Archive for August 2017

2017 Arlington Heights Stakes Preview

For the final month of the meet, Arlington has added seven overnight stakes to the schedule.  The first pair of those, Illinois-bred races which take their names from the suburbs that Arlington International Racecourse straddles, will be run this race week. Saturday’s card features the first running of the Arlington Heights Stakes, a $65,000, seven-furlong polytrack race... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 30, 2017 at 5:23 pm
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Chicago Racing Review: August 24-27, 2017

Standout Performances You’re going to be seeing a lot more of fourth-crop Illinois sire Forest Attack in the next few years; he led all stallions in the state by number of Illinois-breds born in 2015 with 26, and those foals are two now.  His start at stud has been rather slow, but he had his... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 29, 2017 at 2:25 pm
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2017 Travers Stakes Preview

This Saturday’s card at Saratoga is the biggest of the meet, and features the meet’s cornerstone race: the Grade I Travers Stakes.  This piece features full analysis of the Travers Stakes, as well as a selections grid for all of the stakes races Saturday at the Spa. Colloquially dubbed the Mid-Summer Derby (though don’t tell... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 23, 2017 at 10:06 pm
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Chicago Racing Review: August 17-20, 2017

Well-bred maidens, from Illinois and beyond Saturday’s second race at Arlington, a five-and-a-half furlong polytrack dash for Illinois-bred juvenile fillies, abounded with nice Illinois breeding.  Six fillies made their unveiling, including Speed Devil (a half-sister to stakes winners Puntsville and Devileye) and Julie Be Quick (whose dam, Julie Be Good, is half to G3 winner... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 22, 2017 at 2:20 pm
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A visit to Godolphin's Greentree training center

Greentree is aptly named, with a track that sweeps through the grass, past boughs and mountains.
I already envisioned Saratoga as a sprawling horse heaven nestled in the Adirondacks.  I knew the Thoroughbred track, the home of the Travers and the Alabama and the New York Turf Writers Cup.  I knew the grandstand and back yard draped with so many red awnings, the wooden barns, the Oklahoma Training Track.  I knew the... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 20, 2017 at 9:19 pm
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Equestricon, from a smaller circuit perspective

If you’re looking for picks, they’ll be back next week. If you’re looking for ponderings, read on. I spent the first half of this week at Equestricon.  Despite the exhausting timing – it fell right after the Arlington Million – I’m glad I went. I knew there would be a social aspect to it.  Though... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 17, 2017 at 10:42 pm
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Chicago Racing Review: August 10-13, 2017

Chicago’s biggest race day, Arlington Million day, happened on August 12.  Picks and Ponderings has already discussed that action, but it was not the only racing last week. Standout Performances America Mon Amie (All American (AUS) – Si Si Mon Amie, by El Corredor) went into Saturday’s Arlington 3rd winless since October.  Still, she often found... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 17, 2017 at 12:03 am
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2017 Arlington Million Day Recap

On a clear, sunny Saturday at Arlington, two Breeders’ Cup bids were on the line.  Though the mid-seventies temperature was moderate enough to be surreal at this time of the year, the results were not: two Breeders’ Cup bids went to horses in high-flying turf trainer Chad Brown’s barn. In the Beverly D, a Win... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 13, 2017 at 9:58 am
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2017 Arlington Million Day Picks and Ponderings

The flagship day of Arlington’s racing season, the Arlington Million, is coming up on Saturday, August 12!  As always, Picks and Ponderings is here, ready to take you through Chicago’s biggest race day of the summer.  We have analysis of all six stakes races in separate posts, and they are all linked here in order of... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 10, 2017 at 7:57 pm
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2017 Pucker Up Stakes Preview

This race is named after Pucker Up, the 1957 Champion Older Female Horse.  Owned by Dan and Ada Rice (who campaigned 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair) and trained by Jimmy Conway, she went on a tear at age four.  At Arlington, she beat her own sex in the Arlington Matron.  Out at Washington Park,... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
August 10, 2017 at 7:46 pm
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