That was arguably the best line for a Thoroughbred racing commercial ever written.
The Great Race Place opens her doors once again and that signifies the beginning of the 2016 racing season and the long and winding road to the Kentucky Derby.
Thanks to all who made our initial year a resounding success!
We have 17 races on the Boxing Day sheet. Good luck and all the best for a positive cash flow in 2016!
An event always laden with excellent wagering opportunities, this year's Claiming Crown did not disappoint. DODDSPRIVATELABEL sealed the deal for the Pontiff and his followers when he took the Claiming Crown Express at $27.
Pope Jude will be on hiatus until the form settles at Gulfstream and Santa Anita, with an eye on Sunshine Millions Day as the first full analysis of 2016.
In the meantime, check back here for tips and info.
Happy Holidays!
Last weekend we crushed them again.
The Claiming Crown sheet is up and is our swan song for the year.
Good luck!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Fresh off the heels of an eight winner day, the Pontiff nailed the $842.10 Pick Four at Churchill Downs last Saturday and four other winners on the 12-race sheet to make it back-to-back eight-winner days.
Saturday's stakes-heavy docket figures to supply some more entertaining wagering possibilities.
Would have been nine save for a disqualification.
Thanks to all who bought a sheet. We hope you at least made dinner money.
This Saturday Delta Downs takes over where Laurel Park left off with another festival day. With solid cards at Gulfstream Park West and Churchill Downs, plus a nice stakes at Aqueduct, we'll have plenty to entertain us.
Best of luck!
Thanks to everyone who purchased analysis sheets for the Breeders' Cup. Friday was a little slow but Saturday more than made up for it. How about that Mongolian Saturday? He set the tone for a big day.
Here's the tentative schedule for the rest of the year:
11-14 Featuring the Red Smith (G3) @ AQU, Mrs. Revere (G3) @ CD & Bob Hope (G3) @ DMR
11-21 Featuring the Cardinal (G3) @ CD & My Charmer (G3) & Tropical Park Turf (G3) @ GPW
11-28 Featuring 10 Graded Stakes including Cigar Mile (G1), Remsen (G2) & two more @ AQU
12-5 A full card Claiming Crown analysis for Gulfstream Park
The last two weeks Pope Jude has hosted the Xpress Bet Weekend Stakes Preview on Horse Racing Radio Network. The program, heard on Sirius/XM radio, affiliate stations around the country and via streaming on horseracingradio.net boasts thousands of listeners around the world. Due to his participation, there have been no Pope Jude analysis sheets, since most of his handicapping information was broadcast.
Friday night's show, with Equibase handicapper Ellis Starr, posted the following results:
Six for 12 with top picks $48 back, $73 and #256 exactas Second week in a row BOTH best bets won Stellar Path $13 Athenia Stakes Cactus Kris $12.20 Ontario Fashion Stakes Curvy $6.90 E P Taylor BEST BET Cannock Chase $7.50 Pattison Canadian International Pretty N Cool $3.80 Matron Kitten's Point $5 Dowager BEST BET $256 exacta Bye Bye Bernie/Summation Time - Nearctic Stakes $73 exacta Curvy/Talmada E P Taylor
There will be no sheets this weekend, but be sure to get our Breeders' Cup analysis for both Friday and Saturday, October 30 & 31.
Due to the extreme likelihood of inclement weather, off tracks, soggy turf courses and many late scratches for Keeneland's Fall Stars Weekend and Belmont Park's Breeders' Cup Preview Day, there will be no analysis reports this weekend.
Breeders' Cup is near and the next two Saturdays will feature many of the horses pointing to the World Championships at Keeneland. Enjoy this special priced report as we get ready for a major assualt on the windows at the end of October in Lexington.
With no straight three-year-old stakes on the Breeders' Cup docket, many track around the nation are featuring sophomores Saturday.
Parx features two $1 million events - the Grade 1 Cotillion for fillies run at a mile and a sixteenth and the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at a mile and an eighth - both on the dirt.
Laurel Park will run the Grade 2 $400,000 Commonwealth Derby at a mile and an eighth on the grass while Kentucky Downs presents the $200,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks, also on the sod.
Churchill Downs cards the Grade 3 $100,000 Dogwood at seven panels on the main track and Charles Town the $350,000 Grade 3 CT Oaks at the same distance.
Saturday's Pope Jude analysis will cover all these events and many of the undercard races surrounding them.
To celebrate Labor Day racing and thank our loyalists for a fantastic summer, Monday's report is specially priced at $5.
The report kicks off at Parx, with a possible upset in the Turf Monster (G3) at 4:31 ET and ends with the 10th at Del Mar at 9:40 ET, with 12 selected races in all.
Saratoga and Del Mar have four races each with single races from Parx, Ellis Park, Monmouth and Presque Isle Downs.
Let's end the summer with a bang as we roll toward Belmont, Santa Anita, Keeneland and the Breeders' Cup!
We've put together a special analysis sheet for Friday's New York-bred Day thinking some of you will be at #Pharoahtoga by then. It's a special $5 price too.
Looking forward to Travers Day. It should be an awesome card.
Let's #GetHot and #StayHot this weekend!
The HRRN racing tour has begun in earnest. The Racing Hall of Fame inductions, the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, tomorrow is Arlington Million Day and next week we'll be at the Pacific Classic. It's been great fun - especially the unscheduled 25 minutes we spent with Bob Baffert on the air from the sale and the hour "Trainer Talk" show with the Gai Waterhouse, Australia's greatest trainer. Both of those interviews can be heard at horseracingradio.net.
Saturday's sheet will cover selected Saratoga races, all the Arlington stakes and a few from Del Mar.
Best of luck!
To honor Horse racing Radio Network's "Saturday's at Saratoga" series of shows, we're offering this Saturday's analysis at half-price.
By popular demand, we'll have a full card analysis for William Hill Haskell Day on Sunday.
Due to inclement weather all over the place, today's analysis sheet is priced at $2.00. It covers DEL AP DMR & IND.
We ran a two-buck special on our Fourth of July sheet, hoping some occasional fans might have a little fun and a few winners on Independence Day. It certainly worked.
Bigger Picture ($15.60), Ready for Rye ($7.50) and the $79 exacta with Barrel of Love, the $220 exacta with Force the Pass and Canndal and the cold Private Zone-Clearly Now exacta to end the card.
Awesome day.
Granted it is a short one, but Royal Ascot is the fastest week of the year.
#3 POSTPONED is right there every time trainer Luca Cumani sends him to the post. The Hardwicke Stakes (G2), Saturday's 3rd Race, is not an easy spot but the son of Dubawi is reliable for a top try and has the talent to take the top prize. #1 EAGLE TOP will need to improve his final furlong to score here, but the John Gosden trainee may have been a tad short for his first start of 2015 at Sandown and should be much fitter this afternoon.
With a sharp second-place finish at Longchamp in his last start, #6 ROBERT LE DIABLE is a live longshot for an "each way" wager. He has been running well all year and should be a square price on the board.
The American contingent was outdone at Royal Ascot Friday, but what a run by Miss Temple City. Off at 21-1 on TVG, the Graham Motion trainee was upwards of 90-1 in Great Britain.
We are not rooters as a rule. Too many races, too many days in the press box, too many winners and many more losers - we are there to observe, to make note, to be objective. Yet we begged the filly to find more. We implored Johnny Velazquez to help her. We were so loud the rest in the Brickwall Tavern became silent, as they watched us beg and plead for triumph and at the very end, at least a placing.
Then condolences - from those that don't know it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. And oh, what a game Miss Temple City played.
Today's Royal Ascot card is all about the U.S.A., trainer Wesley Ward and my brother Bob.
The Albany Stakes (G3), featuring two-year-old fillies, is the 1st Race of the day. Trainer Wesley Ward sends out a pair. #11 LAXFIELD ROAD is by Quality Road. She broke her maiden by 11 lengths at Keeneland, widening her margin all the way. Jockey Frankie Dettori takes the reins today, as Joel Rosario, who rode her to that maiden score, opts for #3 BACK AT THE RANCH. That one has run twice with a first and a second, both with Rosario in the irons. A daughter of Artie Schiller, she doesn't own the early speed of her stablemate but her late kick is impressive.
#7 HOOTENANY won the Breeders'Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) in his final race of 2014. Back to racing at Keeneland on April 18, the Wesley Ward-trained son of Quality Road won an allowance race by six lengths. He owns a win at Royal Ascot, capturing the Windsor Castle Stakes last year and he'll be ridden by the great Ryan Moore. Cagey trainer George Weaver shipped his undefeated sprinter #3 CYCLOGENISIS across the pond for this difficult spot. The son of Stormy Atlantic has been breathtaking in all three of his starts. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez takes the mount this afternoon in what shapes up to be a great edition of the Commonwealth Cup (G1), the 3rd Race of the day.
The Coronation Stakes (G1) goes as the 4th Race. The story of #7 MISS TEMPLE CITY reads like a Hollywood script. Bred by my brother Bob, trainer H. Graham Motion has developed her into one of the the best animals in his yard. He holds her in the highest esteem and has been pointing to this race for quite a while. It is no easy spot, as there are at least five other fillies with more accomplished race records to contend with. Still, if Graham Motion tells you it's Easter, paint your eggs.