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The big preps for this year’s Breeders’ Cup have come and gone. Grade 1 races were going off at the drop of a hat—and that hat was dropping all the time—earlier this month at Belmont Park, Keeneland, and Santa Anita. To us there’s no better month for racing than October with its more predictable and temperate weather. Yet, the three biggest names ...

Greatness is a tricky thing. We don’t know exactly from where it emanates and why some are born with it and some are not. Perhaps it starts deep within and then makes its way to the surface. But sometimes that journey is blocked by obstacles and never quite makes it. In the case of Classic Empire, there is no doubt the greatness was there. ...

Joe Palmer, the former associate editor of The Blood-Horse, and celebrated columnist for the New York Herald Tribune, once began one of his pieces: “There are several ways of putting a column together. One is to work. This is generally frowned on in the profession. The other is to sit opposite John B. Campbell, a steward at Hialeah and the racing ...

The term “October surprise” is usually pegged to the presidential election cycle, but the Thoroughbred world received a pretty good one when John Sikura and Ken Ramsey announced that Kitten’s Joy, the leading sire of 2013 and a four-time leading turf sire in the U.S., would be moving from Ramsey Farm near Nicholasville, Ky., to Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ ...

How good are things in the Thoroughbred world these days? Well, there’s always the doomsday brigade, but in actuality, the breeding and racing business was on a pretty good roll in September. Why the upbeat mood? Spirited action in the auction arena through the summer and early fall and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s good work on ...

Last week I wrote about the dramatic decline in the number of top stars participating in the big Breeders’ Cup preview weekends. Whether or not this is the beginning of a new trend likely will depend on how the “fresh” horses perform in the Breeders’ Cup. But for now, perhaps it is more important to try to figure out the reasoning behind this ...

When Arrogate goes to the post for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, not even the most astute handicappers will have any idea what to expect. Are we going to see the four-race terror that was unleashed on the sport or the horse who was made to look somewhat flawed in his last two starts at Del Mar? Uncertainty breeds intrigue and there surely will ...

The late Penny Chenery and the great Secretariat are forever linked as the greatest one-two punch in the history of American racing. The story remains as rich today as it was in 1973, especially considering the fact Chenery was navigating her way through settling her family’s estate and negotiating a record-breaking stud deal all the while trying ...

On September 23, the grade 2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park will be the main event of the day, standing alone for the first time, rather than lost in the morass of grade 1 stakes that used to be known as Breeders’ Cup Preview Day. That may seem to have little or no significance to anyone, but it actually gives a great deal more exposure and ...