The Kentucky Derby is like a mountain. It never changes and never withers with time. But in some ways it does change, as every year, new climbers gather on its slopes and attempt to reach the summit, disregarding the many perils along the way....

It's hard to believe 40 years have passed since the winter of 1973. Racing's two hubs as usual were Hialeah and Gulfstream in Florida and Santa Anita in California. The only sounds that were heard at Aqueduct were the winds howling off Jamaica Bay and the squawking of the seagulls....

Each year, I keep thinking there is no cure for Triple Crown trail withdrawal....

In his hauntingly melodic song, "Hallelujah," Leonard Cohen wrote, "Baby I've been here before. I know this room, I've walked this floor."...

After 34 years and 11 failures, this is the year the Triple Crown will be conquered...right? It's so close you can taste it. ...

Every several years, whenever a horse is attempting to sweep the Triple Crown, Billy Turner is summoned by the media to offer his take on the horse, the obstacles that stand in his way, and to reminisce about the great Seattle Slew, who under Turner’s guidance and expertise became racing’s only undefeated Triple Crown winner. ...

We recently wrote about the possibility of I'll Have Another sweeping the Triple Crown. So what if we're getting ahead of ourselves. After 34 years (and we've been there through all of them) we're entitled to think or dream ahead. ...

What can prevent I'll Have Another from finally ending the Triple Crown drought?...

Smarty Says Goodbye. Steve Haskin discusses Smarty Jones' farewell appearance in installment #4. ...

Hail the Conquering Hero: Haskin's Smarty Jones tribute continues with installment #3....

Haskin's Smarty Jones Tribute: The second installment recaps Smarty's Preakness victory....

Smarty Jones: Steve Haskin begins his week-long tribute with reprinted stories each day...

Steve Haskin looks back at the 2010 Triple Crown and some of its unsung heroes....

Like all quarters, General Quarters is a two-sided coin. So far, it's only come up heads, with the face of Tom McCarthy and his Cinderella story receiving all the press. But a flip of the coin to the tails side will reveal the faded and forgotten face of Mark Miller....

There are three ways of looking at the Florida Derby (gr. I): the best horse won, the best horse finished second, and both horses ran sensational races and established themselves as major Kentucky Derby contenders. The consensus would have to be number three....

It was an excellent weekend on the old trail, with some first-class performances, not only by the winners, but several of the losers as well....

Because the Top 30 list took up a great deal of Monday's column, we'll go double duty this week and catch up on some updates and ramblings and look at the Risen Star Stakes....

As the Kentucky Derby hoopla began to quiet down, a stunned racing world was still trying to recover from the bombshell that had fallen on Churchill Downs. An obscurely bred, crooked legged, harlequin of a horse from Venezuela, who had been ridiculed by the press and local horsemen, had just concluded the most bizarre journey and adventure in the history of the Kentucky Derby....

The 1971 3-year-old crop trilogy concludes appropriately with the remarkable Canonero II, whose story is so improbable it would be scoffed at by any responsible movie producer. Because of that, it must be told in two parts. The second part will follow on Monday....

You may have noticed the two brief mentions of Jim French in the last blog in regard to His Majesty's exploits early in his 3-year-old campaign. Remaining on the subject of Graustark, it is only appropriate to give his son equal billing. I can't think of any horse who deserves to have his accomplishments chronicled and hammered into our psyche, especially in this era of pampered horses....

The day after the 1987 Preakness Stakes, I stopped at a service area on I-95 in Maryland on my way back home from the Preakness and called Jack Van Berg, asking if I could do a feature on him for the Thoroughbred Times, which had only been in existence for about a year. I had never met Van Berg, who was on top of the world at the time and who looked like a sure bet to saddle racing's next Triple Crown winner following Alysheba's impressive victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness....