GIII Ben Ali Stakes

The Bill Mott barn was poised for a big Saturday at Oaklawn Park but Stars and Stripes (Not This Time) made sure it was equally exciting for the Keeneland division with a powerful performance in the GIII Ben Ali Stakes. A horse with buzz about him after he dazzled in his June graduation at the Belmont Big A meet last year--a 10 1/2-length masterclass--in start number two, he followed that up with an equally sterling effort in mid-July at Saratoga. Blitzing a field of first-level allowance runners by 7 1/4...

Maybe a touch earlier than expected, the rematch that the horse racing world pined for has arrived as reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief) will once again square off against the 2025 GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) in the GII Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Both colts will be making their much-anticipated 4-year-old debuts in Hot Springs. Sovereignty turned in a spectacular season last year when he won the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Belmont Stakes and GI DK Travers Stakes. The Bill Mott trainee came down with a...

The sun is shining and the birds are singing, which means that spring has sprung and hopefully cold blasts are fixed over yonder. This kind of weather propagates the condition known to many as Derby fever, which technically has no definable cure. So, while you're tinkering with mint julep recipes or heading to the dry cleaners with your seersucker to keep the vapors in check, maybe what you need is to take a look at the weekend's graded stakes slate. The races are chock full of options, so let's not...