Jon Stettin’s Blog
The Pennsylvania Derby
A lot of eyes will be on Parx on Saturday. It is their biggest racing day of the year, and the feature is The Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Eleven three-year olds will line up for the cool one-million-dollar purse. They have a nice field assembled as they do for the Cotillion, the filly counterpart. Zandon will break from the rail under new pilot Joel Rosario. Personally, I feel Joel is a perfect fit for this
Belmont Jockey Club Oaks and Derby
They can call it what they like, it is still Aqueduct. Saturday they will run the Jockey Club Derby at a mile and a half. This three-year old turf race drew only six despite a hefty one million dollar purse. Flavien Prat will ride Classic Causeway for the first time and break from the rail. He should be on the lead looking to go two out of three against Nations Pride in their runner match.
The Turf Cup
It is hard not to like Kentucky Downs. Big fields, competitive racing, big payoffs, quality horses and riders, all over a tough but interesting European style turf course. The Turf Cup on Saturday drew 12 plus an also eligible for the cool One Million Dollar purse. Let us have a look, shall we? Red Knight makes his second start off a lay-off and his second start for Mike Maker. He likes the course, likes the
The 2022 Jockey Club Gold Cup
I remember when The Jockey Club Gold Cup was two miles. I remember when it was a mile and a half. Things change. Today it is at Saratoga not Belmont but at least it is still a mile and a quarter. While it may not be what it was, it is still a nice race and the running this year looks competitive. I don’t know anyone will come out of here and scare Flightline or
The 2022 Travers Stakes
How could I choose a different race to go over on Saturday? It just wouldn’t seem right. The Mid-summer Derby came up awfully interesting and has both championship and Breeders’ Cup Classic implications. If Charge It and Taiba were here it would have been one of the best Travers fields we’ve seen in a long time and it is still pretty good and very salty! One interesting note to start. No jockey in the
