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Trivia question: Which prep race has had the most impact on the Kentucky Derby over the past five years? If you guessed the Florida Derby, Arkansas Derby, or any of the other ''major'' preps, you would be wrong. The answer is the Tampa Bay Derby. Since 2006, the Tampa Bay Derby, which only became a grade II race last year, has produced two ...

When life dealt Carmel Heitzman a near-fatal blow, she turned her adversity into something positive for the horse industry. Heitzman was badly injured at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots last February when kicked by a horse in front of the winner’s circle after her husband, trainer Eric Heitzman's horse won a race. Her condition required ...

With less than two months now remaining until the Kentucky Derby, we are starting to get a pretty solid picture of who the top contenders are. Right now it's Union Rags at the top and everyone else trailing, but horses like Alpha, El Padrino, and Hansen have to be considered serious second-tier contenders based off of their last races. The final ...

Ron the Greek looked like a horse who could develop into a genuine classic prospect when closing late to take the 2010 renewal of the LeComte Stakes (gr. III) by 1½ lengths. At that point, the Florida-bred was a winner of three of his four starts, but rather surprisingly, it would take another 22 months and ten races before he revisted the ...

(Originally published in the March 10, 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 The $10 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) commands attention not only due to its rich purse but from the status it has developed ...

(Originally published in the March 10, 2012 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)  By Steve Montemarano Steve Montemarano is an Ohio resident and an appointed member of the Governors Thoroughbred Race Fund Advisory Council. Tucked inside Barn 7 on the ...

The most expensive yearling sold at public auction in 2011 has been named Powerful. His new owners need to be commended for making a choice that is fitting for a majestic-looking $1.4-million A.P. Indy colt. It doesn't always happen. There have been times when people, who have gone out and spent seven figures, inexplicably choose a name so bad ...

[brightcove videoid=''1489056121001''] 1 Union Rags Michael Matz Dixie Union—Tempo, by Gone West Now that all the superlatives have subsided and we continue to forge ahead on the Derby trail, it should be noted that because the Fountain of Youth appeared to take very little out of him, he’s going to need a stiff test in the Florida Derby, ...

There are few topics in the world of pedigree theory—and for that matter in the Thoroughbred community as a whole—that are more emotive than the subject of inbreeding. On one hand, inbreeding, and what is perceived as a consequential decline in genetic variety, is blamed for all manner of ills including a supposed decline in soundness. On the ...