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(Originally published in the March 3, 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 - @EJMitchellKy on Twitter If Toyota contacted Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and said it was moving its manufacturing plant out of the state, would ...

(Originally published in the March 3, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) Even by jockey standards Rafael Bejarano spent a busy President’s Day weekend in mid-February. He began it Feb. 16 in Kentucky, taking and passing his U.S. citizenship test. Feb. ...

Optimism outweighs pessimism heading into the selling season for select 2-year-olds in training, which begins with the Barretts auction in Southern California March 5. Sale company officials and consignors are feeling good for several reasons. No. 1, the American economy, while still far below where it used to be, is doing better. No. 2, purses ...

[brightcove videoid=''1476621994001''] 1 Union Rags Michael Matz  Dixie Union—Tempo, by Gone West Well, we’ve got ourselves a legitimate, top-class Derby favorite. This was as dominating and effortless a victory as you’ll see on the Derby trail, or any other trail. Most important, he ran a straight course and did everything perfectly. ...

By Briana Mott ''Too easy'' were the words of choice after Black Caviar's first run over 1,400 meters. The 5-year-old powerhouse that has taken over sprint races in Australia silenced her doubters on Feb. 11 by adding another 200 meters to her winning distance range. She ran against some of the best including the Caulfield Cup winning mare, ...

Recent discussion of the pedigree of the Australian supermare Black Caviar focused some attention on Tom Fool, whose son Silly Season is doubled in Black Caviar’s pedigree. Since he was a foal of 1949, Tom Fool will now, to many, mean little more than a name that is found in the more distant removes of modern pedigrees. But, if you want to know ...

As I wrote in my preview of Sunday's Fountain of Youth Stakes, in my opinion the Triple Crown season officially starts this weekend. Between Saturday's Risen Star from Fair Grounds, which features the highly-touted El Padrino, and Sunday's Fountain of Youth, a race that pits current Derby favorite Union Rags against a pair of undefeated Todd ...

“We’re running the continued risk of our relevancy to the citizens of this Commonwealth.” That comment was made by Democratic Sen. Tim Shaughnessy Feb. 23 during the lead-up to a vote on a constitutional amendment on expanded gambling in Kentucky. The “let the people decide” measure failed on a 21-16 vote with one senator absent. Though the ...

Over two years ago, we ran a TrueNicks Broodmare Report for the O'Reilly (NZ) (TrueNicks) mare Rare Insight. The report was ordered by Rare Insight's part-owner Neil Hoar, who gave a copy to his trainer, leading Australian trainer John O'Shea. After reading the report, the trainer told us: ''I'm impressed that the report has Danehill Dancer as a ...

(Originally published in the February 25, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)  By Tom LaMarra - @JerseyTom on Twitter What has horse racing learned from 20 years of racetrack-based casino gambling? A review of the landscape indicates the answer ...