Handicapping is an integral part of the Thoroughbred game, a cerebral exercise that involves time and patience, skill and luck, risk-taking and rewards. ...
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The Breeders' Cup program enhanced stakes purses at both large and small tracks....
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Racing authorities should honor disciplinary actions through the principle of reciprocity. ...
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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....
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Sale company employees and officials remain accommodating, regardless of the state of the market....
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Undefeated racehorses Peppers Pride and Zenyatta hold special places in the hearts of fans....
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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....
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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....
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A farm manager's words of wisdom are to keep it simple and keep the horses happy....
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The NTRA's new initiative is designed to address the health and safety of the horse....
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They say actions speak louder than words. The public is taking action by wagering less on horse racing. And those actions are speaking loudly....
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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....
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Financier Warren Buffett once said there is only one certainty about the stock market: It will fluctuate....
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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....
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The single most significant number relative to a racetrack's business is handle. Pure and simple. It not only fuels the second-most-important number--purses--but is clearly reflective of the acceptance of a track's racing product by the wagering public....
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Money doesn't guarantee success in the horse business (or any other business, for that matter). Many have invested huge amounts in the industry, some with great success, yet others have realized only limited return on investment....
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Based on Reports of Mares Bred, The Jockey Club recently announced its projection of the foal crop of 2009 as 35,400, which would represent a 3.3% decline from the estimated 36,600 foals of 2008....
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Just three months after it was announced he was being pensioned, Storm Cat was represented by the top price Aug. 5 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale. How fitting....
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Countless industries are experiencing the pirating of their products, all made possible because of the Internet. Thoroughbred racing has no idea how many people are pirating signals of races and accepting wagers on them....
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The Breeders' Cup took important steps last week to help ensure the integrity of its races, while at the same time prodding those states not already on board to hurry and establish steroid policies for tracks its racing authority regulates....
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Our mission remains the same, but the ways in which we fulfill it have evolved over the years....
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Something important must happen before a problem can be solved. It must be acknowledged that a problem exists....
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A small group of trainers standing in the shedrow of the stakes barn at Pimlico the morning prior to Preakness day were discussing a myriad of problems facing the industry. It didn't take long for the conversation to shift to medication, a topic on which every trainer has an opinion.
...
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In racetrack math, higher purses means more horses, which means more handle....
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At the tender age of 85, after nearly three decades in the business of owning and running horses, Harry Aleo finally felt the love of the racing gods....
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