Category: horse racing

2020 Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity Preview

Saturday’s card at Hawthorne features the second of Hawthorne’s pair of juvenile stakes this meet: the Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity. Just like its fillies’ complement, last week’s Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante, the Jim Edgar has been shortened up to six and a half furlongs. And, the change in distance paid dividends: instead of failing to... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 11, 2020 at 4:43 pm
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2020 Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante Preview

One of only two stakes races in Chicago this year happens this Saturday: the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante, a $50,000 race that drew a field of seven juvenile fillies bred in the Land of Lincoln. This year marks a major change in the juvenile stakes this year in Illinois: instead of being run at a... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 4, 2020 at 3:20 pm
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2020 Kentucky Derby Preview

2020 has been a strange year, but at least one thing remains the same: the Kentucky Derby will continue its streak of being run every year since its 1875 inception. Though this year’s edition will be run four months late, on Labor Day weekend instead of the middle of spring, it still features an (almost)... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
September 4, 2020 at 2:59 am
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2020 Belmont Stakes Preview

Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Triple Crown has gone…a little topsy-turvy.  The Belmont Stakes, usually the last race of the three, is the first this year.  Usually the longest race of the series, it’s now the shortest: just a mile and an eighth. The race drew a field of 10 to contest for a... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
June 17, 2020 at 9:22 pm
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2020 Pegasus World Cup Turf Preview and Saturday Gulfstream Selections

Saturday, Gulfstream Park features its flagship race day: Pegasus World Cup Day.  The race card features seven stakes races, including a pair of seven-figure Grade 1 races, showcasing many of the older horse divisions before the Derby trail takes center stage. Here at Picks and Ponderings, I will preview the second running of the Pegasus... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 24, 2020 at 2:35 pm
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2020 Lecomte Stakes and Silverbulletday Stakes Preview

This week the Derby and Oaks trails wind through New Orleans.  For the Oaks-bound, Saturday’s card features the $150,000 Silverbulletday stakes at a mile and seventy yards on dirt. One race later, Louisiana’s spur of the Derby trail begins with the Lecomte Stakes (G3), a $200,000 race which has been extended to a mile and... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
January 15, 2020 at 6:14 pm
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Mind Your Own Biz wires the Jim Edgar Illinois Juvenile

STICKNEY, IL — Illinois two-year-olds got a second chance for stakes success December 21 at Hawthorne, with the Jim Edgar Illinois Juvenile Stakes.  The talking horse leading into the race was Mind Your Own Biz, a gate-to-wire winner at Hawthorne last month, and he ran to the expectations once again. Though Mind Your Own Biz... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 22, 2019 at 2:04 pm
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2019 Jim Edgar Illinois Juvenile Stakes Preview

Surprise!  The Pat Whitworth wasn’t the end of the stakes season at Hawthorne, after all! Though the two-turn Jim Edgar Illinois Futurity did not fill up and was not run, Illinois-registered two-year-olds are getting another chance to race in stakes company.  Hawthorne added a $50,000 sprint stakes, opened to Illinois-registered two-year-olds of any sex, going... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 19, 2019 at 1:05 pm
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Cowgirl Kimmie Carries Carlos Ulloa, Fernando Bahena To First Career Stakes Wins in the Pat Whitworth

Cowgirl Kimmie Carries Carlos Ulloa, Fernando Bahena To First Career Stakes Wins in the Pat Whitworth
STICKNEY, IL — Illinois-registered two-year-old fillies took the spotlight in the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante Friday afternoon at Hawthorne.  Cowgirl Kimmie led every step of the way, propelling both her trainer Fernando Bahena and her jockey Carlos Ulloa to the first stakes victories of their career. Despite being lightly bumped by Summer Day, who broke... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 6, 2019 at 11:44 pm
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2019 Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante Preview

The Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante was instilled in 1983 as the Illinois’ Breeders’ Debutante, has carried the name of the name of longtime Illinois Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Foundation (ITBOF) board member Pat Whitworth (1936-2011) since 2003. Looking back across the history of the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante, a trio of winners have gone on to... Read more »
By Nicolle Neulist,
December 4, 2019 at 1:05 pm
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