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Sports Columns

Happy New Year: Santa Anita ready to open

Jan. 1 marks the start of the New Year for all of us humans. It also is the common birthday of all horses. That’s a good thing, too. It makes a large bag of carrots or mints a perfect birthday gift for a barn full of horses.

Announcer Trevor Denman has given voice to Santa Anita

For track announcer Trevor Denman, we were told he is retiring as the voice of Santa Anita Park. That’s true. But then I got a Del Mar press release saying Denman will call the races there in 2016.

Horse racing industry needs to embrace new betting ideas

I am sure there are a lot of good ideas being bandied about at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming in Tucson, Arizona.

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Thanksgiving weekend offers competitive stakes races across country

Thanksgiving weekend means great horse racing action from coast to coast. Among the main stakes offerings are four grade 1 events, the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct and at Del Mar the Hollywood Derby and Matriarch.

Horseplayers will enjoy Saturday’s stakes races at Delta Downs

I know a lot of horseplayers who focus their main plays on stakes races. The logic is pretty simple. In 99.9 percent of the time, they don’t have to worry about deception. Horses are in a stakes race to win it.

Breeders’ Cup handicapping seminars abound

The two-day Breeders’ Cup on Oct. 30 and 31 is a week away. If you don’t have tickets to sold-out Keeneland, and remember there is no walk-up this year, then Las Vegas is your next best place to enjoy it.

American Pharoah will bring renewed interest to Breeders’ Cup

The $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic figures to be the most anticipated edition ever. That is what happens when you have the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, American Pharoah, scheduled to run.

Pay attention Saturday to scout Breeders’ Cup

Saturday is must-see TV for any horse racing fan serious about making money on the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 30 and 31.