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Joe Clancy 
L’Imperator, Kingsley regroup in return to Saratoga Grade 1 Editor’s Note: The Smithwick was shelved because of rain Wednesday, but rescheduled for Sunday as the first race. Post time is 1:10 p.m. Forty-four days ago, a foot abscess forced L’Imperator out of the entries for a Grade 1 steeplechase at Saratoga Race Course. And, chalking … Read more
Opinion, The Outside Rail The bay horse stared out the back window of his stall on a hot, muggy afternoon. If he wondered where he was, he didn’t act like it. His mid-July view – for the first time in seven years – featured birdhouses instead of walking rings, trees instead of tractors, deer (if they … Read more
Saratoga still creates the perfect racing canvas as 2024 meet arrives Why Saratoga? You can ask anyone in Thoroughbred racing that question and get an answer. Nobody hesitates, not for long anyway. People know why. “It’s the blue-ribbon meet of America, it’s like the Royal Ascot of America, the Cheltenham of America,” said Bruce Jackson, … Read more
You like underdogs? Need somebody to cheer for in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course? Say hello to Mugatu. He cost $14,000, took five starts to break his maiden, was excluded from the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and shipped in from Ohio’s Belterra Park. Trainer Jeff Engler, whose career began in 2009 after … Read more
And then there was one. The spring National Steeplechase Association season sets the parking brake Saturday with the Radnor Hunt Races in Malvern, Pa. The suburban Philadelphia meet always draws a crowd – pack the tailgate – and benefits the land preservation efforts of the Brandywine Conservancy. The racing offers one last chance to win … Read more
Pack up the traps and hit the road, again. The jump circuit goes on the road Saturday – north to Pennsylvania for Willowdale and south to Tennessee for the Iroquois. Fourteen races make up the schedule. Post time is 1 p.m. (central for Iroquois; eastern for Willowdale). Watch them via livestream on the NSA website. … Read more
Welcome to May. If you’re like the team here at TIHR, this week is when your friends ask you for Kentucky Derby opinions. It’s the nation’s most famous race for a reason. That reason may or may not be because your friends pay attention to it before getting on with the rest of their spring/summer. … Read more
The last Saturday in April. As usual, the steeplechase season hits full speed and makes you wonder where it went and how we got here. Two stops – one a storied timber race, the other a roaring-back-to-prominence Virginia stalwart – make for a full day. Last week was busy and featured the best performance of … Read more
The big boys come out to play Saturday with the $75,000 Temple Gwathmey highlighting a nine-race card at Middleburg Spring over the historic Glenwood Park course in Virginia and Maryland timber toppers going out again at the Grand National in Butler. Both meets are live-streamed on the NSA website. Last week at Tryon, Go Poke … Read more
Let’s get this out of the way first. The TIHR handicapping team struck out last week at Old Dominion. Three NSA races, three punters, three goose eggs. Good thing there are more races this weekend. Two Saturday stops, My Lady’s Manor in Maryland and Tryon Block House in North Carolina, offer five races apiece. The … Read more
