Stories from Cot Campbell

Thoroughbred racing partnership pioneer Cot Campbell shares his stories of horse racing’s noble, notable and notorious

A Good Buy (Bye)

Cot recalls a communication breakdown that derailed a French trainer's pitch to sell a filly by Northern Dancer.... Read More

The Ambassador vs. The Amorous Wolfhound

The Washington D.C. International used to be a major event for socialites in the nation's capital. In 1984 the decorum and grandeur of a pre-race celebration got completely turned upside down by the enthusiasm of a diplomat's Irish Wolfhound. ... Read More

The Wisdom of Shoe

What makes a great racehorse? Legendary jockey Bill Shoemaker boiled it down for Cot Campbell in the saddling paddock at Hollywood Park in 1984.... Read More

The Travails of Poo Poo Man

Back in the early days of 1975, we were making some headway. But we badly needed more outside (non-Dogwood) clients for training. The big breakthrough came, but not without its price.... Read More

Prince Faisal and the Ham

Cot Campbell kicks off his next series of stories from the world of Thoroughbred racing. Campbell recalls an attempt to woo the business of a Saudi prince with a homespun dinner that goes horribly wrong.... Read More

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney, star of National Velvet and other racing pictures, was a savvy horse player and a stockholder in Santa Anita.... Read More

Alfred Vanderbilt

Alfred Vanderbilt enjoyed playing tennis with me. The reason he enjoyed it is that he was a very bad tennis player, and he sought the company of others of equal ability. I fit the bill. He liked ladies — in every sense of the word, I'm sure — so it was usually mixed doubles at Saratoga. Typical of Alfred it suited him to play at public courts rather than the tonier Saratoga Golf and Polo Club, where... Read More

Fred Hooper

Fred Hooper understood livestock, liked racing, followed bloodlines and really did have an authentic eye for an equine athlete.... Read More

Lester Piggott

When the legendary English jockey Lester Piggott walked into a paddock, or anywhere, you knew "somebody" had arrived.... Read More

John M.S. Finney

No one had a more impish, rapier-like wit that fueled an endless supply of deliciously spicy anecdotes than the renowned president of Fasig-Tipton.... Read More

Doug Davis

Trainer Doug Davis made everyone's life more interesting. He was a big man with a thunderous voice and a gaudy appetite for life.... Read More

Leslie Combs

Cot Campbell tells the tale of Leslie Combs and Los Angeles socialite Dolly Green during a high-flying evening at the 1980 Keeneland July yearling sale.... Read More

Jimmy Jones

Cot Campbell tells the tale of how father-son training team Ben and Jimmy Jones' got drawn into a "agreement" with notorious gangster Al Capone.... Read More

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