When Jerry Crawford and his wife, Linda, first saw a son of Uncle Mo out of the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, it wasn't a full-blown case of love at first sight.
Over the last 10 years, the $750,000 Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park has churned out Grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winners with impressive regularity.
For the sixth year in a row, America’s Best Racing is challenging some of the brightest minds in horse betting to come up with their top three picks for key races every weekend leading up to the 2022 Triple Crown and then continuing through the 2022 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. The handicappers face off in what we like to call the “Big Race Showdown.”
An excellent field has turned out to contest Saturday’s $1 million, Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. The 1 1/8-mile Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race has attracted a dozen entries, led by a Grade 1 winner, a Grade 2 winner, a stakes winner, and five others who have placed at the graded stakes level.
The significance of the Wood Memorial Stakes goes far and above the $750,000 purse. For all but one of the eight starters, how they fare in Saturday’s Grade 2 race at Aqueduct will determine whether they will run next month in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.
