10 Mar 2009 9:05 AM
It was a casual introduction, nearly 25 years ago now, at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November breeding stock sale. Remember his name, the man said, because you are going to hear a lot from him. We’ve all heard that before; only this time it was true—we have heard a lot from Frank Stronach in the ensuing years....
03 Mar 2009 10:19 AM
Personality-wise, Jimmy Jerkens and Julio Canani have little in common. But this week the two trainers have one important thing in common: Each has a Derby horse in his barn....
24 Feb 2009 10:07 AM
Imagine that you are a patient in a hospital, a prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder said. The doctor enters the room, takes a vial out of his black bag, and gives you a shot. He then produces a couple of pills, which you take orally. ...
17 Feb 2009 10:18 AM
In a recessionary time, Florida's leaders have come up with their own stimulus package....
10 Feb 2009 9:49 AM
The Thoroughbred breeding industry finds itself facing both the best and worst of times, and it has nothing to do with the proletariat and aristocracy. It has to do with the world economy....
03 Feb 2009 10:00 AM
The icy conditions and sub-freezing temperatures of the last week in Central Kentucky gave us good reasons to catch up on some reading. Awaiting Steve Haskin's first Derby Dozen, I went to the bookshelf at home and pulled down The Archjockey of Canterbury and Other Tales by former Blood-Horse editor Kent Hollingsworth....
27 Jan 2009 10:42 AM
For racing fans, the stars aligned for Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year, to return and race at age 4. Now, for just the sixth time since the Eclipse Awards were first handed out in 1971, a runner has repeated as Horse of the Year....
20 Jan 2009 9:39 AM
The Keeneland January horses of all ages sale is a barometer of, well, nothing. Most years, that is....
13 Jan 2009 9:33 AM
It was the night before the 1985 Kentucky Derby (gr. I), and I had been invited to dinner at Hasenour's in downtown Louisville, Ky., by Joe Hirsch....
06 Jan 2009 11:28 AM
During most of the past 200-plus years, the Kentucky General Assembly convened for only 60 days every two years. To poke fun at the lawmakers, a group of Frankfort, Ky., citizens once printed bumper stickers calling for the group to instead meet two days every 60 years....
30 Dec 2008 10:24 AM
Magazine publishing has been described as a three-legged stool supported by the pillars of editorial, advertising, and audience development. The perch becomes precarious if the three legs aren't balanced. The core of the Thoroughbred industry can be thought of in a similar way....
23 Dec 2008 11:37 AM
Handicapping is an integral part of the Thoroughbred game, a cerebral exercise that involves time and patience, skill and luck, risk-taking and rewards. ...
16 Dec 2008 9:24 AM
The Breeders' Cup program enhanced stakes purses at both large and small tracks....
09 Dec 2008 10:14 AM
Racing authorities should honor disciplinary actions through the principle of reciprocity. ...
02 Dec 2008 9:41 AM
Just a few weeks ago, this column opined that some stud fees were coming down in 2009, but it was not enough. They needed to be reduced more.
Since then, the Keeneland November sale has come and gone, the nearly 50% drop in gross clearly illustrating the global economic downturn has not only reached the Thoroughbred industry, but had a clear effect upon it....
25 Nov 2008 1:07 PM
Sale company employees and officials remain accommodating, regardless of the state of the market....
18 Nov 2008 9:53 AM
Undefeated racehorses Peppers Pride and Zenyatta hold special places in the hearts of fans....
11 Nov 2008 9:19 AM
Disaster. Brutal. Blood bath. Just a few of the many descriptive words being used by breeders to describe the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, which at this writing still had a week to run....
04 Nov 2008 10:21 AM
When Better Than Honour sold for a broodmare world-record $14 million Nov. 2 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, it evoked memories of Nov. 10, 1984, when another world record was set on the day of the first Breeders' Cup....
28 Oct 2008 10:49 AM
A farm manager's words of wisdom are to keep it simple and keep the horses happy....
21 Oct 2008 9:14 AM
The NTRA's new initiative is designed to address the health and safety of the horse....
14 Oct 2008 10:15 AM
They say actions speak louder than words. The public is taking action by wagering less on horse racing. And those actions are speaking loudly....
30 Sep 2008 9:59 AM
At 10 p.m., an exhausted Larry Jones finally fell asleep. Just two and a half hours later, he was back up, making training charts for that day's sets before loading his trailer to drive from his barn at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland to Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York....
23 Sep 2008 10:09 AM
Financier Warren Buffett once said there is only one certainty about the stock market: It will fluctuate....
16 Sep 2008 9:41 AM
After many years in the same profession, it is not uncommon to feel the need for a new and greater challenge. Charlie Hayward fit that bill, so in November 2004, following a lengthy career in publishing, Hayward was named the president and CEO of the New York Racing Association....