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Monday, the final day of Alabama Stakes (gr. I) Week, saw 14,817 people come out for the races.  The energy produced on the weekend – a memorable weekend of sport - was drained from the premises.  The atmosphere was quiet, like the scent of lavender.  By Friday, if not sooner, the juice will be back.  It is Travers Week ...

(Originally published in the August 24, 2013 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Eric Mitchell - @BH_EMitchell on Twitter The peak Ken and Sarah Ramsey found themselves atop Aug. 17 towers remarkably high above the racing landscape. And the plateau ...

For much of the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, the Australian sire's premiership was fought out between Encosta de Lago (AUS) (TrueNicks) and Redoute's Choice (AUS) (TrueNicks), the duo eventually claiming two titles apiece. Now New Zealand breeders will have the opportunity to breed to a stallion who combines bloodlines tied ...

by Vic ZastThe annual one-day fly hatching season came to an end with nightfall on Saturday.  Leaving the track was like battling locust.  The critters were pesky as mosquitoes in the Yukon as they flew into your hair and your mouth.  They disoriented you. High clouds through which you could see the sun if you really tried was the ...

Before we get to the Darley duo, we have to begin with a nursery story.Once upon a time, there was a boy (well, a boy in a man’s body) named Ken who had a kitten. As hard as Ken would try to find the kitten a home, no one was willing to take it in. So, Ken decided to keep the kitten and give it a good home. But the kitten grew into a big ferocious ...

by Vic ZastThe thought that horse racing needs to be dragged through the coals again following Saturday’s first race must be rattling about in some people’s minds. Just when New York Racing Association officials must have been feeling pretty good about how things were going with attendance increases, close finishes and weather forecasts, Saratoga ...

The Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Lake Placid Stakes, Saratoga, Inner Turf, Three-Year Old Fillies, One Mile and One Eighth Caroline Thomas (12-1) is a deep closer who has been subjected to one extremely slow pace after another.  (Note that fractions rated to be particularly slow are shown in blue.)  She also had some trouble at the ...

At first glance, the Friday card appeared to be loaded with NY-Bred races.  But that was the early part – three of the first three races including one of two stakes, a total of four in all. It seems as if Leo O’Brien hasn’t trained a horse into the winner’s circle in decades.  Yet, Slimshady, a NY-Bred chestnut gelding by ...

Arlington Million Contender The Apache in the Arlington Paddock on Aug. 16 ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (Aug. 15, 2013) -- Arlington Park, a pristine mothership of a racetrack planted firmly in the middle of Northwest Chicagoland, is host once each year to the grand and glorious sort of event the place was made for. During the International Festival of ...

While there is no doubt that nicks tend to run in sire lines, we've also often found it profitable to consider the dam of a stallion when attempting to predict potential crosses. For example, when Smart Strike (TrueNicks) retired to stud, we noted that he was a half brother to champion Dance Smartly, a daughter of Danzig. Since Smart Strike was a ...