Quality Road and Bodemeister sired the Oaks-Derby double last weekend — quite a feat for a pair of Virginia-breds whose own Derby dreams were dashed.
Saturday’s Virginia Gold Cup races, including three on the flat and five over jumps, brings plenty of old familiar faces back together on the race track.
Five years ago, Bodemeister almost won the Kentucky Derby and then the Preakness. How might wins have affected Virginia’s struggling thoroughbred industry?
Hit the Kentucky Derby and have bragging rights for a year. Miss it? It can be a long wait till the next one… musings on wagering the Derby.
Saturday’s Virginia-bred races at Pimlico brought together the past, present, and — perhaps — future of Virginia racing, even if it was in Maryland.
Ad exec-horse breeder-conservationist Bill Backer, who died May 13, was a “renaissance man” whose legacy, friends said, will be felt for generations.
From atop the Pimlico pressbox, here’s what the running of the Preakness looked like call-by-call.
With the future of Pimlico and the Preakness on many minds these days, Preakness racegoers said keep the big race home.
“You give me 90 days, we could win a race at Charles Town,” says Frank Shipp, who managed ’91 Preakness winner Hansel’s career.
The Virginia Thoroughbred Association (VTA) has nearly 120 stallion seasons on offer for its annual two-day auction, which begins Wednesday.