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To be a success in any endeavor, it helps to create one’s own luck. Generally that’s achieved by strong principles, a conviction to the business plan, and good old-fashioned hard work. It’s no wonder then that Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stud near Versailles, Ky., has been on a tear of late. The horsewoman, a national breeder of the year, has ...

All of the stories and anecdotes about Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Race Course just might be true. The upstate New York haven for horses and humans offered a splendid week with perfect weather for the big show Aug. 24 capped by the 150th running of the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1). Walking the backstretch area for a few days, one sees the ...

Having covered the Triple Crown races in one form or another for the past 32 years, including writing the features Derby Doings for Daily Racing Form and the Derby Dozen for BloodHorse, I can state emphatically that I cannot remember a horse maturing physically and mentally and turning into a polished professional as quickly as Code of Honor. ...

Through some magical combination of glass, tinting, and air conditioning, sunshine immerses occupants of the atrium dining room at the Thoroughbred Club of America in Lexington while keeping heat and stuffiness at bay. On a mid-August Wednesday in Central Kentucky where high temperatures and humidity had locals referencing dogs and days instead ...

Each year, the Travers Stakes takes on a look of its own. Some years it proves to be an extension of the Triple Crown races and other years the Triple Crown horses make little impact, as fresh faces such as Arrogate, West Coast, V.E. Day, and Afleet Express pop into the picture well after the Triple Crown. Then you have a horse like Will Take ...

There was plenty of action afield in the Thoroughbred world from coast to coast during the Aug. 10-11 weekend. Racing was stellar at Saratoga, Arlington International, and Del Mar, and The Jockey Club hosted its 67th Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing. Meanwhile, Colonial Downs reopened its doors, boosting the vital signs for ...

The Whitney Stakes (G1) and Longines Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course were the big-ticket performances Aug. 3. Both races boasted compelling fields and delivered exciting, dramatic results. Just before McKinzie crossed the wire first in the Whitney, the field for the $500,000 West Virginia Derby (G3), the year’s signature event for ...

We are happy to leave it to the lawyers and courts to determine whether Santa Anita, Del Mar, and other jurisdictions acted within their legal means by pulling trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s license after six of his horses suffered catastrophic breakdowns this season in California. But the lesson at hand is far bigger than the fate of one man: ...

Fascinated by the coverage of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic trip to the moon, we wondered how The Blood-Horse chronicled that voyage back in July 1969. Neil Armstrong’s walk on the lunar surface late in the evening of July 20 didn’t get the column inches in print it did in general publications. After all, the Keeneland July yearling ...