BloodHorse.com

TV commentator and former jockey Donna Barton Brothers is the author of Inside Track: Insider’s Guide to Horse Racing.  It’s been a tough year for jockeys, some of whom have found their names in the news—and not in a positive way. Those controversies prompted me, a former jockey, to reflect on the challenges that many jockeys face.I know, I ...

This column has nothing to do with the defection of Tizway from next Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup, as disappointing as it was, or the horses that will be competing in the mile and a quarter event, even though at this point a good portion of the field appears as if it will be made of horses more likely to point for the BC Marathon.The column is ...

Fasig-Tipton has cataloged 535 yearlings for its 2011 Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearlings sale to be held October 4-5 in Timonium, Maryland. Visit TrueNicks.com/Auctions to get TrueNicks reports for all hips in the Midlantic sale, or for any past or upcoming sale. Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearlings: Session 1: Tuesday, October 4 - ...

(By Avalyn Hunter) In perusing this year's sales results and The Jockey Club's 2011 Live Foal Report (free download), one thing stands out: it's tougher than ever to market a new stallion. In contrast to previous years in which youngsters from the first crops of ''hot'' new stallions were in high demand, only one first-year stallion, ...

Our last blog dealt with the 3-year-old male crop of 1969. Well, their female counterparts were pretty special themselves, and what better time to recount their exploits than on the day of the grade II Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont. The race’s namesake will be the main focus of this blog, but no mention of that period would be complete without ...

By Jennifer Wirth-Ice, of The Saturday Post Bernard Fontenelle once said, ''It takes time to ruin a world, but time is all it takes.''  Perhaps, the time of ruin arrives when a single generation forgets why certain places are important.  Or possibly, the importance of the events that occurred on that ground fail to excite a culture ...

Nine three-year-olds battle at Parx Racing in the 1 1/8 mile Pennsylvania Derby (gr. II). Who will win it? How will the others finish? Need more information about the Pennsylvania Derby? Read the race preview, or watch That Handicapping Show. writeRanker(''http://i.bloodhorse.com/xml/ranking/2011PADerbyOrder.xml''); To participate, use ...

There was no doubt that Big Drama was the best sprinter in the country when last season ended. Despite getting most of 2011 off, he might be even better by the time he defends his title in this year's Breeders' Cup. ''I think he's a better horse now,'' said trainer David Fawkes. ''He's grown more and filled out more. I think he's more mature ...

Top sire Unusual Heat (TrueNicks), the leading California sire for the past three seasons, is now available on TrueNicks, with unlimited Enhanced Reports available for breeders. Unusual Heat stands at Harris Farms. A son of French champion miler and international sire Nureyev, Unusual Heat began his racing career in Ireland where he won stakes at ...

Just when Catherine Parke thought life couldn’t get any better, it did. During the third session of the Keeneland September yearling auction, the owner of 225-acre Valkyre Stud near Georgetown, Ky., sold a Bernardini filly for $1.2 million to Benjamin Leon Jr.’s Besilu Stables. Hours later, while savoring the big accomplishment, Parke and ...