BloodHorse.com

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') At this time of year, it is rare to feel very confident in the chances of any given three-year-old in a Kentucky Derby prep race. Because it can be so difficult to predict which colts will improve dramatically with maturity (or not!), a colt that looks like a standout on paper could romp to an impressive ...

In the world of commerce, nothing could be more colorful and fascinating than an auction of Thoroughbred horses.  For instance, at Keeneland in Lexington each fall for almost two weeks, around 4,000 horses are sold, and people come from all over the world to pay prices that cause the average to be in the neighborhood of six figures. Every two ...

Tom Durkin retired Aug. 30 at Saratoga Race Course from his life’s calling, ending a 43-year career as the nation’s premier racetrack 
announcer. The native of Chicago’s West Side has called more than 80,000 races, beginning at a fair circuit in Wisconsin. He rose through the ranks at major tracks in Florida, New Jersey, and Illinois before ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') On Monday, the Road to the Kentucky Derby continues at Oaklawn Park with the running of the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes. The one-mile race has drawn a field of nine, led by the talented Mr. Z, who placed in a quintet of graded stakes races during his very busy juvenile campaign. Here are the ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') The $200,000 LeComte Stakes (gr. III) on January 17th at Fair Grounds poses an interesting handicapping question—what do you do with Eagle, the likely favorite, now that he has drawn the far outside post position in a field of eleven? From some perspectives, Eagle seems like a standout. Last time out, he ...

Picture a deep blue sky, a slight late winter’s chill in the air, warmed by the sun, and rows of colorful tulips bringing the first images of the impending spring. Picture a kaleidoscope of familiar colors atop noble steeds who have migrated north with the robins. Picture cigar smoke-filled buses and trains arriving one after another from all ...

What happened to a Thoroughbred after it finished racing barely registered as an issue with most industry stakeholders 25 years ago. “Nobody cared,” said Delaware owner/breeder Herb Moelis, a New York businessman who bought a farm he named Candyland in 1986. What awoke Moelis and his wife, Ellen, to the fate of ex-racehorses was an article about ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Along the road to the Kentucky Derby, it sometimes becomes clear that the top three-year-olds in a particular region of the country are clearly superior to their rivals in other states. In 2012, the supremacy of the California-based runners became clear as they dominated prep races across the nation, ...