BloodHorse.com

When does a yearling consignor know how good his or her prospects are for upcoming sale? Consignors spend so much time prepping these horses or monitoring their progress on another’s farm, one might expect a good benchmark would be known weeks, if not months, ahead of time. Oh, no. The life of a young Thoroughbred is an ever-changing landscape. ...

Joe De Francis understands like few others the tough decision being weighed by the Maryland Jockey Club over the future of Pimlico Race Course.“From a purely business point of view, it does not make a lot of sense to pour your resources into two racetracks,” De Francis said recently during a lunch break at the inaugural Pan American Conference in ...

For 37 years, the gates to racing’s pantheon have remained shut, rusted with time, leaving a number of fallen heroes strewn along its steps.But this time, there were no heartbreaking nose defeats, no safety pins, no horse suffering a fractured leg in the stretch, no bent shoes, no getting stepped on by another horse at the start, no horse being ...

Nothing reveals how hard people work to achieve success in horse racing like walking through the barn area of a racetrack.Hundreds of people gather daily for the ritual of caring for these athletes in which we have so much invested—physically, financially, and emotionally. Days begin before the sun even hints of its presence. Feed tubs are filled ...

Although his name is American Pharoah, he has been more like Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, as masses of humanity follow him everywhere, from the moment he leaves his barn to the last drops of water from his bath. And that was also the case this morning when he was brought out to be schooled in the paddock. While all eyes are focused on ...

Since Affirmed swept the Triple Crown in 1978, there have been a total of 13 horses who have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Of those, 12 failed in the Belmont Stakes and one was scratched the day before the Belmont with an injury. Several of those horses would have been worthy of the accolades that accompany a Triple Crown winner, most ...

Change in Thoroughbred racing may come slowly in some areas, but it is no stranger to Blood-Horse.The nearly 100-year-old print publication-turned multimedia company crossed yet another threshold May 29 with the launch of a new tablet edition of the weekly magazine. Not only will subscribers get free access to the  magazine’s content on their ...

Opinion: American Pharoah just may be far superior to any 3-year-old and will win the Belmont Stakes easily, becoming racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.Fact: American Pharoah has no experience at Belmont Park and would be the first Triple Crown winner in history to win the Belmont Stakes without having at least one race over the track. He will not ...

Earlier this month Indiana Gov. Mike Pence vetoed legislation that would have allowed advance deposit wagering because it violates his stance against expanding gaming in the Hoosier State.Pence then allowed two other gambling-related pieces of legislation to become law without his signature—one allows riverboat casinos to move ashore, provided the ...