Past the Wire

The British Horseracing Authority recently expressed concern over the United Kingdom’s decision to implement financial risk assessments for bettors. The fear is understandable. If you make it harder for people to wager with regulated bookmakers, some will simply move to offshore operators who ask no questions, offer no consumer protections, and contribute nothing back to racing. That is a legitimate debate, and one worth having. But I think everyone is asking the wrong question.

I’ve used that phrase before. More than once. I used it writing about Terry Finley and West Point Thoroughbreds. I used a version of it writing about The Jockey Club quietly rewriting its own “About Us” page after we held a graphic of their own words up to the light. I didn’t realize until recently that it wasn’t just a line. It’s the theme. It’s been the theme the whole time, running beneath a year of separate stories that were never actually separate.

Constitution River and Ryan Moore on their way to victory in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse (Megan Coggin/The Jockey Club). Constitution River (8/11 favourite) won the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, England, on Saturday to give Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien a record 10th success in the race. The Coral-Eclipse is the first summer clash of the generations in Europe as the classic generation of three-year-old compete with older horses for the first time.

Turning early track bias and local angles into winning wagers. (NYRA Photo) Saratoga is open, and on this episode of Past The Wire, Jon Stettin breaks down three of the angles he relies on most at the meet: the horse for course angle, betting horses off the claim, and identifying sires whose runners win at Saratoga. Jon also tells the story behind the $540,000 pick six that the horse for course angle helped him hit.

Former Dallas Mavericks owner Frank Zaccanelli speaks on the premier episode of Champions and Connections. Frank Zaccanelli drafted Dirk Nowitzki before anyone in America knew who he was. Then he sold the team to Mark Cuban in the largest NBA transaction in history at the time. Now Frank Zaccanelli is building the premier sports and horse racing media platform and he is doing it as a full-time commitment, not a hobby.

Partnership brings together Frank Zaccanelli and renowned handicapper Jon Stettin as the company broadens its coverage across horse racing, sports wagering, prediction markets, premium technology, and original programming. FORT MYERS, Fla.

There are basketball teams too slow to win a championship. There are teams too small to win one. There are teams too soft, too old, too dependent on jump shots, too careless with the ball, too weak defensively, too shallow off the bench, or too poorly coached to survive four playoff rounds. But too white? That is not basketball analysis. That is racial shorthand dressed up as commentary. Stephen A.

A weekly recap of the Saratoga Summer Meet from my perspective Friday started another Saratoga meet, another extended Saratoga meet. Being from NJ and having spent many hours at Saratoga over the years this is always a cherished time when the Saratoga meet begins. It’s unique in the sense that it does feel like a sports season between the stakes, the preps for those stakes. It ends up being a lot of the same horses and trainers squaring off against eachother throughout the summer.

5 Fionn, with Flavien Prat up, nosed out Nitrogen to take the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks. (Susie Raisher) In this edition of the Past the Wire High Level Handicapping, Jon Stettin breaks down the Belmont Oaks using the same masterclass approach that produced last week’s winning analysis of the Stephen Foster, where we landed squarely on Magnitude while opposing Sovereignty. This is not about picking horses based on opinions or hype.

Far Bridge in the 2025 Bowling Green, Chelsea Durand Photo Mrs. Fitriani Hay’s Fort George brings significant form to Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green presented by Emerald Ecovations, an 11-furlong inner turf test for older horses, at Saratoga Race Course. The Bowling Green is slated as Race 10 on the 11-race program, which also includes the Grade 2, $250,000 Caress in Race 5. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.