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The charm of horse racing lies primarily in the animals that do it—their beauty, grace, power and their degree of class. But there is an undeniable attraction to the colorful human beings that make it happen. The purpose of this blog is to share my stories about some of ...

It has been 991 days since a big bay colt with a smashing white blaze hauled his handler through the ring at Keeneland’s 2010 September yearling sale, hammer falling on the winning $4.2 million bid of Benjamin Leon. You could feel the electricity and then a breath of fresh air, of revitalization, through the entire pavilion. Sold in the midst of a ...

Hello readers! One of our talented West Coast-based correspondents, Tracy Gantz, has written a great guest blog peice about the Thoroughbred Classic Horse Show in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. I hope you enjoy! Photos will hopefully be added soon. Have a wonderful ...

The interpretation of Thoroughbred pedigrees is no simple matter. The multi-factorial elements that might be considered include nicks, inbreeding, linebreeding, the positions of ancestors relative to one another, the relationship of the pedigree to the female line, and the class of the individuals involved. Given the volume of the data, and the ...

(Originally published in the June 1, 2013 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Evan Hammonds - @BH_EHammonds on Twitter Few in the industry would disagree that Belmont Park’s spring/summer stand offers the best quality of racing from top to bottom ...

(By Avalyn Hunter) Anyone who has studied pedigrees for any length of time knows that most successful sires share certain characteristics. Aside from being above-average performers on the track, they are usually sired by stallions substantially above the average both as racers and as sires. If their dams were not top race mares, they ...

By Michael Burns Haciendo su primera presentación del 2013, Marketing Mix le brindó al jinete Miembro del Salón de la Fama Gary Stevens su primera victoria en Betfair Hollywood Park en casi ocho años, con una emocionante victoria en el $250,500 Gamely Stakes el Lunes.   Sin competir desde que escoltó a Zagora en la Breeders' Cup Filly and ...

Wayne Lukas knew he had pulled a fast one on his opponents and on the bettors. The Hall of Fame trainer had just sprung an 18-1 upset in the 2000 Belmont Stakes with Commendable, who was coming off a dreadful 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Despite the son of Gone West floundering through six straight out-of-the-money performances at four ...

Tom LaMarra and I previewed the Arlington Classic Stakes (G3) on That Handicapping Show this week. The first leg of Arlington's excellent 3yo summer turf series, the Classic drew a competitive, full field of 12. As perhaps the best betting race of the weekend, I thought it deserved a full breakdown.They are going 1 1/16 miles on the ...

Today I ran across a pretty cool OTTB-related story I thought was worth sharing. Sent by Francis LaBelle, former assistant director of communications for the New York Racing Association, it chronicles the life of the stakes-winning, hard knocking horse Sir Prize Birthday, who is soon to be 33 years old! Enjoy. ...