Horse Racing

As part of the 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships qualifying series, the (G1) Stephen Foster Handicap from Churchill Downs on Saturday night is a 'Win And You're In' Event for the BC Classic. Whichever of the nine colts that hits the finish line first will gain an automatic entry to the 2018 Classic, right back on the Churchill dirt this coming November.

There are a pair of qualifying races for the 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships on Saturday from Churchill Downs. First up is the Fleur d'Lis Handicap, which will send the winner to the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Nine fillies and mares age three and older are expected to go to the gate, with multiple graded-stakes winner Farrell the lukewarm morning line favorite.

Between now and October, the focus for many of the top thoroughbreds in the world and their trainers and owners will be racing their way toward a start in one of the 14 races that will make up the 2018 Breeders' Cup World Championships. The most sure way of making the field and racing for a share of the $30 million in BC Championships purse money is the "Win And You're In" qualifying series.

All handicapping signs point to favorite Justify winning the 150th Belmont Stakes on Saturday and completing the Triple Crown sweep. But the race is unlikely to be a walk-over with the 1 1/2 mile distance a real test for the full field of 10 colts that will go to the gate. And heavy favorites have come up short in the past.

The US Triple Crown season comes to a close on Saturday with the running of the 150th Belmont Stakes from Belmont Park in New York. For the second time since 2015 a horse has a chance to grab the Triple Crown title, with Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Justify heavily favored to beat nine others to the Belmont wire and cement his name in history.

It's two down and one to go for Justify, as the 2018 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner tries to become the 13th horse to claim the Triple Crown with a win June 9 in the Belmont Stakes. The tough 1 1/2 mile Belmont is known as The Test of the Champion, and 13 horses have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown but lost the third.

The dirt track at Pimlico Race Course is going to be a sloppy mess, and it appears heavy favorite Justify is all but a lock to cruise to victory in the Preakness Stakes. But despite the terrible weather and seemingly pre-ordained outcome, the show will go on Saturday afternoon, with eight three-year-old colts going to the gate to race for the second leg of the 2018 Triple Crown.

The second leg of the US Triple Crown is set for Saturday from Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course, where eight three-year-old colts will line up in the gate and race 1 3/16 miles on the Pimlico dirt for total purse of $1.5 million and the Preakness Stakes title. All eyes will be on Justify as he tries to take another step toward racing immortality.

Much like the Kentucky Oaks kicks off the Kentucky Derby weekend at Churchill Downs, the (G2) Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for three-year-old fillies on Friday at Pimlico Race Course is the precursor to Saturday's Preakness Stakes. In an excellent betting race, 10 are expected to go to the gate to race 1 1/8 miles on the dirt for a total purse of $250,000.