Real Racing

8/3/2004

Retired so soon...Smarty was just a 5-week hero.( More..)

7/26/2004

Breeding, class and patience....a lethal combination.( More..)

7/22/2004

King George competitive, but lacking a superstar

This Saturday's 'mid-Summer Arc', at Ascot, will feature no 3-y-olds, but nonetheless promises to be an exciting affair....as always.( More..)

7/15/2004

The 'Lady' could Ride

Julie Krone was one of kind; dispelling all notions that lady jockeys were not up to the task.( More..)

7/7/2004

The Silence is Deafening

Smarty Jones is re-charging his batteries as thoroughbred horse racing slumbers.( More..)

6/9/2004

Back to square one

It was fun while it lasted. And undoubtedly the aftermath of the Smarty party at Belmont last Saturday, before record crowds and TV audiences, will do no harm for horse racing in North America.( More..)

5/17/2004

The Secret of Smarty

Economy of action and energy, a big heart and perfect temperament( More..)

5/16/2004

8 for 8, Smarty on track

Two down with one to go, yesterday's Preakness winner, Smarty Jones, is close to immortality.( More..)

5/15/2004

Game Day.

Preakness track promises to be dry, but maybe cuppy?( More..)

5/13/2004

Spotlight: Stewart Elliott

The difference between being a hero and a mug is very fine.( More..)

5/6/2004

Pimlico not worthy of the Preakness and Smarty Jones

A decrepit and featureless concrete jungle, its not your classic stage for a classic.( More..)

5/4/2004

Kentucky Derby observations

Good: Team Smarty Jones and Patrick Biancone. Bad: NBC TV coverage. Ugly: Nick Zito's blacksmith.( More..)

5/3/2004

Derby Fall-Out

You were either either there, or, barring Imperialism, nowhere.( More..)

5/2/2004

Smarty is just that!

Kentucky Derby winner just keeps on winning.( More..)

5/1/2004

Kentucky Derby latest

Wimbledon and St. Averil scratched. Slowish off-track likely.( More..)

4/27/2004

All's quiet on Derby front

America's greatest race is just four days away, yet nobody knows about it, or who is running.( More..)

4/20/2004

Kentucky Derby an open affair

This year's 'Run for the Roses' promises to be a humdinger.( More..)

4/14/2004

Magna Stymied

Never had a plan that could work. Or, more important,one that could be accepted by his peers. ( More..)

4/13/2004

Derby Developments

The picture is clearing with three weeks to go( More..)

4/8/2004

Medication, Medication!

Is allowing the use of Lasix a good idea?( More..)

4/4/2004

Wierd, Wacky and Wonderful

Weekend's happenings all over the map( More..)

3/31/2004

Dubai World Cup a trainers' affair

Richard Mandella and Bobby Frankel deserve a great deal of praise for keeping their noble charges sound and in top form for so long.( More..)

3/24/2004

Dubai World Cup has lost it's glitter

Middle East's Breeders' Cup night lacks stars.( More..)

3/22/2004

All to play for

The Kentucky Derby is just over a month away. And, with no stand-out for this year's Kentucky Derby, there is bound to be a big field. ( More..)

3/16/2004

Value Plus for the Derby at 27/1

Blinkers and another race could make all the difference( More..)

3/12/2004

Value Plus for Florida Derby

Read the footnotes....this grey can motor.( More..)

3/9/2004

Fallon Folly

Could mean the end of Betting Exchanges.( More..)

3/8/2004

The Blind leading the Blind

Are slot machines all that horse racing's brightest minds can come up with, as a solution for the sport's problems?( More..)

2/12/2004

Same ol', same ol'

Some things never change. Others have a different spin put upon them....but the result is always the same.( More..)

1/29/2004

Good and Bad

Publicity is a double-edged sword.( More..)

1/24/2004

Race Of Week

The 2nd. Running of THE BARRETS/CTBA CLASSIC – Florida v California
Saturday, January 24th. at Santa Anita – Race 6 – Post Time 3.00 p.m. PST( More..)

1/20/2004

Weekend winners have flaws

Second of June may not last until May 1st. and St. Averil must show that he's tougher than most sons of Saint Ballado.( More..)

1/14/2004

Race of Week back on Saturday

RealRacing's popular feature, The Armchair Guide, will return this Saturday, January 17th. with The Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.( More..)

1/12/2004

Hardly worth opening?

When the total on-track handle is only $236,000, no wonder some racetrack operators would rather cancel live racing and live off the avails of slot machines.( More..)

1/9/2004

Here we go again!

The clock has been re-set, and hopes spring eternal. But has anything changed?( More..)

12/29/2003

Nothing changes

Magna mania. Azeri nonsense.( More..)

12/18/2003

2003 - Mineshaft and Halfbridled

They stood on their own: head and shoulders above mediocrity and disappointment( More..)

12/18/2003

2003 - Mineshaft and Halfbridled

They stood on their own: head and shoulders above mediocrity and disappointment( More..)

12/15/2003

Symposium fizzles

They came. They knocked heads with one another. They went away......job not done.( More..)

12/9/2003

Symposium stymie

Medication and off-shore betting....can they be controlled?( More..)

12/1/2003

Congaree must be tough as nails

Serena's Song survived D.Wayne Lukas and now Congaree, bless him, has survived Bob Baffert( More..)

11/18/2003

Distances in Europe are not always what they seem

So times really are pretty meaningless( More..)

11/17/2003

Happy is here!

Young Japanese bug-boy invades Woodbine( More..)

11/12/2003

HBPAs will block medication reform

Like misguided unions, horsemen's so-called benevolent and protective associations will cut their noses off to spite their faces.( More..)

11/7/2003

Now we've heard it all!

The NTRA/Breeders' Cup's wolf, wolf stories are getting harder and harder to believe.( More..)

11/3/2003

Turf Champion?

This year it is going to be tough deciding who is best.( More..)

10/30/2003

Breeders' Cup fall-out

Good for some, but bad for others.( More..)

10/27/2003

On Ladies Day at BC XX the cream comes to the top

The sun shone and a star was born, as Halfbridled circled the field( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Mile

Touch of the Blues to hold off Perfect Soul( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Classic

Perfect Drift the best of the survivors( More..)

10/24/2003

The Breeders' Cup Distaff

Take Charge Lady to shock chalk players( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies

Society Selection, one for the giant-killer and Ran Ganpath.( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Fillies & Mares Turf

Voodoo Dancer to cast a spell on Pick 6 players( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Minister Eric the best of a bad lot( More..)

10/24/2003

Breeders' Cup Turf

Storming Home to outrun Euro invaders( More..)

10/24/2003

The Breeders' Cup Sprint

Aldebaran to run down the speed( More..)

10/20/2003

Breeders' Cup XX going off like a damp squib

Its just six days until thoroughbred racing's big day....but you'd never know it, such is the apathy.( More..)

10/8/2003

Is the Breeders' Cup still the ultimate goal?

This year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita, the so-called Championship day of thoroughbred racing, looks to be losing it's lustre.( More..)

9/16/2003

Soaring Free could be the one for the Breeders' Cup Mile

As the picture begins to get clearer, this year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita looks like being dominated by North american-based horses.( More..)

9/12/2003

WANDO is ready to take ATTO Mile

So far his only excursion into open company was a disaster, in last fall's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, when a bad post position eliminated his and Toccet's chances. But, in the wake of his Canadian Triple Crown, Wando is now ready to make a big noise.( More..)

9/10/2003

One for the home team

Playing at home has it's advantages: and last Saturday at Leopardstown, High Chaparral may have benefitted from a partisan decision by the local stewards.( More..)

9/8/2003

Big Guns firing on all cylinders

With the Breeders' Cup and other major fall races on the not too distant horizon, two of this seasons stars were in action over the weekend past.( More..)

9/6/2003

The WOODWARD – Grade 1

This is a race that should be treated with kid gloves: for there looks like being no pace. And, if it degenerates into a half-mile dash, it could be anyone’s to win. Therefore backing Mineshaft at a very short price, and even putting him on top of exactas could be a very costly proposition.( More..)

8/26/2003

All to play for

Its two months to the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita, and the ducks are starting to line them selves up on the pond.( More..)

8/18/2003

Round Table....continues to spin aimlessly

Every year, at about this time, the powers within horse racing get together at Saratoga to discuss the state of their sport in North America, at what they bill as their 'Round Table' discussions. Reading about their conclusions, though, does not fill one with confidence.( More..)

8/14/2003

Sulaimani is no certainty to land Godolphin their 100th. Grade I victory

This year’s running of the Arlington Million is shaping up to be a very high class race, with last year’s French Derby and Arc 2nd. Sulaimani, who is now owned by Godolphin Stables, likely to go off a pretty short-priced favorite. However chalk players beware: for the tight left-handed Arlington circuit may not be entirely to his liking.( More..)

8/13/2003

Thought for the Day - August 13th.

If Frank Stronach's bid for NYRA is re-buffed, will he withdraw from the NTRA?( More..)

8/11/2003

Smoke and Mirrors

Has anyone heard anything mentioned about Seabiscuit recently?( More..)

8/7/2003

NTRA give it way

Putting all of their eggs into one basket, by devoting most of their marketing budget to promoting the Seabiscuit movie, and paying Rudi Guiliani a vast sum for nothing.....( More..)

8/5/2003

Seabiscuit movie is great.....but what next?

It cost $78 million to make, and a further $25 million (largely per the NTRA) to promote, but the Seabiscuit is just a quaint portrayal of what horse racing was, not is.( More..)

7/29/2003

The Aga Khan-breds are supreme

Breed the best to the best and hope for the best has been advice that has been given to many breeders of thoroughbred racehorses. However few have enjoyed the success of the Aga Khan over the past thirty years or so.( More..)

7/24/2003

Armchair Guide

6 for 26, for a profit of $29.60 to a level $2 stake, so far this year( More..)

7/24/2003

King George looks wide open

Considered by many experts to be the barometer that determines whether each year's crop of 3-year-olds are as good as their elders, the 2003 running of England's most valuable race, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, looks like being a wide-open affair.( More..)

7/23/2003

Exchanges would appear to be on the way out

It has always been said that bookmakers would rather know who is not going to win, than who is..( More..)

7/22/2003

The SEABISCUIT movie.....there has to be more

For the NTRA this is a big week. Saratoga and Del Mar, two of the most popular meets of the year are scheduled to open. And the Seabisuit movie will be released on Friday. However, all things considered, these events will more than likely just be great while they last…..leaving the sport of horse racing in obscurity again for the remaining 44 weeks of the year.( More..)

7/21/2003

Second half begins.....with Breeders' Cup on the horizon.

So far this season it has been all Bobby Frankel and a bit of Funny Cide. But, with Saratoga opening on Wednesday and an emphasis starting to be put upon turf racing and 2-year-olds, things may be about to change.( More..)

7/17/2003

Mid-Week Musings - July 17th. 2003

EPO testing....let's get on with it. Jockeys....'they're like stawberries, they can get squashed or go off overnight. Mystery Vouchers put to bed.( More..)

7/14/2003

SEABISCUIT....the movie

An extraordinary horse. A great story. Hopefully a good movie. But is Seabiscuit the answer to horse racing's problem?( More..)

7/9/2003

Mid-Week Musings

Albarado smartens up…..McKee a throwback….Dimitrova confirms Euro Classic form……Wando gets a 111 Beyer….and McLaughlin reaps results from patience.( More..)

7/3/2003

About time!

As horse racing becomes increasingly international, with Dubai now a major racing centre and horses from Australia winning in England and South Africa in the USA, the fact remains that the North Americans are currently being seriously upstaged in this burgeoning field.( More..)

7/1/2003

Mid-Week Musings – The Emperor’s clothes continue to dazzle, as the deck chairs are re-arranged

Good for the grooms.

Recent rumblings in New York, re the apparent incompetence of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), prompted the Daily Racing Form’s editor-in-chief, Steve Crist, to chastise the critics.( More..)

6/24/2003

Wando is the one!

Last fall RR boldly declared Gus Schickedanz’s home-bred Wando, a son of the Met Mile winner, Langfuhr, to be the best 2-year-old seen in Canada since Deputy Minister in 1979. ( More..)

6/16/2003

Day's the man!

Racing fans are very well aware that Pat Day is ‘King of Churchill Downs’: and that, barring accidents, he would appear certain to become the first (and only) jockey to ride 10,000 winners, in couple of years time. But anyone who witnessed the ride that he gave Perfect Drift in last Saturday’s Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap would have to agree that it was Day at his finest.( More..)

6/9/2003

It just wasn’t meant to be

It rained on New York’s biggest party in years last Saturday . But Empire Maker’s extinction of Funny Cide’s Triple Crown aspirations was far more dampening on the spirits of 100,000 eager fans, who had braved a long Belmont afternoon, than the foulest of conditions that mother nature could conjure up.( More..)

6/4/2003

Funny Cide….fortune and destiny?

Over the next few days much will be written about Funny Cide: a New York-bred who once exchanged hands for as little as $22,000, was gelded and ended up being owned by a bunch of good ‘ol boys from upstate New York, who have invested a pittance in racehorse ownership.( More..)

6/2/2003

Fishy Fire Findings at Woodbine…..

Its taken almost a year, since a fire tragically killed 32 horses at Woodbine racetrack: but finally, after those involved managed to ‘fudge’ a mutually acceptable explanation that absolves then of any blame, arson has been blamed.( More..)

5/30/2003

Going to the well too soon….and too often

Its common sense that, if you sprain your ankle, you take it easy and don’t disguise the fact with pain-killers so that you can run about: lest you compound your injury. Yet so great, apparently, is the pressure upon North American trainers (from owners) to generate immediate return upon equine investments that such logical rationale gets scant consideration. And this sad state of affairs is the prime reason why locally raced horses have such a short shelf life in the USA these days and their counterparts from overseas end up dominating the older horse scene.( More..)

5/27/2003

Not again!…..as authorities bark up the wrong tree by questioning Mullins’ integrity.

As has been pointed out in this space on many occasions, those in charge of thoroughbred horse racing in North America not only have little real knowledge of their sport, but a disturbing fascination and all too familiar propensity with continuously shooting themselves in the feet every time they attempt to either promote it or dispel alleged improprieties. More..)

5/22/2003

Everyone loves a winner…..especially in the Big Apple

As Funny Cide prepares for a tilt at greatness and New York gears up for one of the biggest day’s horse racing in recent memory, its amazing to think that, in the end, it is a horse and his story that may be the sport’s salvation: not slot machines, bobble-head dolls or absurd NTRA gimmickry.( More..)

5/18/2003

Here we go!….Here we go!….Here we go!

Look out New York! Funny Cide’s comin’ to town!

Two weeks ago Funny Cide was nothing more than a New York-bred gelding who’d never beaten a horse out of restricted company. Today he looks like the re-incarnation of ‘Big Red’….Secretariat or Man o’ War, take your pick, as he heads inexorably to Belmont with a very legitimate chance of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed, 25 years ago, and the first horse to land the $5 million VISA bonus for completing a sweep of thoroughbred racing’s historic holy grail( More..)

5/15/2003

Much ado about nothing……

Sometimes you can’t win for losing. And, in North American thoroughbred horse racing’s case, recent events are typical: for while no regular media coverage is probably the number one reason why the sport is so obscure, the widespread front page exposure that the sport of Kings received, thanks to Jose Santos’ alleged use of a battery in the Kentucky Derby, was the last thing that it needed.( More..)

5/14/2003

Thought for the day…..

With horseracing’s focus turning to Maryland this week, which of these talented local trainers is weirder : Michael Dickinson, Tom Voss, Barclay Tagg or Dickie Small? Makes you think that this is a pretty crazy business!( More..)

5/8/2003

Seabiscuit movie is great.....but what next?

It cost $78 million to make and a further $25 million (per the NTRA) to be promoted, but the Seabiscuit movie is little more than a quaint portrayal of horse racing as it was....not as it is.( More..)

3/31/2003

Some enchanted evening......but unfortunately for very few

The 8th. Dubai World Cup is in the books. But who, apart from Sheikh Mohammed and Frankie Dettori, really cares?( More..)

3/31/2003

Some enchanted evening.....but unfortunately for very few

The 8th. Dubai World Cup is in the books. But who, apart from Sheikh Mohammed and Frankie Dettori, really cares?( More..)

3/31/2003

Some enchanted evening.....but unfortunately for very few

The 8th. Dubai World Cup is in the books. But who, apart from Sheikh Mohammed and Frankie Dettori, really cares?( More..)

3/31/2003

Some enchanted evening.....but unfortunately for very few

The 8th. Dubai World Cup is in the books. But who, apart from Sheikh Mohammed and Frankie Dettori, really cares?( More..)

3/24/2003

Kentucky Derby Ante-Post Prices

Frankel in charge( More..)

3/24/2003

Frankel has the hammer....as Lion Tamer buries Show players

Last Saturday at Turfway Park the failure of 3/5 shot Lion Tamer in the 1 1/8 miles Lanes End Stakes can be attributed to a bunch of different reasons and/or deficiencies.( More..)

3/24/2003

Frankel has the hammer.....as Show players are buried

Last Saturday, at Turfway Park, the failure of 3/5 shot, Lion Tamer, in the 1 1/8 miles Lanes End Stakes can be attributed to a bunch of different reasons and/or deficiencies( More..)

3/20/2003

Lanes End 03

This race, which at various stages of it’s history has been sponsored by companies as diverse as whiskey distillers to mattress makers, now celebrates in the name of the U.S. Ambassador to England’s farm in nearby Lexington Kentucky. Unfortunately, apart from the likely favorite, Lion Tamer, the caliber of runners this year pales in comparison to the many great horses that have been bred at that illustrious establishment; which, considering the sizable purse on offer, is a sad indicator of how weak this year’s crop of 3-y-olds are beyond Empire Maker et al.( More..)

3/20/2003

Mid-Week Musings

Horse racing is going nowhere. USA to strike out in Dubai. Kafwain another Baffert blow-out. What’s new?( More..)

3/18/2003

Mid week Musings

Empire Maker looks like the real thing, now that blinkers have been fitted.( More..)

2/11/2003

How bad can things get?

Just when it appeared that horse racing’s fortunes could not get any worse, a sudden spate of breakdowns has left the 2003 Classic season in disarray.( More..)

2/6/2003

Betting exchanges

What could be more simple? And, when one reflects upon how they work, its amazing nobody has thought of such a mechanism until very recently.( More..)

1/21/2003

OFFLEE WILD looks awfully good at $58.80 in Holy Bull
Armchair Guide 1 for 3 in 2003, for a profit of $52.80 to a level $2 stake

No point in getting too excited, just yet!
Derby fever is in the blood; engines are beginning to rev, and this corner is starting to dream about positive bank balances after Offlee Wild’s audacious $58.80 score in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Saturday, boosting RealRacing’s Armchair Guide into the stratosphere at +$52.80 after just three selections this year!( More..)

1/18/2003

Eddie D. was the real deal…..

Nowadays pundits are often far too quick to lavish superlatives upon athletes and wax wonderful about really quite ordinary people and events. And often, when it comes to awards ceremonies, political and even dubious motives influence voters.( More..)

1/10/2003

Hal’s Hope Handicap a joke!

With everyone currently so excited about the upcoming Seabiscuit movie, one has to wonder exactly what ‘Handicap’ means these days in horse racing, North American style. For on Saturday at Gulfstream a field of eight will be separated by just 4 lbs in the Hal’s Hope Handicap!( More..)

11/4/2002

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