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I like to pick my spots early at Del Mar due to the uniqueness of the track. That means I'll be concentrating my plays on the turf course while I watch to see how the Polytrack plays. Del Mar's opening day feature today is the (two division) Oceanside Stakes, for three-year-olds going one mile on the turf. Blingo, an Artie Schiller colt who is ...

By Ned Bonnie Ned Bonnie is a retired equine attorney with Frost Brown Todd and a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Thirty-eight separate racing commissions with limited budgets, staff, and experienced attorneys have resulted in poor drug enforcement in racing. When there is money to be made in any industry and there are few rules ...

It would be reasonable to suggest that while time may prove Coolmore stallion Galileo superior to his breed-shaping sire Sadler's Wells, with the exception of siring a group I winner over 4000m (which Sadler's Wells did in the form of the brilliant Yeats), right now Galileo is every bit as good a classic sire as his father. Like many elite ...

 By Michele MacDonald     It is not an exaggeration to say that no Thoroughbred stallion has ever lived a life like 2002 champion and dual classic winner War Emblem.     From demonstrating he was one of the sharpest runners of the past decade with victories in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness ...

(Originally published in the July 21, 2012 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 medication issue has been a major one in racing for more than 20 years. Knee-jerk reaction...will not answer the public ...

(Originally published in the July 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)  By Claire NovakIt is not unusual for a jockey’s name to be linked with one horse. Mention Jeremy Rose and Afleet Alex comes to mind. Bring up Stewart Elliott and you think of ...

Yes, ‘tiz the season to be jolly. Saratoga is here again, and it seems to be getting earlier and earlier. The first half of the year has been a series of emotional ups and downs with issues so hot they burned up the pages of newspapers and network air waves, in good part to the detriment of the sport.If there was a face of horse racing it would be ...

It's early—make that very early—to starting reviewing the progress of the 2012 freshman sires, but remarkably at least 40 of them have already been represented by a winner. The surprise leader is Magna Graduate (TrueNicks,SRO), who has two winners from seven starters, including Blueeyesintherein, winner of the Debutante Stakes (gr. III). Out of a ...

The July 12 congressional hearing on racehorse medication in Washington, D.C., didn't determine any equine drug policy, but it did show why the industry struggles to get things right and how lawmakers and others have little grasp on how the industry works. Here are some of things that were said: Sen. Tom Udall: ''Chronic doping ...

One day last month, I had the privilege of visiting New Vocations’ Lexington facility at West Wind Farm. Located in the heart of the rolling, Bluegrass hills, it’s a beautiful operation and is currently home to 15 horses. Some of its residents have already been adopted and are waiting to transition out of the farm, while others receive daily, ...