News

The Special returns after a brief hiatus. We couldn’t stay away, not with the stellar showdown between Clairiere and Secret Oath at Oaklawn Park and Kentucky Derby points on the line in the Tampa Bay Derby. We preview those two races and more in the primer, along with some old favorites from the pages of … Read more

So you want to be a horse trainer? Andy Simoff spent three months aiming Howgreatisnate for Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack. The off-season plan made perfect sense after an undefeated, four-start campaign as a 2-year-old at Delaware Park and Parx Racing in 2022. Give his horse a break with some paddock time. … Read more

Few things could rival Andy Simoff’s last visit to the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, but the trainer will try to find one Saturday as Howgreatisnate runs in the $300,000 Grade 3 stakes for 3-year-olds. It’ll be Simoff’s first Gotham since watching Secretariat capture the 1973 version on the way to a Triple Crown. “That’s … Read more

Nine racehorses, six trainers and one jockey – a group that includes a half dozen appearing for the first time – comprise the National Museum of Racing’s 2023 Hall of Fame ballot. The ballot, as chosen by the Museum’s Hall of Fame Nominating Committee: • Racehorses: Arrogate, Blind Luck, California Chrome, Game On Dude, Havre … Read more

By Joe Clancy and Van Cushny James W. “Woody” Maloney Jr., former steeplechase jockey, safety steward, assistant starter and patrol judge for the National Steeplechase Association, died Feb. 5 in Aiken, S.C. He was 69. An accomplished athlete who enjoyed sports of all kinds, Woody was born into a racing family and was surrounded by … Read more

The countdowns are on in earnest as we rolled past the midpoint of February and enjoyed a slightly concerning stretch of extremely mild weather here in the Northeast. Which countdowns you ask? How about the start of the American steeplechase season, just five weeks from Saturday. What about the Kentucky Derby? That’s only 11 weeks … Read more

The weekend of the big game, as everyone seems either scared or obligated to call it. The Super Bowl comes Sunday but there’s plenty of top racing on the docket to fill the time before the Eagles and Chiefs take the field in Arizona. A couple key preps – two for the Kentucky Derby and … Read more

Weekends like this are made for sojourns to all points south, fireplaces or at the very lease hunkering down on the couch with a warm beverage and an even warmer blanket. Welcome to the deep freeze edition of The Saturday Special, a week removed from the Pegasus Day edition when temps were in the mid-70s … Read more

Editor’s note: Reprinted from the New York Thoroughbred Breeders’ Inc.’s website. Tom Egan and Chad Stewart strategized a plan late last year to give Red Knight a break after the Grade 1, $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf in advance of a 9-year-old campaign in 2023. “How long should we turn him out here?” Egan asked … Read more

Bill Mott sauntered down the steps at the end of Gulfstream Park’s truncated grandstand, to the ground level from the box seats after turning the seventh Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes into a showcase of his skills. Binoculars in one hand and a program in the other, Mott walked past fellow horsemen and horseplayers, so-called … Read more