Let the Sunshine In
Yazan: Paul | 27 January 2012 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
On Saturday January 28, Gulfstream Park in South Florida will present its “Florida Sunshine Millions” racing program. The program features six stake races restricted to Florida-bred horses. Sunshine Millions this year will be different from prior years. Prior years featured Florida-breds and California-breds racing against each other in stakes that alternated between in venue between [...]
Wintering with Juvenile Statebreds Part 2
Yazan: Paul | 09 December 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Born in Oklahoma in 1946, Jim Edgar served two terms in the 1990s as Governor of Illinois. Governor Edgar is a rare species: an honest Illinois politician, as the Prairie State would then have two consecutive governors who each have faced criminal charges and prison sentences. He maintained and left office with favorable approval ratings. [...]
Wintering with Juvenile Statebreds Part 1
Yazan: Paul | 02 December 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Patricia (Pat) A. Wentworth (1936-2011) served for many years as an executive board member of the Illinois Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Foundation, ITBOF, (www.itbof.net), a “not-for-profit service corporation, representing Illinois breeders and owners and dedicated to the growth and development of the Illinois state-bred incentive program for Thoroughbreds.” While President of the ITBOF board, the [...]
Hawthorne’s Post-Thanksgiving Leftovers
Yazan: Paul | 25 November 2011 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
The biggest event at Hawthorne this weekend doesn’t take place on the track. Rather, Hawthorne will hold a qualifier to the NTRA/DRF National Handicapping Challenge. The event also serves as the final leg of a meet-long handicapping series. Players will spend their race days looking to turn one hundred dollars into one of the event’s ten [...]
Making (and Playing) an Allowance at Hawthorne
Yazan: Paul | 19 November 2011 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
After a week off for the Breeders’ Cup, Paul Mazur returns home to Hawthorne. Without a major stakes on the calendar in the month of November, we look for our plays in the allowance ranks in one of Saturday’s two features. Hawthorne – Race 5 – N2X/$35K-$25K Allowance Optional Claimer (AOC) (Turf) – Post time [...]
Delta Destiny – Princess and Jackpot Stakes Start Triple Crown Aspirations
Yazan: Dylan | 17 November 2011 | 2 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
On Saturday Delta Downs in Vinton, LA will host two races that could have Kentucky Oaks and Derby implications come springtime. The Million Dollar Delta Downs Jackpot S. (G3) effectively kicks off the 2012 road to the Triple Crown. The Delta Jackpot has been known for producing exciting finishes (dead heat in 2007) and a [...]
Breeders’ Cup Sprint Preview
Yazan: Steve | 05 November 2011 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Brian Hoffacker (aka Ghostzapper04) of the Trip Handicapping blog reviews the field in today’s BC Sprint. It figures to be an exciting race. BC Sprint – Churchill Downs Race 5 – Post Time 2:37 (Eastern) #1 EUROEARS (4-1) – 7 year old horse (Speed) Once the doors spring open for the Sprint, we’ll know within [...]
Breeders’ Cup Challenge – WirePlayers vs Hello Race Fans
Yazan: Derek | 03 November 2011 | 4 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
In addition to our own picks and analysis, this year the handicappers from WirePlayers are going head-to-head in a BC challenge against the handicappers from Hello Race Fans. Each member will pick a winner for each race, with five points towards the overall score for a win, two for a place finish and one point for [...]
Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic & Dirt Mile Preview
Yazan: Paul | 03 November 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
For an in-depth analysis on the two-day Breeders’ Cup program, here’s Paul Mazur’s take on Friday’s Ladies Classic and Saturday’s Dirt Mile. Churchill Downs — Friday — Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic — Race 10, post time 7:30 ET ROYAL DELTA clearly needed the first race at Saratoga in the CCA Oaks, and she beat IT’S [...]
A Late-Season Turf Treat — Hawthorne’s Halloween Weekend
Yazan: Paul | 29 October 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
For most, Halloween weekend either means donning a costume, attending a party, or giving out to candy to those who come to the door. For handicappers, it’s a respite as most look forward to next week’s Breeders’ Cup. Paul Mazur (@heylaserbeam) looks at two overnight grass stakes for two-year-olds at Hawthorne this weekend, seeing if [...]
High on Grass – Jamaica, First Lady & Shadwell Turf Mile Edition
Yazan: Derek | 07 October 2011 | 3 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
With only four weeks until the Breeders Cup, this weekend offers the last round of significant prep races before the big day. In honor of his one-year anniversary writing for WirePlayers, Derek Brown returns to the races from his maiden post with a trio of Saturday’s G1 stakes from Belmont and Keeneland Belmont Race [...]
Weekend Stakes Racing Action
Yazan: Steve | 30 September 2011 | 3 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
This weekend is a Stakes Players’s dream with 18 graded stakes races headlined by Belmont Park’s “Super Saturday.” In addition to the Saturday’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Belmont, this is opening weekend for Santa Anita’s fall meet (once traditionally held by the Oak Tree Racing Association). Perhaps the most interesting, and best betting races, [...]
A Saturday Salad of Stakes Quick Picks
Yazan: Derek | 23 September 2011 | 4 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
If fall stakes races were a gourmet meal, the Breeders Cup would be the lobster tail and filet mignon and next weekend would be a hearty appetizer of steamed mussels or crab-stuffed mushrooms. Thus, in keeping with the metaphor, Saturday afternoon offers a nice Caesar salad of stakes around the country. While they likely won’t [...]
High on Grass – Woodbine Weekend Turf Stakes Edition
Yazan: Derek | 16 September 2011 | 9 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
This weekend’s best turf stakes take place north of the border at Woodbine Racetrack, headlined by Sunday’s G1 Woodbine Mile. Saturday offers a preview of the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf races, and Sunday showcases the older turf division. In an odd twist, none of the stakes are part of any all-stakes multi-race wagers, but Derek [...]
Belmont Park Fall Championship Meet
Yazan: Dylan | 08 September 2011 | 5 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
While some may be sad that Saratoga meet is over, there is still plenty to look forward to this fall at Belmont Park. The fall “Championship Meet” at Belmont is arguably the strongest in the country with its series of prep races leading up to the Breeders Cup, horse racing’s year ending championship. The opening [...]
