I’m thrilled to return to the panel for the Big Race Showdown at America’s Best Racing this year! Also on the panel are Candice Hare, Emily Gullikson, Brian Zipse, Dan Tordjman, Mike McCormick, Megan Devine, and Dan Cronin. Each week we’ll zoom in on a few of the biggest races, share our top picks, and... Continue Reading →
Book Six – Episode 4: Gone West to Indiana
In Episode 4 of Book Six, we head to Indiana to look at a filly from Elusive Bluff's first crop since moving to the Crossroads of America. Though the sale is a mixed sale, we continue with the fall theme of yearlings. This episode focuses on Hip 6: a filly named Explosive Justice, by Elusive... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: Arlington Maiden Notes – 8.17.18, Race 2
Today's Arlington second is a maiden special weight for two-year-old fillies, at five and a half furlongs on the polytrack. It's a smaller field than most recent two-year-old maidens at Arlington, with just seven entered. It also, unlike most of the juvenile races over the last month or more, contains only first-time starters. Head over... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: 2018 Beverly D. Stakes Preview
When you have a racetrack, and want to honour your late wife, you can hardly do better than running one of the premier filly and mare turf races of the year in her name. The Beverly D. Stakes takes its name from Beverly Duchossois, wife of Arlington Park chairman Richard Duchossois. Beverly Duchossois passed away in... Continue Reading →
Fox Valley Gemini keeps on winning
Fox Valley Gemini is a star. The Illinois-bred three-year-old pacer is undefeated in his fifteen-race career, and is going for win number 16 tonight in the third leg of the Carey at Hawthorne. In my latest for the Illinois Harness Horseman's Association, I look at his win streak, a few other harness racing win streaks... Continue Reading →
Railbird Style: Blunders, Bluster, and the Tight Turns of Pimlico
The Preakness is coming up tomorrow, which means you're probably already sick of hearing the phrase "tight turns". The bad news is, I haven't yet been able to reliably trace the origin of that horse racing myth. The good news is, I found some funny invocations of that idea during that wild goose chase, and... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: 2018 Blue Grass Stakes and Ashland Stakes Preview
This weekend features the second to last Saturday of Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points preps, and they will run from coast to coast. This piece focuses on the pair of points preps at Keeneland: the Ashland (G1) for the fillies, and a loaded renewal of the Blue Grass (G2) for open company. Each offer 100-40-20-10... Continue Reading →
A Day at the Races: Tampa Bay Downs
Last week, I returned to one of my favourite tracks: Tampa Bay Downs. Over at Brisnet, I talk about my trip in words and pictures. The big races of the weekend were the graded stakes on Saturday, and you'll certainly see the likes of McCraken and Isabella Sings here. But, you'll also see the other race... Continue Reading →
share pictures of the horses *you* know!
I love Instagram. I shied away from it for a long time given my questionable photography skills, but finally gave it a shot in 2015. Posting horse pictures there has been fun, as has looking at everyone else's horse pictures. Though my Twitter and Facebook pages are a little bit of everything, I've focused my... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: 2016 Claiming Crown Preview
Gulfstream opens Saturday, and we all know what that means: Claiming Crown Day! I love the Claiming Crown -- love, love, love the Claiming Crown. As someone who spends so much of my time handicapping, following, and adoring claiming horses, I love that racing takes a day to put them on centre stage. And, if... Continue Reading →
Chicago Railbird: 10.24.16
Jockey Julio Felix has been on fire through the first three weeks of the Hawthorne meet. This week's Chicago Railbird takes a look at his riding statistics so far, as well as a pair of the races in which he rides on Wednesday and Thursday. We look at Wednesday's 8th and Thursday's 8th. Both races... Continue Reading →
Chicago Railbird: 8.28.16
This Sunday's Arlington 4th is a contentious and classy affair: a wide-open two-year-old maiden special weight going a mile on the grass. The race drew a field of eight, and, an argument can be made for most of the field. However, there is one horse who looks to have an experience edge and a pace... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: 2016 Travers Stakes Preview
This Saturday's feature at Saratoga is a deserving one, even amid the Breeders' Cup quality card: the Grade I Travers Stakes. The Classic-distance race for three-year-olds drew a capacity field of fourteen. The field includes two of the three Triple Crown race winners, the winners of both local preps, and a lot of horses who... Continue Reading →
Picks and Ponderings: 2016 United Nations Stakes Preview
In addition to covering the Iowa Festival, Picks and Ponderings also wanders to the Jersey Shore this weekend for the Grade I Man o' War. We see a few familiar faces from Arlington: 2015 American Derby winner World Approval, and 2015 Arlington Million entrant Triple Threat. However, I like an always-dangerous graded stakes jockey with... Continue Reading →
Arlington full-card picks and analysis: 6.25.16
Arlington pulled together a solid card today. In addition to the anchor race, the Grade III Chicago Handicap, the rest of the day features full fields and solid horses. There's a pair of maiden special weights, including one for two-year-olds. There are several salty $25,000 claiming races. Top to bottom, it should be a fun... Continue Reading →
