Horse Racing Sense

Two inches can change how a horse looks on paper. At a sale, a 16-hand colt and a 15.2-hand colt may bring different expectations before they ever walk into the ring. In pony competition, even a small measurement difference can determine eligibility. Knowing how to measure a horse correctly is not just a technical detail — it is part of understanding the horse in front of...

Booked dominated the Sanford by 6 lengths. Three weeks later, Twinkle Town beat him wire to wire in the Saratoga Special. Two early Derby storylines, already colliding, before most fans are even thinking about next spring. From an ownership perspective, though, August isn’t about picking a Derby favorite – it’s about figuring out which of these young horses actually has t...

Sovereignty answered the only question that mattered at Saratoga: was the champion we saw last summer still in there? After two disappointing starts to open his 4-year-old season, the reigning Horse of the Year returned to his old form with a last-to-first run through the 2026 Whitney Stakes field.

Sovereignty won the 2026 Whitney Stakes (Grade...

The Whitney has long been one of the summer’s defining horse races. It is more than a Grade 1 trophy — it is one of the few August races that can reshape the Breeders’ Cup Classic picture before the championship season arrives. The 2026 version puts the older-horse...

Renegade won the 2026 Jim Dandy Stakes, rallying from as far back as 11 1/2 lengths under a patient Irad Ortiz Jr. to run down favored Commandment by a half-length in 1:49.08 for the 1 1/8 miles. The win gave Todd Pletcher a record-extending ninth Jim Dandy victory and capped a five-win day for Todd Pletcher, four of them shared with owner Mike Repole, a...