Swiss Skydiver

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN's Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins. DeRosa - Bankroll: $5480 - GI Kentucky Derby Result - Max Player rallied for fifth. GI Preakness S. - I wanted to bet Art Collector in the Kentucky Derby, so why not in the Preakness against arguably a...

All of 2020 has been unconventional to say the least and the Triple Crown series is no exception. Instead of starting with the GI Kentucky Derby on the First Saturday in May, the highlight of the 3-year-old season kicked off in mid-June with a shortened GI Belmont S., which is traditionally the final leg of the series. It was 11 weeks before the Run for the Roses on the First Saturday in September and now, another four weeks later, the Triple Crown road comes to an end in Baltimore Saturday...

GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) was assigned gate nine in a field of 11 and was installed the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday' GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. John Velazquez has the return call on Authentic, who goes for a third consecutive victory at the Grade I level, having beaten Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. before defying those who concluded he would not stay the 10 furlongs of the Derby by outfighting heavily favored Tiz the Law (Constitution) beneath...

Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) was named likely to make the line-up for Saturday's GI Preakness S. at Pimlico following a four-furlong work in :48 flat (2/88) at Churchill Downs Sunday. "Most likely he's going to go, but tomorrow we'll make the decision," trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said. "We were very happy with the work." Ny Traffic came up a nose short of Authentic (Into Mischief) when second in the July 18 GI TVG.com Haskell S. Sunday's work was his first since finishing eighth behind that rival in the Sept. 5...

A trio of candidates for the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Oct. 3 turned in their final serious moves Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini), who was forced to miss the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby owing to a minor foot injury, tuned up for the final leg of this year's reconstituted Triple Crown by drilling a half-mile in :48 flat with big-race rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the saddle. The GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and Runhappy Ellis Park Derby hero was caught in fractions...

GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) both returned to the worktab Saturday at Churchill Downs. GI Preakness S.-bound Authentic covered five panels in :59.20, the fastest of 38 works at the distance. With jockey Martin Garcia aboard, the bay clicked off splits in :23.80 and :35.40, galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.20. "It went very well. Martin has been with me," said trainer Bob Baffert, who came to Louisville from the Keeneland Sale in Lexington. "He knows what I expect. I told...

GI Alabama winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) remains possible to contest the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Oct. 3. "It's going to depend on who shows up," said trainer Ken McPeek. "We are also nominating her to the [GI] Spinster [Oct. 4] and she's been invited to the [GI] QEII [Oct. 10]. We're shopping it, that's all. We have three good choices. My strong preference would have been a 3-year-old filly Grade I [on dirt], but there isn't one out there." Both alternatives to the Preakness, the nine-furlong Spinster for fillies...

WinStar Farm has had many big years, but this one may prove its biggest to date. Kenny Troutt's operation has bred, raised and offered for sale four 2020 Grade I winners: Sept. 5 GI Woodward H. hero Global Campaign (Curlin); Paris Lights (Curlin), who led home a one-two for WinStar Stablemates in July's GI Coaching Club American Oaks; and Shedaresthedevil and Swiss Skydiver, who completed the exacta for their former WinStar-based stallion Daredevil in last Friday's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. Plus, it co-campaigns GI Hollywood Gold Cup S. and GI...

In this corner comes 'TDN Rising Star' Gamine (Into Mischief), a filly by one of the world's hottest and most fashionable sires who was purchased for a seven-figure price tag at public auction and has whitewashed Grade I rivals by a combined 25 3/4 lengths in her last two starts. Sharing space in the other corner is Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), a much more modest auction purchase, who is perfect in her last four against her own sex; and Speech (Mr Speaker), not quite as accomplished as her two chief rivals,...

Adrian Gonzalez was possibly just humoring his wife Erin when he trudged up the hill through the snow at Keeneland on the last day of the November sale in 2017, but the hike proved fruitful when the couple came home with Expo Gold (Johannesburg) for just $13,000. The mare was in foal to Daredevil and the filly she had already produced that year by that same sire would go on to become Grade I winner Swiss Skydiver. While Expo Gold has changed hands three times since the November sale, the...

With the racing and sales calendars turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, buyers at the upcoming Keeneland September Sale and Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase will have a unique opportunity. Typically, the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks--as well as the rest of the Triple Crown trail for that matter--are long over by the time the major yearling auctions take place. But with those marquee sophomore races pushed back to the first weekend in September, buyers could have a chance to purchase a sibling to this year's Derby or...

Four months after its initial date, the GI Kentucky Oaks is finally upon us and the race promises to be one of the best renditions ever of what has become the most important 3-year-old filly race on the calendar. This may be a two-horse race, but it is a two-horse race between two fillies, Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and Gamine (Into Mischief), who appear to be among the best of their generation. Superiority will be settled on the racetrack With Swiss Skydiver and Gamine dominating the competition throughout the late spring...