Rachel Alexandra versus Zenyatta is the match-up racing fans everywhere are clamoring for....
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Recording private sales gives a more accurate picture of the business of trading horses at a particular sale....
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In a perfect world, zero tolerance might work. This is far from a perfect world....
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Breeders' Cup should scale back purses, cut back to one day, and name more host sites....
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Carl Rollins is not a horse owner, breeder, trainer, nor jockey. But Carl Rollins gets it--he understands the importance of the horse industry to Kentucky.
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It's a shame Vincent O'Brien didn't hang on a couple more weeks. The legendary Irish trainer, who died June 1 at age 91, would have loved the just-concluded Royal Ascot meeting, in particular the success enjoyed by American conditioner Wesley Ward....
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Another Triple Crown season has come and gone, and as usual it did not disappoint. Many of the happenings would have been impossible to predict, however, such as:...
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Bloodstock agent John Moynihan has bought and sold many good horses, seen many top individuals at sales, and witnessed many impressive performances on the racetrack....
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Speaking to shareholders May 7 via conference call, Churchill Downs Inc. president and chief executive officer Bob Evans said, "The solution for tracks without slots is to cut purses, to cut races, and race days, or to cut all three."...
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Trainer Bennie "Chip" Woolley Jr. had a rough start to the year. He crashed his motorcycle in some gravel and broke his leg, and his stable was having a tough time winning races, with one lone maiden winner from 32 starts....
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While spending a spring morning watching horses gallop at Keeneland in 1990, I met a relative newcomer to training Thoroughbreds. He was searching for the clockers, and as it was his first trip to the Kentucky track, the West Coast-based conditioner was unaware they timed horses from the press box....
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On a beautiful spring day in Central Kentucky April 4, it was easy to see why Keeneland was considering a major expansion to its facility (now on hold due to the current state of the economy). With the fifth-highest attendance in its history--30,550--the place was bursting at the seams....
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Why are fewer horse races nationally televised today? Viewers are telling ESPN that horse racing ranks low on their "must see" list of sports....
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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....
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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....
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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. ...
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In a recessionary time, Florida's leaders have come up with their own stimulus package....
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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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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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