The Week in Review

The Week in Review - Last month, when parties on both sides of a pending class-action lawsuit over computer-assisted wagering (CAW) argued in federal court over allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of small-scale horseplayers, the defendants in the case-the New York Racing Association (NYRA), The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Racing and Gaming Services (RGS), AmTote International, United Tote, and Elite Turf Club-wrote letters to the judge purporting that plaintiff Ryan Dickey was using...

The GI Kentucky Derby aspirants Paladin (Gun Runner) and Renegade (Into Mischief) have a nice little rivalry going after facing each other twice in the span of seven weeks at Aqueduct. Even though the Chad Brown-trained Paladin ($1.9 million FTSAUG) has bested the Todd Pletcher-trained Renegade ($975,000 KEESEP) both times-once via DQ on Oct. 17, and an outright win Saturday in the GII Remsen Stakes-the two colts might not be as far apart as their records indicate. Paladin (owned by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Brook Smith, Peter...

Delta Downs decided to give horseplayers an unprecedented break last week. For their daytime cards on Tuesday and Wednesday, the track lowered the takeout in all pools to just 10%. While other tracks have experimented with lowering the takeout in some pools, never before had anyone decided to slash the take in all pools. By doing so, it looked like Delta would provide the industry with some much needed data. What effect would such a low takeout have on handle and how would the ADWs and the CAW players react?...

Historical Horse Race (HHR) gambling is not explicitly legal in Florida. But on Oct. 28, an online sportsbook in that state run by the Seminole Tribe quietly rolled out an offshoot of it that, like versions of HHR that are purse-producing economic engines in states like Kentucky and Arkansas, mimics the look and feel of slot-machine play while generating payouts based on the results of archived races. Except in this new suite of betting opportunities, the results that drive the gameplay don't come from a library of past Thoroughbred races....

The Week In Review 1) Not only will this year's Breeders' Cup championships feature the 1-2-3 finishers from each of the 2024 and 2025 GI Kentucky Derbies, but the two champion 2-year-old males who each won the GI Juvenile in the past two seasons will also be in action. Sovereignty (Into Mischief), Journalism (Curlin) and Baeza (McKinzie) all finished within 1 ¾ lengths of each other in the Derby six months ago, and will all hook up in Saturday's GI Classic. Mystik Dan (Goldencents), 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun...

In an industry that always seems petrified by the idea of change, the announcement that a new performance-based rating system based on an Equibase algorithm is about to debut at Santa Anita probably didn't go over too well with horsemen.  Each horse will be assigned a number generated by Equibase and then races will be written using the system. One of the first races that may come up, if it fills, is open to horses rated between 80-95. The rating number is different from Equibase's speed figures. Santa Anita is...

Beyond the headline-worthy feat that Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World) provided trainer Ken McPeek with his record fifth win in Saturday's GIII Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs are several beneath-the-radar nuggets. For starters, even though McPeek has recently dominated a stakes that has a 56-year history, his victories in that fixture for 2-year-old fillies have all come since 2015, meaning that Taken by the Wind's 5 ¼-length score was the fifth by a McPeek trainee in the last 11 editions of that race. And it's not like all...

The late-striding Journalism (Curlin) is developing a knack for snatching Grade I victories from the jaws of defeat, but he has yet to be able to solve the riddle known as Sovereignty (Into Mischief). On Saturday at Monmouth Park, this athletic colt did his part to edge us closer to a possible Round 3 rematch of the top two finishers of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes. But on Sunday, with Journalism shipping back to California, the colt's connections made no commitment either way about renewing their rivalry...

1/ST Racing is looking at a lot of scenarios concerning the future of Gulfstream. There's decoupling, selling the property and building a casino. It's anybody's guess what 1/ST will eventually do with Gulfstream but to think that it will still be open for racing 10 years from now seems overly optimistic. Then again... It may be a small thing but Gulfstream announced on Friday that it will soon launch a state-of-the-art high resolution digital starting gate board. Gulfstream has partnered with BSV Digital to replace the static signage at the...

Yes, Bill Mott was loyal to Junior Alvarado, letting him ride Sovereignty (Into Mischief) in the GI Kentucky Derby after he missed the main prep in the GI Florida Derby. Alvarado fractured his shoulder blade in a Mar. 23 spill at Gulfstream and was sent to the sidelines. Manny Franco filled in for the Florida Derby and rode a fine race, guiding Sovereignty to a second-place finish. That opened the door to a number of possibilities. Mott could have kept Franco on the horse or he easily could have enticed...

It's an immense accomplishment to be one of the 20 Thoroughbreds out of the current sophomore crop of 17,146 to earn a coveted starting berth in the GI Kentucky Derby. But the cruel fate of a random post-position draw annually assigns the dreaded No. 1 gate to a single member of that elite set. Because the Derby is unmatched in American racing in its outsized stature and jumbo field size, so too is the stigma of breaking closest to the inside fence prior to the chaotic first-turn free-for-all, where primo...

Visually, there was a lot to like about Sovereignty's last-to-first score in Saturday's GII Fountain of Youth Stakes. The Godolphin homebred by Into Mischief closed with a flourish from well back after giving up four paths of real estate on the far turn. He needed to make up four lengths on an in-the-clear leader with one furlong remaining over Gulfstream's short-stretch configuration for 1 1/16-miles races (finish line at the sixteenth pole), and Junior Alvarado expertly timed this Bill Mott trainee's kick to earn a neck victory over no-quit 'TDN...