf events for older horses on New York-bred Showcase Day at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 27. The owners of both winners also raced their sires, millionaires whose...

The winners of the Fleet Indian Stakes and the Albany Stakes at Saratoga Race Course are both lightly raced three-year-olds, but beyond that and their stakes wins on Aug. 27, the horses represent very different paths to New York-bred stakes success.  Albany winner Americanrevolution boasts elite connections: bred by notable...

With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of New York-bred yearlings proved that you can, indeed, go home again. Absent from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 2020 because of the coronavirus, the sale returned this year, recording gains in all metrics. Sellers of New York-bred horses last year...

Detailed analysis of the 2021 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint field by Vance Hanson of TwinSpires....

A recent brief filed by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in support of wiretaps of a number of individuals indicted in March 2020 revealed partial transcripts of some of the trainers, veterinarians and suppliers rounded up in this federal racehorse doping probe. The defendants are...

Two sons of Candy Ride (Arg)–Gun Runner and Twirling Candy–were represented by three 2-year-old Grade l winners over the weekend, and do you know one thing they had in common? Each was produced by a Storm Cat-line mare. This affinity for the Storm Cat line was also an important feature...

If I was King of Racing (stop the hate mail now), I'd think I'd implement some standards for our friends analyzing the races at each meet, every day. Let me say, I believe analysts do a good job, certainly for the most part, analyzing races. And frankly, I believe little has...

Key contributors to the economic health of the horse racing enterprise in the United States are the summer meets at Del Mar and Saratoga Race Course, tracks located on opposite coasts.  Betting at their recently completed meets broke existing records. In 31 days of racing in 2021, Del Mar took...

In addition to exceptional speed, Gamine (by Into Mischief) and Yaupon (Uncle Mo) share some other factors. In pedigree most notably, …Continue reading →...

Taken by the author on closing day in 2016With each passing year, my connection to horse racing is becoming weaker and weaker. I can name only a few of the prominent horses who are now in training. Sometimes on major race days I catch myself thinking, “Oh, the Pegasus is...

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Real Writing on Racing 💯...

Whitmore is my favorite horse....