STEVE HASKIN BREEDERS' CUP COUNTDOWN

  • On to Monmouth
    The preps are over and the journey to Jersey begins. This past weekend’s stakes orgy did not measure up to the stirring stretch battles and top-class performances we saw the previous week. While there were some big efforts and exciting finishes, it was not a good weekend for favorites, with several big-name stars and division leaders going down to defeat.
  • Questions and Answers; Winners and Losers
    For the first time in history, as many as five horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby have come back to win grade I stakes that year after the Triple Crown. In their four meetings against older horses, and we’re talking about the best older horses in the East and West, the 3-year-olds from the Derby won all four...
  • Brooklyn Was a Given, But What About Classic?
    Saturday, Sept. 22 was a holiday of sorts for trainer Todd Pletcher. He was all prepared to celebrate the end of a two-month slump that has seen his normally lofty winning percentage of around 25% drop to 11%. 
  • West Point Wows 'Em Again
    Many have attempted to dethrone racing's supreme monarch, Rags to Riches, this year, from the fairest of maidens to the bravest of knights. They all failed. But then, in the Sept. 15 Gazelle Stakes (gr. I), came a stately, kindhearted damsel named Lear's Princess, who dared to look the “Belle of Belmont” in the eye. And when their brief skirmish was over, the Princess was being hailed “Queen Lear” by her large gathering of subjects from West Point Stable.
  • The Invasion Begins
    A Spanish owner and a British trainer are overheard conversing in French following a grade I victory on turf. Welcome to the Belmont Park fall meeting. It is here that the best American grass horses and their trainers and owners get their annual reality check from Europe's advance guard. 
     
  • Law of the Land
    Following another blowout by Lawyer Ron in Saturday's Woodward Stakes (gr. I), we're down to one champion-caliber older horse who looks capable of withstanding this year's 3-year-old juggernaut in the Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (gr. I). 
     
  • Classic Picture Looking Bright
    A long-range look at how the Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (gr. I) is shaping up, ranked in order, and with the latest odds in the Wynn Las Vegas Race Book. 
  • A Road Less Traveled
    There was the rubber match between Street Sense and Curlin in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Didn't Happen. There was the showdown between the two in the Travers Stakes (gr. I). Not going to happen. There was Rags to Riches headlining Lady's Day at Belmont for the CCA Oaks (gr. I). Didn't Happen. There was Rags in the Saratoga limelight for the Alabama. Not going to happen. 
     
  • America's Love Affair With Rags
    It was exactly noon when the Brook Ledge van came to a stop at the loading ramp on the Oklahoma training track, a short distance away from Todd Pletcher's barn. Arriving from Belmont Park following the four-hour ride was the queen of American racing, Rags to Riches. This was a scene many thought would never be played out. 
     
  • A Sense of Saratoga
    Street Sense is back and so is Rags to Riches. All is once again right with the racing world. If Curlin emerges victorious from next week's Haskell Invitational Handicap (gr. I), then the Breeders' Cup World Championships will have the star power it so desperately needs. 
     
  • Life After Invasor
    If there is one sad fact racing fans have come to reluctantly accept, it is that its monarchs’ time on the throne is short-lived. Not one of the past four Horses of the Year stayed around to defend his title. The only Horse of the Year in the past six years to be given a shot of repeating was the filly, Azeri.