Ray's Paddock | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Friday Show Presented By Breeders’ Cup: The World Comes To Kentucky

There is always a lot to absorb when pre-entries for the Breeders' Cup world championships are announced, and this year was no exception. Multiple oversubscribed fields – especially in the turf contests – will make handicapping many of the 14 races at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 6-7 a serious challenge.

In this week's Friday Show, Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth (who will be pulling double duty next week aboard her pony escorting international horses to the racetrack for training) join Ray Paulick to discuss the races and horses they are looking forward to the most and how the results of key races may impact Horse of the Year voting later this year.

Will the winner of the $6-million Classic get an automatic Horse of the Year vote, or are there some scenarios that would allow for someone from another division – possibly Swiss Skydiver or Monomoy Girl from the filly/mare ranks or juvenile sensation Jackie's Warrior – an opportunity to get enough support?

Watch this week's Friday Show below.

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PR Special Fasig-Tipton October: How Do They Set Those Stud Fees?

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The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale rolls on, and the Paulick Report has the reading material you need to go along with it in the latest PR Special.

In this edition, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills speaks to the decision-makers at some of Kentucky's top stallion operations about their processes for setting stud fees – a number that can have ramifications on a stallion's entire career.

Darley's Australian shuttle stallion Astern is the focus of this issue's Stallion Spotlight, with Darren Fox discussing what makes the son of Medaglia d'Oro an attractive prospect for breeders. In the Breeders' Cup Buzz, Nevills asks participants in the upcoming Breeders' Cup to recall their most vivid memories of the 2015 renewal, the last time the event was at Keeneland.

Dr. Maria Schnobrich of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital covers why some years are worse than others for placentitis in Ask Your Veterinarian, and finally, we dive through the Fasig-Tipton October catalog to spotlight some of its young stallions in Second-Crop Sire Watch.

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Thanks, as always, to the sponsors of the PR Special. Your continued support is crucial to the functioning of our publication.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

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The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Double Your Triple Crown Pleasure

It's not every day you have a chance to watch not one, but two horses race for Triple Crown glory. But that's what we have this weekend as the one-eyed wonder, Mighty Heart, goes for Canada's Triple Crown in Saturday's Breeders' Stakes from Woodbine, and some eight hours later Contrail bids to become Japan's eighth Triple Crown winner in the Kikuka Sho from Kyoto Race Course.

The Canadian Triple Crown requires versatility, going from the synthetic Tapeta track at Woodbine, to dirt at Fort Erie, then returning to Woodbine for the mile and one-half Breeders' Stakes on the E.P. Taylor turf course. Mighty Heart, trained by Josie Carroll, won the first leg with a 13-1 wire-to-wire upset, then scored as the favorite from off the pace at Fort Erie.

Contrail tries to follow in the Triple Crown-winning footsteps of his sire, the Sunday Silence stallion Deep Impact. He won the Oka Sho at a mile in April, cruised in the 1 1/2-mile Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at 1 1/2 miles this summer and now stretches out for the 1 7/8-mile Kikuka Sho, referred to as the Japanese St. Leger.

In this week's Friday Show, publisher Ray Paulick and editor in chief Natalie Voss discuss the merits of these two horses and other Triple Crown challenges from around the racing world.

Watch this week's Friday Show below.

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The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Riding Crop Talk With Mike Smith

Mike Smith calls it his “last-ditch effort” to protect his fellow riders and the horses on which the sport depends. As a Hall of Famer, the all-time leading Breeders' Cup jockey and co-chair of the Jockeys' Guild, Smith, 55, is speaking out about restrictions on the use of the riding crop he believes are putting jockeys and horses at increased risk.

Smith has written to the California Horse Racing Board urging its members to reconsider changes recently put in place. And this week he joins publisher Ray Paulick and editor-in-chief Natalie Voss on the Friday Show to elaborate on those concerns.

“I'm all for change, and I'm all for helping,” Smith said of the need for some riding crop reforms. “I want to make sure the horse is as safe as possible, because the only time I'm safe is if the horse is safe. If I put that horse in any danger, guess who's next? I hit the ground right after he does. That's my life that's out there, not the spectators and not anyone else that's not on that horse's back.”

And that's the dilemma horse racing faces. Can the sport successfully tackle public perception issues related to the riding crop while still giving riders the tool they say they need to remain safe and to give horse owners and gamblers a fair and honest run for their money?

“As long as we can show that we're doing the best that we can, that we're keeping (the horses) safe, that we're not harming them, that it's protection for us as well, that's all we can do,” Smith said.

Watch this week's Friday Show below and let us know what you think on this subject.

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