Archive for January 2016

Locally Connected Triple Crown Nominees

Today, Churchill Downs released the list of early nominations to the Triple Crown.  The early nomination period closed with 368 nominations.  The group of nominees contains a pair of horses who raced in the Arlington-Washington Futurity this summer, as well as another pair of Illinois-bred colts: Cocked and Loaded – Trained by local mainstay Larry... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 28, 2016 at 1:18 pm
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2016 Holy Bull and Forward Gal Stakes Preview

After a quiet, snowy weekend, the Derby Trail and the Oaks Trail are back in full force. Gulfstream’s series of prep races gets underway on Saturday, January 30, and that pair of races will form the focus of this .  The Derby preps get underway with the Holy Bull Stakes (GII).  This race is the... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 27, 2016 at 11:56 pm
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2016 Withers Stakes Preview

This week Picks and Ponderings continues its tour of the winter Derby and Oaks preps with a look at a quartet of races yielding qualification points for the Kentucky Derby  Weekend action for the final days of January is centered from Aqueduct and from Gulfstream, as Saturday’s G3 Withers and Sunday’s Busanda Stakes are previewed by... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
January 27, 2016 at 7:53 pm
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2016 Busanda Stakes Preview

“Breed the best to the best and hope for the best.”  — Cornelius Vanderbilt (C. V.) Whitney, founding father of racing’s Hall of Fame. Busanda, perhaps, crystallizes the quote of C. V. Whitney.  She was owned by the Phipps Family and trained by Sonny Fitzsimmons and came from such regal breeding.  By War Admiral out... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
January 20, 2016 at 9:03 pm
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2016 Smarty Jones Stakes Preview

The winter and spring meet at Oaklawn Park got underway on Friday.  Their road to the Kentucky Derby starts on Monday, with the Smarty Jones Stakes. The Smarty Jones is a one-mile dirt race, the first in a series of Kentucky Derby preps over the Hot Springs oval.  The series continues with the Southwest Stakes... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 15, 2016 at 10:11 pm
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2016 LeComte Stakes and Silverbulletday Stakes Preview

Winter marches on.  With it, the three-year-old runners march toward the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks.  Picks and Ponderings will be here to navigate you along the Derby trail and the Oaks trail. This Saturday, those trails both make their first pass through the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.  Saturday’s stakes-laden card features the... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 11, 2016 at 7:10 pm
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2016 San Pasqual Stakes/Sham Stakes Preview

This week, with Thoroughbred racing in Chicago on hiatus until March, Picks and Ponderings turns its attention to big races across the country.  This week, we look at Santa Anita.  Saturday’s card at the Great Race Place features a pair of stakes races.  One of them, the Sham Stakes, is the lone Kentucky Derby prep... Read more »
By Paul Mazur,
January 6, 2016 at 10:57 pm
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