Horse Racing News

In the last couple of years, Czechers has been sent to Turf Paradise to win two stakes.

Layoffs and pace are central handicapping issues in Saturday's Beaugay and Fort Marcy, a pair of Grade 3, $100,000 stakes scheduled, respectively, for the inner and Widener turf courses at 1 1/16 miles.

Informed Decision won the Vinery Madison Stakes at Keeneland in her 2009 debut, and three weeks later won the Humana Distaff Handicap on Derby Day.

Just as an off track could affect the outcome of Saturday's Kentucky Derby, forecasted heavy rainfall Saturday may play a role in deciding the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic in the race preceding the Derby.

The best thing about the Kentucky Derby is that you never know what's going to happen.

With the Breeders' Cup Sprint and Dirt Mile to be run later this year at Churchill Downs, it's little wonder that trainers with long-term prospects for those events are getting in a race over the track when they can.

If a swift pace may be the undoing of front-runners in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, the same could happen to 3-year-old grass horses in the Grade 2, $175,000 American Turf Stakes on Friday.

Turned out Steve Asmussen had little impact on the Kentucky Derby trail in 2010, which is not to say that Asmussen won't have a say in the proceedings on Kentucky Derby Day.

Rachel Alexandra was the undisputed star of the 2009 Kentucky Oaks. On Friday, the reigning Horse of the Year may overshadow even the tradition-rich Oaks itself.

The California Horse Racing Board has suspended trainer Jeff Mullins for 30 days and fined him $2,500 for a drug violation that occurred in 2008.