JC / Railbird

Racing Archive

It’s Like 2008 Again

We knew this was happening in 2013, didn’t we? After Rachel Alexandra, after Zenyatta, after Goldikova and Frankel and Black Caviar:

There will be no gimmes this year. The champions will be beatable; luck will again become part of top level horse racing and the pecking order will be nowhere near as well defined as that to which we have become accustomed.

Of course, there’s still a lot of racing ahead …

Posted in Racing on June 4, 2013 / Tagged Champions, Distaffers, Great Horses, International, Rankings

The Third Classic

Orb is confirmed for the Belmont Stakes after a sharp work in company at Belmont on Sunday, joining Oxbow and what might be as many as many as 13 other starters in the final leg of the Triple Crown — neither the Kentucky Derby nor the Preakness winner is scaring anyone away. Of the two, history suggests Oxbow is more likely to win — in the 21 times that the Derby and Preakness winners have met again in the Belmont, the Preakness winner has come out on top nine times, the Derby winner five, and the last time that happened was in 1984, when Swale redeemed himself after a historically bad Preakness loss (one that’s only been matched by Orb). Derby-Preakness winner exactas aren’t too common either, as Steven Crist points out in his discussion of Derby-Preakness winner rematches:

Only twice [since 1973] have the winners of the first two legs accounted for the Belmont exacta: Tabasco Cat-Go For Gin in 1994 (that exacta paid $19.20), and Hansel-Strike the Gold ($39.20) in 1991.

In recent years, the Belmont has been a rewarding race for longshot players, with bombs galore. The upcoming edition promises to keep the payouts up.

Posted in Racing on June 3, 2013 / Tagged Belmont Stakes, Betting, Kentucky Derby, Orb, Oxbow, Preakness Stakes, Triple Crown

Tested

The top three finishers in the Preakness Stakes were making their 10th or 11th career starts — it’s been a while since anything like that’s happened in a Triple Crown race, as Superterrific confirmed by compiling 2007-2013 results. What will be interesting to see, going forward, is how this year’s classic contenders perform over the next few months (will they stick around for fall campaigns?), and if this is the beginning of a trend toward more starts for classic prospects.

Posted in Racing on May 23, 2013 / Tagged Career Starts, Derby Preps, Oxbow, Preakness Stakes, Training, Trends, Triple Crown