Going to squeeze another blog in and capture the final Kentucky Derby prep of the year, the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. Going to handicap this exclusively off the charts which tell a very complete story. The track has been playing kindly to horses within 1 length of the early lead and I expect that to continue today. Horses drawn inside...

Let's discuss one of my favorite turf races, and one I've been lucky enough to watch in person. A Friday Grade 1 race on the turf is the Makers Mark Mile. Grab yourself a shot of bourbon and wager on this superb race. They've been off the turf this week so I suspect the race will be on softer ground...

Fun Florida Derby card with 10 stakes races culminating with the Grade 1 Florida Derby. The pace of this race looks legit with Hades, Le Dom Bro, Fierceness and maybe Seminole Chief all prominent early but I don't think it will be so fast as to be a major factor in the handicapping process. The race also features a short...

No G2 or G1 races this week so we'll cover the Whitmore Stakes at Oaklawn. There are no Whitmores in this field and this is a soft G3. Pace of the race appears tepid with only two "T" horses with ES>100.

A sucker for a G1 race named after Beholder. The pace of the race looks fair. There are no real speed burners. You'll see 2 "F" horses and 2 strong "T" horses in the chart above. It will be an advantage to be on or close to the lead.

The difficulty in analyzing these 3yo Kentucky Derby preps is that many horses are very lightly raced and rapidly improving. In the 2024 Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday 3/2/24, four of the nine starters have won a single race or less. Four of the nine starters are exiting a race at 7F or less. It is always difficult to...

On Saturday 2/24/24 at Oaklawn Park we have a key Kentucky Derby Prep, the G2 Rebel Stakes. They will race 1 1/16th miles for $1.25M. Full field of 13 drawn in.