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Mary Simon, three-time Eclipse Award winner and one of the sport’s most noted historians, brought out an old box of papers she hadn’t looked at in many years and placed it on the living room floor. She had no idea what was in there, just basically old papers she had saved. Among the contents, secured by a small rusted paper clip, were a number of ...

The weeping is over. The complaining fruitless. So just accept the direction Thoroughbred Racing is heading. The American Graded Stakes Committee is no doubt comprised of knowledgeable, intelligent people who know what they are doing and follow their formulas and equations with great awareness when juggling graded stakes, especially those rated ...

In the days leading up to the 1979 Belmont Stakes, with Spectacular Bid having dominated his opposition in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, if someone had asked you to give thanks that we were about to witness a Triple Crown winner, you might have been inclined to laugh in their face.“Big deal,” you might have said. “So we have another ...

Thoroughbred racing’s Golden Age, as we know it, was the decade of the ‘70s when we had three Triple Crown winners, as well as equine heroes such as Ruffian, Forego, Spectacular Bid, Alydar, and the rags to riches Canonero II.But to our parents’ generation, racing’s Golden Age were the years following Word War II when the Sport of Kings got back ...

On April 12, 2016, the four major Kentucky Derby prep winners were Florida Derby winner Nyquist, Santa Anita Derby winner Exaggerator, Blue Grass Stakes winner Brody’s Cause, and Wood Memorial winner Outwork.Following three straight defeats, Nyquist was retired after a sixth-place finish in the Sept. 24 Pennsylvania Derby, Exaggerator was retired ...

The Breeders’ Cup is always looking to make changes in order to improve the event. It started back when the Filly and Mare Turf was added. Some of the changes since have been good and some bad. For years, I have been an advocate for an all juvenile day on Friday, promoting it by saying, “Come see next year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks ...

There are forgotten horses; there are overlays; there are longshots; and then there are those horses who are all three and can be classified as potential bombs.With the depth of this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, you are going to get some huge prices on horses that don’t deserve to be huge prices. But remember, depth does not always equate to ...

It is difficult to put into words the emotions one feels when visiting a gravestone. From that slab of granite or stone comes a flood of memories, as if the deceased is right there with you, recalling all the special memories that were shared.I am not equating the gravestone of a horse to that of a human being, but sometimes the memories are just ...