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.