BloodHorse.com

Heading into April weekends we love seeing stories with headlines such as “Preps to Clear Derby Picture” because: a) the features always focus on the obvious, over-worn angles, and b) the results often prove them to be incredibly wrong. It played out in spades April 8 at Keeneland, Aqueduct, and Santa Anita. We anticipate more of the same next ...

By: Erin Shea, @BH_EShea For the first time, Thoroughbred aftercare will have a deserved spotlight in a part of the larger international racing conversation.  Coinciding with the Pan American conference in Washington D.C., the newly established International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) May 17-18 hopes to highlight ...

By Ron Mitchell Driven by the top of the market, the first four juvenile sales of 2017 resulted in a 12.2% increase in gross receipts, a 15.8% cumulative increase in average, and a decline in buy-backs as the marketplace becomes more polarized. According to BloodHorse MarketWatch data, the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream, Ocala Breeders' Sales ...

1 Always Dreaming Todd Pletcher Bodemeister—Above Perfection, by In Excess There is very little separating him and Irish War Cry in natural ability and running style, and both should have no problem with the 1 1/4 miles. The Florida Derby now appears to be the best of the preps, mainly because he easily handled the No. 3 ranked horse ...

With Awesome Gem arriving at his new home at Old Friends April 7 I thought it would be an appropriate time to reprint a column I wrote in 2010 on this old warrior and the person whose life he changed. Clyde Haugan always said: ''Don't let the bastards get you down.'' Haugan, a longtime resident of Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., began suffering from ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Get ready, everyone! A tremendous day of racing awaits on April 8th, with fourteen graded stakes races scheduled to be run at Aqueduct, Keeneland, and Santa Anita. The lineup includes three major Kentucky Derby prep races, with the $1,000,000 Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) appearing to ...

While trainer Saeed bin Suroor did not commit to pointing the UAE Derby Sponsored by the Saeed and Mohammed Al Naboodah Group (G2) winner Thunder Snow to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1), Godolphin's Dubai-based trainer said the Louisville classic will get a long look when he meets with Sheikh Mohammed. Should Thunder Snow start ...

As an industry not famous for cooperation among competing entities, the two dozen members around Central Kentucky that came together to plan and see to fruition the advent of Horse Country Tours deserve accolades. The farms, sales companies, equine clinics, and one feed company identified the need to create an enhanced experience for tourists ...

By: Erin Shea, @BH_EShea When Thoroughbreds reigned supreme in the hunter-jumper ranks, the road from racetrack to show ring for horses was mostly through connections made with people who knew their way around the backside.  As the dynamics of aftercare and sport horse purchasing changed in the age of the internet—and with the rise of many ...