TRIPLE CROWN UPDATE -- March 16th, 2012

There are a trio of allowance races across the country that every Triple Crown fan should have their eyes on, for entered in these three races are a number of highly promising colts that could make some noise further down the road.

To begin, there is the third race of the day at Gulfstream Park, a one-mile main track allowance race for three-year-olds. While only five horses have been entered, two of them are graded stakes winners making their first starts of the year -- Gemologist and Currency Swap. Gemologist, from the barn of Todd Pletcher, went undefeated in three starts as a juvenile, including an impressive victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill Downs. Originally scheduled to run in the Rebel Stakes (gr. II) tomorrow at Oaklawn, Gemologist was instead entered in this easier allowance race. He's been training very well for his comeback, but whether or not he is sharp enough to win first time back is, of course, a major question.

FED BIZ WINS A SANTA ANITA ALLOWANCE RACE!

Fed Biz may have earned himself a start in a graded stakes race next time out when he blew away a talented field in a one-mile, $58,000 allowance optional claiming race this afternoon at Santa Anita Park.

Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Rafael Bejarano, the three-year-old son of Giant's Causeway got off to a good start from the far outside post position in a field of five and raced away to track the early pace set by Consulado. Blueskiesnrainbows was back behind them in third, followed by Tones and Super Candy.

TRIPLE CROWN UPDATE -- February 9th, 2012

I don't usually dedicate an entire blog post to ordinary Thursday allowances races, but today there are a pair of such races that warrant a write-up, as each one contains a quality field of highly regarded young horses trying to take the next step toward a potential start in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) on the first Saturday in May.

The first race I shall mention is the second race on the Santa Anita card. A one-mile, main track allowance race, the event has drawn only five runners, but the field includes a pair of potential stars in Fed Biz and Consulado.

TRIPLE CROWN COUNTDOWN -- January 10th, 2012

With two more major prep races in the history books, the Triple Crown trail already looks quite a bit different than it did last week. Handsome Mike and Shkspeare Shaliyah, two well-regarded colts heading into last Saturday's races, probably wrote themselves out of the Triple Crown story with their poor efforts, and Hierro certainly didn't do himself any favors with his last-place effort in the Sham.

A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF (additional!) 2012 TRIPLE CROWN CONTENDERS

Toward the end of December, I compiled an extensive list of two-year-olds pointing toward the 2012 Triple Crown, ranging from such well-known colts as Hansen and Union Rags down to maidens like Najjaar and Mr. Style. It was such a fun list to create that I decided to write up a "sequel" post. So here it is -- 29 additional little-known Triple Crown contenders, the majority of them are nothing more than maiden winners, and most of them based in California. Enjoy!