HorseRacingNation.com NewsWire

Preakness 2013: Oxbow pulls off the 15-1 upset!

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:52:35 GMT

The rain held off, the track was fast, and on this relatively cool spring day in Baltimore, Oxbow pulled off the 15-1 Preakness upset!

Oxbow got off well after briefly brushing Will Take Charge, wrangling the very early lead from Goldencents as the horses passed the grandstand for the first time. Itsmyluckyday and Titletown Five were behind the early leaders as the horses rushed for the first turn. The Kentucky Derby winner, Orb, bobbled a bit at the start and was sixth early along the inside and looked comfortable in the early stages. The early speed we expected from Govenor Charlie was not present this day.

The horses basically held position throughout most of the backstretch. The front-running Oxbow set very reasonable fractions of 23.4, 48.3, and 1:13.1 and never let his foes get within a length and a half of his lead. Orb showed more of a sense of urgency earlier on in the race than he did in the Derby. He seemed to begin using his energy right before the far turn to get up to third. He seemed to struggle trying to catch up to the leader Oxbow and started to fade. The horses

Preakness 2013 – A Dark (and 80’s style) Preview

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:00:48 GMT

Welcome to the most tubular (to the max) preview of the 2013 Preakness! We will take a radical and gnarly look at this year’s field! Like totally, let’s go!

Looking at some of the past Preakness races, some of my totally favorite runnings were in the 80’s! Some of my favorite runners (which did NOT totally gag me with a spoon) were Alysheba, Risen Star, and Sunday Silence! After taking the Kentucky Derby in 1987, Alysheba went on to win the Preakness beating rival Bet Twice by half of a length. The next year Risen Star made an impressive run for Louie Roussel by winning the mile and 3/16 race by 1 1/4 lengths! Below, you can watch Sunday Silence nose out arch rival Easy Goer for the victory in one of the most exciting Preakness' ever!!

RUN RUN AWAY

Like, the most righteous horse in the Preakness field has to be Orb! The Kentucky Derby winner was totally awesome in the ten furlong jaunt on Churchill’s sloppy track. I’m so totally sure that Orb will make the other horses ask, “what have I done to deserve this?” His recent works have been totally awes

Derby Preview - Dark Horse Style

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:51:34 GMT

It’s almost here! The first Saturday in May where millions upon millions of dollars are wagered on the biggest race of the year! As my friend Eric always says, there are many ways to slice up the handicapping pie. Are you a pace ‘capper, a trip ‘capper, a speed ‘capper, or do you just pick by name? Do you prefer gray horses or jockey silks colors? Well I’ll give you my analysis of this year’s Kentucky Derby – Dark Horse Style! Here we go (and good luck to all!)

(Run For The Roses - Dan Fogelberg... a nice way to set the tone)

First, before we get into the race analysis, I’d like to mention hOw prominent the letter ‘O’ is in this year’s derby. WhOa. Look, we have Orb, OxbOw and Overanalyze. Then we have VerrazanO, Black Onyx, RevOlutiOnary, GOlden SOul, NOrmandy InvasiOn and GOldencents. Play all of them in a $0.10 superfecta box and that will only cost you $302.40.

Now the extended weather forecast is also calling for a bit of rain. And when I say a bit, there could be as much as one inch of rain throughout the day on Saturday. Sure the track has an amazing drainage sy

Kentucky Derby 2013: He Said Orb

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:47:02 GMT

As Kentucky Derby 139 draws near everyone is asking themselves who is the top candidate, who has the best chance to get to the wire first. Many look at this year’s class and wonder who has the best pedigree, speed, and stamina.

Itsmyluckyday, the choice of Dead Heat Debates’ Laura Pugh, may have fast Beyer numbers, but how much does that really matter? Horses running in the derby need more than just Beyer numbers, they need both speed and stamina to get the full 10 furlongs. That’s why my choice for the derby has been the same all along, and that is Orb. I’ll compare the two horses and prove that Orb will outrun Itsmyluckyday.

First off, let’s look at the pedigrees. It’s obvious that Orb has the pedigree more consistent with a runner who is going to have some stamina. The broodmare sire for Itsmyluckyday, Doneralie Court, was more of a seven furlong specialist. Sure, we know about the accomplishments of Lawyer Ron, but on the dam side, I just don’t see the ability to get the distance. With Orb it’s a whole different story. Now wh

The Travelin' Men...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:01:46 GMT

Good evening world! While there isn’t any possible chance that I’ve been to as many race tracks as Brian Zipse, I recently added two more to my list. Arlington Park communications master and press box czar Dave Zenner and I completed the daily double driving to both Laurel and Charles Town in the same day. What you are about to witness is real. The participants are not actors. They are the actual people who have already either lost their minds or drove a long way to appear at various Eastern race tracks. Both parties at the tracks have agreed to admit their looniness and have their stories told here here, in our forum: The Dark Horse Blog.

(Laurel Park Entrance)

It was a typical overcast last winter day as Dave and I began the trek up Interstate 95 from my new home in Richmond, through Washington DC, and to La

Dark Horse’s 2012 Illinois Champions Ballot!

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 13:06:21 GMT

In my final act in covering Chicago racing on a full-time basis, here are my choices for the 2012 Illinois Champions! Let’s see how my selections compare to that of Mr. Zipse at the Track! The way the voting works here is that you provide your 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd best selections for each category. Then points are awarded on a 5-3-1 basis and totaled up to see who wins. Finally you write-in your vote for Illinois horse of the year! Here we go…

2-Year-Old Male: Chatfield Road

This gelding scored a perfect 2-for-2 in his rookie campaign in 2012. He obliterated a maiden claiming field by 14 lengths in mid-November then a month later won the Jim Edgar Futurity Stakes by a head over my second choice, Lassell. Chatfield Road has been resting since the stakes victory and I’m anxious to see what we get out of him in 2013!

(Other choices: Lassell, Emile)

2-Year-Old Female: My Option

Here, the gray filly dominated over the rest of the choices in my opinion. This granddaughter of Danzig just needed to stretch out after just missing in a maiden sprint at Arlington. She went to the turf and score

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:19:46 GMT

I’m sure most of you remember the one hit wonder “Closing Time” by the band Semisonic, right? In that song there is a line that states, “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end…” Well very recently I took a new job in the Richmond, Virginia area and with that, my time as the Chicago Dark Horse has come to an end. However all is not lost…there is a new beginning…

By using the power of such great inventions such as TV, internet, Facebook, Xpressbet, iPhones, and horseracingnation.com, I will still be able to provide “exclusive” coverage of horse racing through my NEW blog, THE DARK HORSE!

I’m very excited and honored that I will still be able to blog for the HRN team and I will be able to branch out a bit and cover more racing other than just my hometown tracks in Chicago! Don’t get me wrong though, Arlington and Hawthorne are still my favorite!

In addition to covering racing on more of a national scale, I’ll also be able to cover the Colonial Downs meet this summer for all of you there at my new home track! I’ve never been to that track, but from what I und

My Favorite Chicago Racing Moments of 2012

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:23:13 GMT

So it seems that a lot of people, writers, and bloggers are putting together favorite and “best of” lists for this last year. I have decided to join the parade and will share with you my own list of my favorite moments from the world of Chicago racing in 2012.

Here we go!

Done Talking winning the Illinois Derby

On a very nice day in April, by Chicago standards, Done Talking earned his berth into the Kentucky Derby by winning the 55^th running of the Illinois Derby. Jockey Sheldon Russell comes to town to guide Done Talking to a ¾ length victory over Rosie Napravnik and Morgan’s Guerrilla in a race that was truly up for grabs. HRN’s own handicapper extraordinaire Jasen Mangrum nailed this winner at 12-1! I really enjoyed my very first ever Illinois Derby experience and I hope to be there again in the future!

Getting destroyed by Jim Miller & hanging with Peter Galassi

After taking down Jim Miller in the fall version of the weekly Jim Vs. contest, I decided to try to beat him again this last spring. Let’s just say I shot a round of blanks and had l

… And Goodwill Towards Equines

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 19:47:38 GMT

Yes, recent events in the news have been difficult to believe, understand, and comprehend. It shows that we may not be as far along as a society as most of us would like to be. Still, through all of the pain and strife in this world it’s good to know that there are a few good souls attempting to do the right thing. In this case, I’d like to focus on a horse named Silver Option, and a colt named Magna Fortuna and his amazing journey to the starting gate this upcoming Wednesday at Hawthorne.

So it all started with an e-mail I received from Gail Vacca who is the President and founder of the Illinois Equine Humane Center who gave me the tip on this story. Let me give you some background.

A couple of years ago, Gail was in the process of doing what she normally does; finding Illinois-bred horses destined for the kill pen. That’s where, in 2009 in Indiana, she found an extremely lame mare whom she didn’t know much about at the time. Unfortunately, the mare was purchased by another buyer (a very

Catching Up!

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:27:33 GMT

Greetings one and all! It’s been a while since my last blog (and think all the way back to the Hawthorne Gold Cup too) and I really need to play catch up. So here we go… what’s been happening at Hawthorne, in Chicago, or with me over the last six weeks or so? I think I’ll go in chronological order here.

It all started with Hawthorne’s opening weekend and the Gold Cup. Pool Play made the 16-1 splash in this Grade 1 affair coming from behind to score the victory. I really thought Alternation was the class of the race, and especially after Nates Mineshaft had scratched that he would have it easy. I threw a couple of bucks on Pool Play since his only dirt win was a Grade 1 victory…

Then the next weekend the “rent” was paid as Two Months Rent ($43.20 to win) with Jesus Castanon aboard took home the Grade 3 Hawthorne Derby on a soggy turf course going a 1 1/8 miles in a waterlogged 1:52.2. Castanon noted after the race, “He gave me exactly what we expected. He was very comfortable and traveling fine. I just got him outside, gave him room to run and he picked it up; he went on and did his b