By Eclipse Award-Winning Writer Sean Clancy, St Publishing
(Reprinted with permission from our friends at This Is Horse Racing)
Just as The Special did during the summer of 2012 at Saratoga, we’ll provide some nuggets of wisdom from Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens . . .
Editor’s Note: This article gets updated frequently so be sure to check back often. The dates below are when we posted the quote. The conversations have taken place over the years at Saratoga, Belmont, Florida, anywhere we could sit or stand or walk with The Chief.
The Chief’s Words are brought to you by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.
March 10: “You know Assault was a nice horse. You look up his record. I’ll never forget, when he was a 4-year-old and I was at Aqueduct, I was 16 or 17, anyway, he came over there, he was stabled at Belmont and worked a mile and an eighth on Thursday, he was running on Saturday. He worked with two horses. He won going a mile and a quarter, carrying 135 pounds. It’s amazing, the concept has completely turned around. Being around horses, I always say, a horse can be his own worst enemy, he’ll give you more when he’s light on his feet and fresh, but it’ll ruin him. That’s what make it so tough to train. You’ll get away with running a horse that’s extra fit and they win and then you figure that’s what you do with all of them. But you don’t know which ones it really hurts in the end. Same thing with riders. I think hard-whipping jocks shorten the life of a horse. You take some jocks, they never stay with a 2-year-old and all the way through his 3-year-old year. It’s hard to figure out, which is right, which is wrong, which proves to be right, which proves to be wrong.” Read more
Click here for Jude Feld’s stakes selections at Gulfstream and Fair Grounds.
By Rich Nilsen.
(Reprinted with permission from our friends at A Game of Skill)
Trainer Chad Stewart has been on a tear since the Tampa Bay Downs meeting opened in early December, scoring with 35 percent of his starters, 8 winners in total. Every horse of his has to be seriously considered. At first glance it looked he might add to that impressive win total with Misidentified in the finale (race 10) on Wednesday, January 9.
The Singletary mare was making her second start off a layoff, had a race over the track, and was getting a switch to 15% rider Jose Garcia. She came up solid on the class and speed figures and was a competitive 3rd on the BRIS Prime Power Rating. Best of all, based on her debut, it looked like she could sit a good trip in this weak field of $8,000 maiden claiming runners. Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
Race 4 – Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1)
NOBLE TUNE has been perfect in both his starts. He owns a nice turn of foot and no doubt will benefit from a fast pace. He has trained well for this race and should be right there at the wire. KNOW MORE has always had a touch of class. The Doug O’Neill-trained juvenile will try the turf for the first time, but his polytrack races at Del Mar were excellent and he has the pedigree to make the transition. DUNDONNELL is the top European invader on recent form. He hails from the powerful Juddmonte Stable and they didn’t ship him to California to get hot and dirty. BROWN ALMIGHTY has been running big races on the turf all summer. He should be on all your exotic tickets at his ridiculous 20-1 morning line. DRY SUMMER has beaten both Power Broker and Title Contender and cannot be ignored in his return to turf. Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
Race 4 – The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint
MERIT MAN has a slight pace advantage over his chief rival SUPER NINETY NINE so we will give him the edge in the Breeders’ Cup opener. HIGHTAIL will be flying late and could pick up the pieces if a speed duel develops. Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
Mike Penna and I will be hosting LEXUS, the sponsors of our popular “Equine Forum” radio show, at Keeneland this afternoon as they also sponsor the Raven Run (G2) at the Lexington track. Here is a copy of the selection sheet that the guests will receive: Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
When Oakland A’s catcher George Kottaras hit an important game-winning home run against the Texas Rangers in the final throes of the 2012 season, he said, “We stuck to our game plan.” Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
I just had one of the best winning streaks of my life. Several factors contributed to the rarified air I was breathing, most importantly the weather, which was about as spectacular as one could imagine during upstate New York and Chicago summers. Focused handicapping and solid betting also played their part. It is never a bad thing when you get to know your mutuel clerk on a first name basis. Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
Equibase handicapper Ellis Starr and I have been friends for over a decade. Both Kentucky transplants from California, we share a love of Thoroughbred racing and a fascination with the puzzles of handicapping. He was my regular cohort during my stint as host for, “Today in Thoroughbred Racing,” a weekly radio show devoted to the betterment of the sport and the intricacies of playing the horses. Read more
By Jude “Pontiff of the Pick Four” Feld
The Whitney Handicap (G1) was run last Saturday and all week long at Saratoga we were treated to replays of Onion beating the great Secretariat in the historic event. It was one of Thoroughbred racing’s biggest upsets of the last century and people talked about it at water coolers, bars and kitchen tables for weeks. Read more
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