All Equine All The Time

First season sire Constitution leads his generation with two runners in the Top 20. The first Saturday in May has come and gone without a 3-year-old wearing a blanket of roses in the Churchill Downs winner circle but that didn’t keep runners from qualifying for the September 5 Kentucky Derby over the weekend. Oaklawn Park’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby was split on Saturday with eight different horses taking home points toward the Kentucky Derby. While there are still multiple 100 point races left to be run – and the potential addition of new points races before the September Kentucky Derby – I decided to take a look at the leaderboard and see where things sit after what is traditionally the final major Kentucky Derby prep. By The Numbers – Right now it takes 25 points to qualify for the 2020 Kentucky Derby with four horses having 100 or more points. While comparing apples to oranges right now, in 2019 Bodexpress ( Bodemeister) was able to get into the Kentucky Derby with 40 p...

Into Mischief had multiple graded stakes winners in March The beginning of March looked to usher in an exciting final round of Kentucky Derby preps and the beginning of the season for multiple divisions but after a few weeks of racing, the pause button had to be pushed with the rise of COVID-19. Despite racing ceasing around most of North America in March, 29 graded stakes were run at seven different tracks, including four different Grade 1s. With that in mind, let’s look at the lucky winners who helped keep racing entertaining last month. Surfaces By The Numbers: Despite many tracks cancelling some or all of their meets, 29 graded stakes races were held in March to takes the total number of graded stakes 2020 up to 90. The majority of the graded stakes were run on dirt in March with 20 (68.97%) taking place on that surface. Eight were run on turf (27.59%) while Turfway’s Grade III Jeff Ruby Steaks was the only graded stakes run on a synthetic surface. The percent...