BloodHorse.com

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Christmas is coming, and horse racing fans know what that means--it means that opening day at Santa Anita is just around the corner! With December 26th traditionally marking the start of Santa Anita's winter meet, opening day at ''The Great Race Place'' serves as an enjoyable ...

There are three things that exemplify the best in the Thoroughbred industry: its history, the work ethic of its successful players, and their pure class. While assembling the “Milestones” section of this week’s year-end issue, several names of those who have passed in 2016 reminded us of why those three “legs” prop up the sport. We’ll focus on a ...

And they’re off, and it’s Mattress Mac first out of the gate in the inaugural Pegasus Preliminary Probe, Pursuit, and Purchase. Yes, Jim McIngvale, who had been under the false impression he could get sprint champion Runhappy to fill his $1 million spot in the new 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational January 28, has ventured down below ...

While participation numbers in the H-2B Seasonal Worker Visa program, which the industry relies on for backstretch workers, face an uncertain future with a new president and Congress preparing to take office in January, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association is working with like-minded industries to get the message out about the need ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Although the coming weekend is a relatively quiet one in terms of major racing action, there are a few noteworthy races scheduled to be run, including the Winter Challenge Stakes at Los Alamitos, where California Chrome will enter the starting gate for the penultimate time in his ...

A little over a week ago Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors scored an unheard of 60 points in only 29 minutes, without playing at all in the fourth quarter. All anyone could do was to speculate how many points he could have scored had he been given the opportunity. Although Wilt Chamberlain’s other worldly 100 points seemingly is ...

December 6 was a monumental day in the offices of BloodHorse: Arriving in all of its heft and glory was the 2017 hard copy version of our Stallion Register. It is an exciting day in the annual publishing cycle because it means the project is finished and published, and the industry has a great tool to head into next year’s breeding season. On ...

Let me start off by saying I respect any committee that has tough, and for the most part, unpopular decisions to make, and I’m sure the Graded Stakes Committee put considerable care and thought into their decisions this year. With that said, there have been many, myself included, who were shocked by the committee’s decision to downgrade two ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman We may be entering the final weeks of 2016, but there's still some top-notch racing left to be run! This Saturday, Los Alamitos will hold a pair of Grade 1 races for two-year-olds, including the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I), an official prep race on the road to the Kentucky ...

Asked to take a swing at profiling the rising stars in the Thoroughbred breeding and racing industries by our publisher and editorial director John Keitt Jr., the staff of BloodHorse came up with what we think is a pretty good first cut. Of course, the snapshots of the 28 individuals featured over 15 pages are just that—snapshots. There is much ...