BloodHorse.com

Dear Beyond the Blinkers readers, As you know, Triple Crown and Kentucky Oaks season is upon us, and from April 1-May 6, I will be switching the focus of this blog to the Kentucky Oaks. Like last year, I will be covering this race for the magazine, and through Beyond the Blinkers, I will be updating you with fun features, and behind-the-scenes ...

Who will win the 2011 Louisiana Derby? Who will complete the exacta? The tri? Is it all Mucho Macho Man? Will Machen or Elite Alex make some noise? Is it time for a new horse to enter the Triple Crown picture? Now is your chance to see how your picks stack up against the rest of the BloodHorse.com community. Need more information about the ...

SUCCEED® DIGESTIVE CONDITIONING PROGRAM® LAUNCHES CRUSADE AGAINST EQUINE COLIC™ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AURORA, OHIO, Monday, March 21, 2011 -- Freedom Health, LLC, makers of SUCCEED® Digestive Conditioning Program®, has announced the introduction of a new awareness campaign: the Crusade Against Equine Colic™.   As a leading equine ...

By Scot T. Gillies A few changes at the top make the 2010 leading trainers lists an interesting study. Eric Mitchell's cover story introduces MarketWatch's exclusive--and exhaustive--statistical charts of the nation's top 200 trainers and subcharts identifying leaders by category. Racing fans know Bold Irish as ancestress of Ruffian, but ...

TrueNicks co-creator Byron Rogers and myself are on a three-week tour of New Zealand and Australia. Since Byron so proudly coined “Tapp’s Travels,” I’ll be nice and keep the title for this blog. Our first stop was Saturday’s New Zealand Oaks (gr. I) at Trentham Racecourse in the southern part of New Zealand’s north island. The winner was Midnight ...

The Factor was the talk of the racing nation after dazzling in the Rebel Stakes on Saturday, but only minutes before a 3-year-old that many of us never heard of burst onto the scene loud and clear. It was Maclean's Music, who broke his maiden by 7 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita while running six furlongs in 1:07.44 under a hand ride. If you haven't ...

(Originally published in the March 26, 2011 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)       One of the most distinct memories Thoroughbred owner/breeder John Gunther has of Triple Crown hopeful Stay Thirsty as a foal is watching the ...

   (Originally published in the March 26, 2011 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 TwitterThe Blood-Horse recently cast a wide net into the pool of Thoroughbred industry participants and posed a simple ...

BREEDERS/FARM OWNERS  & MANAGERS Craig Bandoroff: farm owner, consignor, Denali Stud1. We need centralization to organize our fragmented industry where stakeholders (racetracks, owners, and horsemen) are held accountable and are beneficiaries of synergies to improve the economics, regulation, and promotion of racing. We need one central ...

 1 Uncle Mo Todd Pletcher Indian Charlie—Playa Maya, by Arch Opinions regarding the colt range from his being a superstar to having little shot at 1 1/4 miles. What else is new? Pedigree will not be an issue. Hard to fault his debut; he did everything he was supposed to and looked great doing it. And regardless of the slow pace ...