Horse Race Betting and Handicapping Articles

2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/31/2018

The Breeders' Cup has always struggled to figure out how to schedule their event. They have changed the order of the races and relegated the Juvenile to the Friday. It's a terrible move - this is the race that creates Kentucky Derby contenders, and they deserve better. Really, they need to find a way to make it all happen on one day to avoid these issues.

2018 Breeders' Cup Sprint Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/31/2018

Every year it is the same. The time comes to break down the Breeders' Cup Sprint. I roll up my sleeves and get started, but inevitably I wind up curled up into a ball, whimpering uncontrollably. This race is always total chaos. It makes as much sense as Kanye's career has the last year or two. I am perfectly capable of drawing meaning from a past performances, but when I read them for this race they all just disappear in a blur - probably because of the tears. I hate this race. I fear it. I am powerless in the face of it. But let's look at it in search of a winner, shall we? It's either that or stick my tongue in a wall plug.

2018 Breeders' Cup Mile Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/31/2018

I love the Breeders' Cup Mile. It's like a glimpse into European racing - this is a distance and surface that is much more popular and significant there than here. We get top American turf milers facing often less than the best of European milers, yet the Euros often have an edge. And we have seen some truly inspiring champions in this race - legendary three-time winner Goldikova, two-time champs Wise Dan, Miesque and Lure, and the great Tepin among them. It's like an injection of something different in the middle of the Breeders' Cup card, and I always look forward to it.

2018 Breeders' Cup Distaff Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/31/2018

The Distaff, which is back on Saturday where it belongs after too long headlining the Friday undercard, is always a great race. It really can't disappoint. The 2016, in which the great Beholder narrowly beat Songbird by the smallest possible margin, is one of the great races we have ever seen. And almost every year we see great horses giving their all to win this crown. It's the surest gem on the card every year. And this year promises to be no exception.

2018 Breeders' Cup Turf Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/31/2018

The first horse race I ever wrote about professionally was the 1997 Breeders' Cup Turf. The event was at Hollywood Park. I was fresh out of college, had a decent job, and wanted to fly down for the races. But I didn't want to pay for it. And the Turf saved me. Chief Bearheart, the favorite that year, was a Canadian like me. I convinced a beer company here that they needed to make him a hero, so they sent me down there to shadow the horse and document his win.

2018 Breeders' Cup Classic Expert Predictions and Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 10/30/2018

The Breeders' Cup Classic is a very interesting race this year. With the premature retirement of Triple Crown winner Justify, it lacks the one star everyone would love to see. And there isn't another superstar runner to take his place. But, in the absence of a great horse or a dominant favorite, what we are left with is a deep and wide-open race. A full field of 14 horses is entered to run in the race set to go to post at 5:44 pm ET from Churchill Downs, and you could make a legitimate case for 10 of them to come through here. It's the most wide-open Classic I ever remember seeing.

2018 Champagne Stakes Expert Picks with Odds and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 10/4/2018

I am a sucker for the big two-year-old colt stakes of the fall leading up to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. It's our first chance to see the top horses that will be contending for glory in the Kentucky Derby. And of all the races out there, by far my favorite is the Champagne Stakes, which will be contested this Saturday at Belmont Park. The history in this race is amazing. Triple Crown winners Seattle Slew and Count Fleet won here.

2018 Santa Anita Stakes Races Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2018

As the Breeders' Cup nears, we are treated to one of the great race weekends of the year. Both Santa Anita and Belmont have incredibly-stacked race cards as top horses fight to earn a spot in the Breeders' Cup and to prove that they are ready for their best effort on the big day. Santa Anita's opening weekend features four Grade 1 stakes on Saturday, and each one promises to be very good. Here's a look at each:

2018 Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion Stakes Expert Picks with Betting Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 9/20/2018

Saturday is the one day of the year when Parx Racing in Philadelphia is relevant in the national racing scene. A purse north of $1 million and good timing for colts looking to make the Breeders' Cup has made the Pennsylvania Derby a significant race in recent years, with winners like West Coast, Frosted and Bayern putting their stamp on this race. And another million-dollar purse has drawn the top three-year-old fillies to Philly for a typically great race in the Cotillion Stakes. Both fields this year are strong and fascinating. Here's a look at how the races break down:

2018 Woodbine Mile Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 9/12/2018

So, why do we care about the Woodbine Mile - besides the obvious fact that it is in Canada, and everything in Canada is awesome, of course? Well, it's a factory for Breeders' Cup success, and we love having success on Breeders' Cup weekend. World Approval won both the Woodbine MIle and the Breeders' Cup Mile last year, and he was far from the first.

2018 Woodward Stakes Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/30/2018

This is the closing weekend of the Saratoga meet, and the Woodward Stakes is the highlight of the action. And there is no way around it - this is a very weird edition of the race. This is a very significant race. Gun Runner used it as his final prep before his Breeders' Cup Classic win last year. And many other great horses have won it in recent times - Rachel Alexandra, Curlin, Havre de Grace, Ghostzapper, Mineshaft, and so on.

2018 Travers Stakes Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/23/2018

The Travers Stakes, the biggest race of the year exclusively for three-year-olds outside of the Triple Crown, is a little bittersweet this year. It was the likely return to action for Triple Crown hero Justify, but he's already retired and easing into stud life in Kentucky. But despite the absence of the obvious headliner, this is a truly fascinating race - and one that will be a joy to watch. Taking place at Saratoga in upstate New York on Saturday, 11 runners have signed up, and several have a real chance here.

2018 Pacific Classic Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/16/2018

I'll admit that I am completely and unapologetically a Saratoga guy. Saratoga and Del Mar are, of course, the two big summer meets. And even though my favorite trainer and several of my favorite jockeys are West Coast guys, I can't shake the feeling in my head that Del Mar is where you would go only if you couldn't get good seats at Saratoga. It's not fair - the setting is beautiful, the track is back to being dirt after the disastrous foray into synthetics in California, and the horses there are top-class. And there are some very good races there - like the Pacific Classic this weekend.

Arlington Million, Secretariat and Beverly D. Expert Betting Picks and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/8/2018

Arlington is only relevant one day per year anymore. However, when the once-great track in the Chicago area does it, they do it right. They have only three Grade 1 races on their calendar, and when they are run on the second weekend of August each year they make up the best turf card of the year in North America. The Arlington Million is a major Breeders' Cup Turf prep race, and in 1981 it became the first race to run for a purse of $1 million - the great John Henry won it for the first of two times.

2018 Whitney Stakes Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 8/1/2018

The Whitney Stakes is one of the great jewels of the greatest race meet in North America - the summer at Saratoga. The Grade 1 race for a $1.25 million purse is for older male horses and is run at a mile and an eighth. It comes at pretty much a perfect time for horses serious about a run to the Breeders' Cup Classic, and it has been a fertile proving ground in recent years - in the last 20 years Awesome Again, Invasor, Blame, Fort Larned and Gun Runner have all won this race and then won the Classic.

Haskell Invitational and Jim Dandy Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 7/26/2018

We are going to preview a top race or races each weekend through the summer and into the fall as horse racing's sights shift to the road to the Breeders' Cup, and we start with two three-year-old spectacles in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on Saturday and the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on Sunday. The three-year-old male division goes into a bit of a hiatus after the Belmont Stakes as horses regroup after the Triple Crown trail, and horses that weren't on the trail get ready to attack. This weekend traditionally marks the return to top-level action leading up to the Travers next month and the Breeders' Cup at the beginning of November.

What is Next for Triple Crown Winner Justify?
by Trevor Whenham - 6/13/2018

A few days have passed since the impressive Belmont Stakes win by Justify to cap off the second Triple Crown win in four years. We've had some time to let it sink in. And the passing time has made a couple of things clear. First, Justify is a truly impressive horse. Undefeated. Six wins in just 111 days. A very impressive win in the first and third legs of the Triple Crown, and a lot of heart in the second leg. This is a spectacular horse, and we are as lucky to have seen him do this as we were with American Pharoah just four years ago. Couple that with what Arrogate did in his short prime, and Bob Baffert has single-handedly fueled a glory age of racing.

2018 Wood Memorial Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 4/5/2018

I feel like the Wood Memorial owes me some money. A lot of it, actually. It's a race that has the ability to make me fall in love with the winner only to disappoint in the Kentucky Derby and beyond. Last year I was convinced that Irish War Cry had it going on. He didn't. Two years before that it was Frosted, who peaked far too late for the Triple Crown. I really liked both I Want Revenge in 2009 and Eskendereya in 2010, and neither was able to make it to the starting gate due to late injuries - on the morning of the race in the case of the former.

2018 Santa Anita Derby Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 4/5/2018

Gormley didn't exactly use his Santa Anita Derby win last year as a springboard to Triple Crown greatness. In recent years, though, that has been more of an exception than a rule. I'll Have Another won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2012 after winning this race. Two years later California Chrome won the same three races. The next year Dortmund only finished third in Kentucky after his Santa Anita Derby win, but he had a stablemate named American Pharoah who was pretty tough to match up to.

2018 Blue Grass Stakes Expert Picks with Odds and Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 4/5/2018

The Blue Grass Stakes was a disaster of a race from 2007 to 2014. It was sad, really. This used to be a truly great race, but Keeneland gave in to the thankfully mostly dead trend of synthetic tracks, and it led to a prep race that was virtually meaningless. A mess. It was not what a race that produced winners like the all-time legend Northern Dancer and other Derby winners including Tomy Lee, Shut Out, Chateaugay, Lucky Debonair, Forward Pass, Dust Commander, Riva Ridge, Spectacular Bid, and Strike the Gold deserved.