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.

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.

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.

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.

I was browsing the forum today and found a horse in race three at Emerald Downs with a decent shot to finish in the money. He’s the one horse, Moscow Dancer, in the third race. The race itself is a one mile $7,500 claiming for horses three year olds or upward that have never won two races. There are a few possible winners in this race, including the 9-5 favorite, Last Outpost. However, I like to play a long shot now and again.

The seventh race at Evangeline Downs is 6 furlongs. It’s a $3,500 claiming race for fillies and mares that are at least three years old and have never won two races. There are fourteen possible horses in this field. It’s a traffic jam. The morning line favorite, at 3-1, is Popular Mystery. This three year old filly has shown some promise. She broke her maiden back on April 15 at Evangeline Downs in a $10,000 maiden race for fillies.

The eighth race at Mountaineer Park is 5 1/2 furlongs in length. It’s a 24k Maiden Special Weight race for three year old maidens. There are eight horses in the field. The favorite is Roman Legasy. He’s a three year old colt. He’s also the strong consensus pick for this race. The field is a bit green. Roman Legasy has one race, which was at Churchill Downs on May 13. That race was a 23k Maiden Special Weight. He started off slow, but came on down the stretch. Still, he finished second—four lengths behind.

Race 5 at Evangeline Downs is 5 furlongs and features eight horses in the field. It’s a Maiden Special Weight $24,000 for 3,4 and 5 year olds. I looked over a fair amount of data today and it looks like a strong consensus is on My Boy Lucus (6-1) and Peruvian Legend (8-1). The field features two first time starters—Great Claude (3-1) and Cell Block Three (10-1). The favorite, my pick, is Shakin Off at 5-2.

Race 4 at Evangeline Downs features a mammoth fourteen-horse field. It’s a 7 furlong $17,000 claiming race for accredited Louisiana bred horses that are at least 4 years old. Also, the entire field has not won a race since January. Since the field is huge, the morning line odds are pretty hefty. The three expected favorites are Glad You Dance at 7-2, Fraserriverspell at 9-2 and Sauce Pecan at 5-1.