The 2018 Churchill Downs Spring/Summer Meet begins on Saturday, April 28.  What follows after opening Night is one of the best weeks of racing of the year – Tuesday through Saturday of Kentucky Derby week at Churchill Downs. After that, the meet continues through the last day of June as one of the best early summer race meets in the country.  Read onward for some tips on how to make money opening week at Churchill and build bankroll for horseracing’s biggest day, and beyond.

The centerpiece of the Churchill Spring/Summer Meet, of course, will be the 144th running of the Kentucky…

Jim Hurley’s Derby Doings – Friday, April 20

The first question that any handicapper or bettor has to ask about the Kentucky Derby is simple. Which 3-year old that has never run a mile and a quarter will run a mile and a quarter.

There are many ways to approach this. One can search through the running lines in the past performances of the Derby Preps and determine if the colt has shown in his final quarter mile that he mirrors what previous Kentucky Derby winners have done in their final quarter mile efforts.

I’ll go more into this in subsequent preview…

With the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn and the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland now in the books, the final prep races have been run and the field has more or less been set for the Kentucky Derby. Six of the 20 horses in the starting gate will be trained by Todd Pletcher (4) or Bob Baffert (2).  Pletcher will enter the race as the defending champion trainer, having won last year with Always Dreaming, while Baffert is likely to go postward with this year’s favorite, Santa Anita Derby winner Justify.

The Arkansas Derby was another tour-de-force performance by Todd Pletcher’s undefeated Magnum…

Thursday, April 12

It shouldn’t be any surprise why I love the Arkansas Derby.

As a serious handicapper and analyst for ABC, NBC and ESPN coverage of horse racing I gave gave out my selections to an attentive public. And there is only one reason the public was attentive. I was never afraid of a price…which is why I have that love for the Arkansas Derby.

Let me whet your appetite by showing you just what kind of boxcar payoffs this race provides year in and year out.

In 2015, eventual Triple Crown Champ American Pharoah chased all but seven challengers and romped at…

On The Derby Trail With John Conte

SATURDAY'S ARKANSAS DERBY IS THE LAST 100 POINT DERBY PREP QUALIFIER...BUT IT IS FAR FROM THE LEAST

After last week's triple dose of 100 point Derby Prep qualifiers, the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass Stakes and Santa Anita Derby which brought headlines to the likes of Vino Rosso, Good magic and Justify the attention will turn this Saturday to Hot Springs, Arkansas

It is here where Oaklawn Park will conclude another spectacular meet with the running of the Grade 1 ARKANSAS DERBY.

Undoubtedly the national attention lavished on last week's trio of Preps will, as it does year…

John DaSilva Keeneland ReportWednesday, April 4

Just when Gulfstream is winding down to 4 day weeks for a bit, Aqueduct is running 3 days and the weather throughout the mid-Atlantic states and the northeast hangs on the way we wish some of our speed horses would, ALONG COMES THE SPRING MEET AT KEENELAND. And not a day too soon.

When I was the analyst there I wrote many a feature exclusively for the NY Post during my 19 record breaking years as their handicapper. I still hold the record for most wins and highest Return On Investment of any competitors and I am…

TWO DOMINANT PERFORMANCES LAST SATURDAY ADD TO KENTUCKY DERBY DEPTH

Even if we only had the “eye-test” to go by in order to determine which horses are on a direct bullet train to the first Saturday in May, the UAE Derby and Florida Derby provided us with as close to twenty-twenty vision as we could ask for regarding Mendelssohn and Audible.

However, there are many angle reasons as well which point players in the direction of these two important Derby Prep winners from this past Saturday.

(THE ANGLE THAT WILL NEVER WIN…UNTIL IT DOES)

As we approach the Kentucky Derby another weekend of Prep…

JOHN CONTE'S FLORIDA DERBY REPORTFriday, March 30

DOES THE FLORIDA DERBY (AGAIN) BECOME THE TODD AND JOHNNY SHOW?

The question that will be asked the most leading into Saturday's $1 Million, Grade 1 Florida Derby is, "do the rich get richer or will Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez share the Derby Prep Wealth?"

Once again trainer Todd Pletcher will send out another one of his deep Kentucky Derby prospects in the aptly named Audible.Over the course of the last three Saturday's Pletcher has successfully called audible as he makes certain that he doesn't defeat the overall purpose by having his top…

Over the course of the next few days I'll be posting a few of my thoughts regarding the Florida Derby.

As we progress through the next 5 plus weeks I'll be living, breathing, investigating, checking-and-rechecking works, connecting with the major players PLUS wagering and winning the Derby Preps and then the Kentucky Derby.

When it comes to the Florida Derby on Saturday (3/31) I plan on doing the same thing I did last week in the Louisiana Derby when my clients and I COLLECTED ALL THE WAGERS as those who responded to my e-mail offering the…

With the fourth major winter storm of March bearing down on the New York area this week, it is hard to believe that the calendar has actually turned over to spring, and let’s face it, spring can’t get here fast enough for people in the northeast this year.  Even though it might be hard to believe now, soon pastimes like scraping ice off the car and shoveling the driveway will be replaced with some that we actually look forward to, such as opening day of the baseball season (less than two weeks away – hard to believe) and the return…