by Steve Byk
first published on May 3, 2008

Oaks Day a success from the wagerng vantage point with opportunity to grow further from live Feature Double plays to 10 Derby starters. But tough to endure weather and likely fatal injury to Chelokee made the afternoon a bit of a downer overall. Saturday forecast not nearly as hopeful as promised 24 hours ago, with prospects for thunderstorms making less than fast track for Derby more likely. At this hour (4:30am), thunderstorms with teeming rain, and that changes an already muddled picture for the rose run, with go early prospects like Big Brown and Bob Black Jack possible to lead a merry chase if surface a sea of slop. Suggestion is always to handicap for a fast track and adjust as the day indicates. Remember as well selecting the Distaff Turf Classic and Woodford Reserve that turf course will be yielding at absolute best. 

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by Steve Byk
first published on May 2, 2008 

Oaks Day and no end in sight to stalemates that are blocking accessibility of card to horseplayers in many venues. From DRF’s Matt Hegarty Thursday:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/94176.html

“If the stalemate is not broken, the only account-wagering operations that will be able to offer wagering on the Derby/Oaks undercard are those that restrict betting to in-state customers. The list of sites includes those run by New York OTBs, the New York Racing Association, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Philadelphia Park and Penn National Race Course in Pennsylvania, and operations based in Virginia and Louisiana.”

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by Steve Byk
first published on April 28, 2008

with Steve Haskin and courtesy of Blood-Horse.com

The Sanan family?s Padua Stables’ Behindatthebar, a late arrival to the spring classics scene with his victory in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II) April 19 at Keeneland, will not enter the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and instead will point for a start in the May 17 Preakness Stakes (gr. I). The decision to demure from the Derby opens the door for Mr. and Mrs. William Warren’s Denis of Cork who had been 21st on the graded earnings list.

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by Steve Byk
first published on April 15, 2008

It is mid-April, and I am minutes from leaving for Kentucky on the annual Derby pilgrimage. Yet I am formulating my first “Derby List” of the season now. In what can only be described as the oddest Derby Trail yet encountered, I kid not when I say I haven’t had a clue as to whom among the 2008 sophomores might be the kind of colt, and now filly, that can win the rose blanket. 

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by Steve Byk
first published on March 16, 2008

This game moves fast, and racing does a poor job of utilizing Stakes renewals to advertise the history of the game and its’ immortal runners, trainers and owners. If it wasn’t for Jay Hovdey’s regular historical perspective pieces in the Racing Form, there would hardly be any mention of the landmarks, milestones and principals that give the game its’ wonderful lineage. Sunday’s running of the Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream is one of those opportunities though, as had Scott Schulhofer’s first great horse as a thoroughbred trainer not turned up, we likely wouldn’t have had a chance to know the man so many came to love.

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