Ellis Starr

This Saturday’s Grade 1, $3 Million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes features a field of 12 plus two also-eligibles that includes five Grade 1 stakes winners as well as one group one winner from Chile and three Grade 2 stakes winners. Leading the field in notoriety is Cyberknife, coming off a head defeat last November […]

This Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes kicks off the Road to the Kentucky Derby series at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., which includes the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby. Eight colts signed up to run, including Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes winner Instant Coffee. The other Lecomte entrant proven […]

Most of the 10 entrants in this Saturday’s $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park have very good credentials; in fact, the combined earnings of the field is more than $6 million. Topping the list is last year’s Fifth Season winner Rated R Superstar ($1.7 million), who has 13 career wins including the similar Jeffrey […]

Eight newly-turned 3-year-olds have been entered in Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes, in which the top five finishers earn points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby system (10–4–3–2–1). In terms of recent efforts at the highest level, we start with Arctic Arrogance, who finished second last month in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes after winning […]

Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes drew a full field of 12, plus one also-eligible, running nine furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park. Many are accomplished stakes performers, such as recent Grade 3 Knickerbocker Stakes winner King Cause and recent Mohawk Stakes winner City Man, who has won three stakes from his last four […]

A field of nine 3-year-olds is expected to run in the Grade 1, $300,000 Runhappy Malibu Stakes, the traditional opening day feature of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting in Arcadia, Calif. It is a strong group, led by two-time Grade 1 winner Taiba, trained by Bob Baffert and coming into the race off a third-place […]

This Saturday’s $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes is a traditional December showcase for 2-year-olds just starting out on the Road to the Derby, with points to the first five finishers which could become critical next spring in determining who can run in the Kentucky Derby if their connections choose to do so. Trainer Steve Asmussen, […]

The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes brings together a field of seven 2-year-old fillies hoping to earn points on the “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” and stamp themselves as horses to watch in 2023. There are no stakes winners in this group, with the best finish in a stakes belonging to Uncontrollable when second in the […]

This Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap brings together a field of six, including two millionaires and one on the brink of achieving that status. Leading the field in achievements and earnings is Mind Control, winner of 11 races in his career and accounting for $1.7 million in earnings. Coming off a win (via […]

The Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes is a very important race for 2-year-old males on the early “Road to the Derby” and could give us a number of top horses to watch as 3-year-olds. Last year’s winner, Smile Happy, went on to finish second in this year’s Risen Star Stakes and Blue Grass […]