Clark

In a season highlighted by victories in the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, the training job Ken McPeek has done with the overachieving Rattle N Roll (Connect) is equally deserving of plaudits. Making his second start off a 363-day absence and having shipped to the West Coast and back when failing to draw into the GI Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 2, Rattle N Roll returned to something approaching his best under the Friday night lights at Churchill, rallying wide into the stretch before...

The American Graded Stakes Committee released its list of graded stakes for 2023 Friday and it includes five races that were downgraded from Grade I status to Grade II races, including two of NYRA's more prestigious races for older dirt horses, the Woodward and the Cigar Mile H. Also dropping down from the Grade I to the Grade II level were the Clark S. at Churchill Downs, the Starlet S. at Los Alamitos and the Rodeo Drive S. at Santa Anita. The Woodward was, perhaps, the most surprising inclusion on...