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 (Originally published in the April 21, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Evan Hammonds The Bradley clan is back in grade I company. That would be the father-son team of Fred and William “Buff” Bradley, breeders and owners of Groupie Doll, the ...

[brightcove videoid=''1565029582001''] 1 Creative Cause Mike Harrington Giant's Causeway—Dream of Summer, by Siberian Summer If you were impressed with Dullahan and Bodemeister, he’s the only horse to have finished in front of both of them. With the top end such a toss-up, it’s difficult dropping him at this point after having him on top ...

In his first crop, sired at a relatively modest fee of $10,000, Broken Vow (TrueNicks,SRO) came up with a very promising colt in Private Vow. Winner of the Futurity Stakes (gr. II) and Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II), Private Vow might also have gone close in the Breeders' Cup Futurity (gr. I) had a rein not broken in the straight. A leading ...

  The final round of the Kentucky Derby preps are upon us. After Saturday, let the games, and the hype, begin.Blue Grass Stakes This is the race where we find out what Hansen is all about. With so much early speed in here, he will get the perfect opportunity to rate, not just off of one pacesetter but possibly several. If he can, and then ...

Four of our highly touted horses, as early as Oct. 13, 2011 and as recent as April 6, are running this weekend. Two already have the graded earnings to get in the Derby, one needs an in-the-money performance, and one needs to win.All of them – Holy Candy, Dullahan, Optimizer, and Sabercat – should be good prices, with Holy Candy and Sabercat ...

Majestic Warrior, whose first crop of offspring will race this year, was the leading sire at the Keeneland sale of 2-year-olds in training April 9 in Lexington. His three offspring that sold averaged $385,667. The trio included the $700,000 sale-topper, a colt produced from the unraced Hennessy mare Counter Cat, and the auction's ...

.commentForm, .postComments, #comments{display:none;} Join Jason Shandler and Tom LaMarra for a series of Live Blogs to discuss the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown.  Live Blogs will be held on April 13 and 20. As well as on Friday, May 4 (Oaks Day), and Saturday May 5 (Derby Day). All blogs begin at NOON Eastern Daylight ...

The most recent weekend saw another pair of grade I Kentucky Derby (gr. I) preps, with the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and the Santa Anita Derby on the West Coast. In New York, two of the leading Derby hopefuls, Gemologist and Alpha, had to finish in the first two to be certain of having sufficient graded earnings to make the field. In the event, ...

The weekend past saw the 56th running of the world's richest 2-year-old race, the AAMI Golden Slipper (Aus-I), run over 1200m (6 furlongs) at Rosehill in Sydney with the victor being the undefeated Gai Waterhouse-trained Pierro (Gai had touted Pierro strongly leading up to the race as seen in this pre-race video). Traditionally the race that ...

This year’s Kentucky Derby contenders are so evenly matched, there is a good possibility the winner will be determined by who gets the best trip and/or the best ride.It is imperative that the jockeys, especially the ones riding the major players, are on their game, because with so little separating these horses, even a minor lapse in judgment ...