BloodHorse.com

Robert Courtney Sr., who left us last week at 96, is celebrated not only for his long and distinguished career as a breeder and horseman, but as somebody who was always willing to help the next guy. Courtney had a way with words, every sentence holding pearls of wisdom. “Courtneyisms,” is what Alex Rankin, one of Courtney’s protegés, calls them, ...

It was the winter of 1986, and I was in a major lull in my potential writing career. Still toiling aimlessly in the library of the Daily Racing Form after 18 years, I had stopped writing freelance features for the Thoroughbred Record. In addition, Stud & Stable, England’s version of the Blood-Horse and Thoroughbred Record where I had been ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman This coming weekend of racing is a bit of a quiet one with not a lot of stakes action on the agenda, but the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar has attracted a promising-looking field containing several fillies that appear to have bright futures. Let's take a quick look at that ...

By: Erin Shea, @BH_EShea  The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Incentive Program Youth Ambassadors are a special group of young off-track Thoroughbred supporters who want to share their passion for ex-racehorses with the equestrian world. Twelve individuals are selected each year to help promote the T.I.P., which encourages the retraining of ...

While folks were hanging out at Fasig-Tipton or at Keeneland over the last week, it was the first thing they wanted to talk about…but not on the record. It’s not exactly a new story, but with this year’s rising market for Thoroughbreds, it is one everyone has an opinion on. We’re talking about the “rivalry” between a certain pair of sale ...

Thoroughbred racing is all about information and the constant quest for answers. We are provided with information in the past performances, in the pedigrees, in the workouts, in backstretch gossip and tips, and to the less informed, in names and lucky saddlecloth numbers. We delve into speed figures, pace figures, trip notes, observational ...

By: Erin Shea, @BH_EShea  The hammer fell at $450,000 for the son of Indian Charlie, with Eoin Harty bringing the final bid at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. Bred by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Barnes Racing out of the stakes-placed Mr. Prospector mare Beaucette, he was pinhooked to that sale after being ...