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By Susan Dalebroux, Post Parade A number of weeks ago, Donna and Dallas Keen received an email from a young woman, “Hi … I have one of your race horses that you used to have, Kinoko Man.  I found him at a auction sale and saved him from the slaughter man.” What?!?The Keens were aghast! Dallas and Donna Keen are devoted to the care and ...

It takes only a minute or two to sell a horse at public auction. The animal is led into the ring, the announcer makes a few comments, the auctioneer rattles his chant, and the hammer falls.Simple. Easy.Not exactly.In 2002, The Blood-Horse presented “A Day in the Life of a Racetrack,” followed in 2005 by “A Day in the Life of a Breeding Farm.” For ...

As the Kentucky Derby hoopla began to quiet down, a stunned racing world was still trying to recover from the bombshell that had fallen on Churchill Downs. An obscurely bred, crooked legged, harlequin of a horse from Venezuela, who had been ridiculed by the press and local horsemen, had just concluded the most bizarre journey and adventure in the ...

The 1971 3-year-old crop trilogy concludes appropriately with the remarkable Canonero II, whose story is so improbable it would be scoffed at by any responsible movie producer. Because of that, it must be told in two parts. The second part will follow on Monday.The story begins at the 1967 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, where horsemen ...

You may have noticed the two brief mentions of Jim French in the last blog in regard to His Majesty’s exploits early in his 3-year-old campaign. Remaining on the subject of Graustark, it is only appropriate to give his son equal billing. I can’t think of any horse who deserves to have his accomplishments chronicled and hammered into our psyche ...

Down by more than a touchdown at halftime, the Tennessee Titans came from behind Nov. 16 to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Titans are the only unbeaten team in the NFL, with a 10-0 record.In 2007, excited pro football fans thought they were witnessing a perfect season. Alas, the New England Patriots lost in the Super Bowl, leaving the 1972 ...

If it were not for Graustark I would not be writing this blog. That’s because I would not be writing for the Blood-Horse. The reason I would not be writing for the Blood-Horse is because I would not have worked for the Daily Racing Form for 29 years or written for the Thoroughbred Times for five years or the Thoroughbred Record on and off for many ...

Disaster. Brutal. Blood bath. Just a few of the many descriptive words being used by breeders to describe the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, which at this writing still had a week to run.In light of the recessive global economy, everyone thought the sale, the largest of its kind in the world, would be down. But a drop of 10-20% was ...