On Friday, April 2, the Keeneland Race Course will open up its 2008 spring meet with the running of the 2008 Transylvania Stakes. There are actually 10 races going off, but the $150,000 Transylvania Stakes is the highlight of the day.

Over the course of the spring Keeneland will hold 16 graded stakes races.

The Transylvania Stakes is a grade 3 stakes race that will feature a field of 9 horses who will run 1 1/16 miles on turf. The favorite is Prussian, who is listed at 4/5. Free Fighter, Barrier Reef and Riley Tucket figure to help make things interesting.

Here are the preliminary odds for the 2008 Transylvania Stakes:

Whether you just love watching a good horse race or your looking to stake your claim at the track, knowing the racing structure is a must. Today, I’ll present you with the general structure of horse racing.

When you get right down to it, all horse races fall within four main categories: maiden races, claiming races, allowance races, stakes races. Within those categories are various classes, but for this article we’ll focus mainly on the main categories.

Yes, it’s true—actually possibly true. Reports are swirling all over that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is mulling over a plan that would close the historic Aqueduct race track down for good.

In the plan, which is only speculated at this point, the horse racing activity would shift over to Belmont. The land, according to reports from Bloodhorse.com and the NY Times, would be sold to developers for hotels and shops.

Aqueduct opened back on September 27, 1894 in Queens and today it’s one of the premier race tracks in horse racing. The track was town down in the 1950s to make way for the new “Big A” and in 1975, Aqueduct welcomed winter racing.

The main course at Aqueduct race track is 1 1/8 miles. It has a 1 mile inner dirt course and a 7/8 mile turf course.

Well, it appears to be official now. The 139th running of the Belmont Stakes on June 9th, 2007 will be without Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

After the shocking loss at the Preakness Stakes, word began coming out that Street Sense would pass on the Belmont Stakes. However, nothing appeared to be concrete.

What a price this horse went off at. If you discarded the favorites—Jade’s revenge and Shillelagh Slew—and looked elsewhere, you probably caught some nice cash.

Palladio charged forward down the stretch and paid off nicely. Palladio paid $19.70, $8.30 and $4.70.

Tomorrow, the Eclipse Stakes at Woodbine go off. It’s the 6th race. Post time will be at 3:30 pm local time (Toronto, Ontario).

The field of seven will gallop on dirt over 1 1/16 miles. This stakes race is for 4 year olds and up. The purse is $150,000 and it’s a Grade III race.

The 132nd running of the Preakness Stakes, at Pimlico Race Course, is just around the corner. The race goes off on May 19, 2007.

All eyes will be on Street Sense and jockey Calvin Borel who pulled off an amazing victory in the 2007 Kentucky Derby.

Coming around the turn, Street Sense was in next to last place. Borel made some good moves down the stretch to bring home the win.

The fourth race at Golden Gate Fields is a 1 1/16 mile $10,000 N3L claimer. All horses in this field are three years old and upward and have never won more than two races. There are seven horses in today’s field. The morning line favorite is Bright Predicition. He’s a three-year-old gelding in the six spot. At 5-2, Collaberation is the second favorite in this race. He’s a four-year-old gelding in the first position.

Once a triple crown hopeful, Barbaro is in a grave state of affairs. Recently it starting to not look good for Barbaro. Today, it looks downright grave. He no longer has just one cast on. He now has two fiberglass casts on both of his hind legs. While Barbaro appears to be alert and perky, all is not well inside him. There’s a very real possibility that he may be put down, which will send a stunning shockwave throughout the horse racing world.