BloodHorse.com

by Barry Roos When Balanced Attack won the feature at Laurel yesterday, it marked the 50th win for our partnership G-Biscuit Stable LLC. For the year we have won 18 races in 52 starts (35%) and have been in the money 69%. An hour later we grabbed our 51st win for the year at Hawthorne and that win got our lifetime win percentage to an amazing 25% ...

The Europeans whipped our butts in the Breeders’ Cup and are superior to American horses:Winning 5 of 14 races does not constitute a butt-whipping. Granted, winning five of the 10 races in which they competed was impressive, but still not exactly a butt-whipping. Why shouldn’t the European horses win half their races? Isn’t that was international ...

 When Better Than Honour sold for a broodmare world-record $14 million Nov. 2 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, it evoked memories of Nov. 10, 1984, when another world record was set on the day of the first Breeders’ Cup.“You and I must have been the only ones thinking of that day,” a laughing Jeff Morris said the morning after ...

The day after the 1987 Preakness Stakes, I stopped at a service area on I-95 in Maryland on my way back home from the Preakness and called Jack Van Berg, asking if I could do a feature on him for the Thoroughbred Times, which had only been in existence for about a year. I had never met Van Berg, who was on top of the world at the time and who ...

So, will it be Curlin or Zenyatta for Horse of the Year? That is the question everyone – fans, writers, horsemen – either seem to be asking or are adamant about one way or the other. Obviously, a case can be made for either one.But I have to admit I am flabbergasted that not a single person I’m aware of has even thrown Big Brown into the mix. Now ...

How does one even begin to comment on this year’s wild and crazy Breeders’ Cup? Pro-Ride form, the absence of any injuries, the filly phenomena, the European butt-whipping, Santa Anita, Horse of the Year, ESPN’s new camera shots? That’s just for starters.Before anything, I must say I cannot recall a more enjoyable two days of racing, whether you ...

Bobby Spalding is right. More often than not, we tend to overanalyze, overreach, even overreact. It leads to brain overload.When it comes right down to it, Spalding said, “They are just horses; treat them like horses.”They are words every farm manager should live by, imparted to Spalding by his first boss in the industry, Brereton Jones, owner of ...

Welcome to Breeder’s Cup Day!  We were handed the reins of the TBA Blog this week and were to start at a relatively inopportune moment – Breeder’s Cup Day (or Day 2, if you prefer).  Given the justifiable focus on the best our industry has to offer today as well as ad nauseum blogs on the races themselves, we will resume your ...

Two industry announcements separated by only a day were related in a way—the Safety and Integrity Alliance initiative put forth by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the annual Report of Mares Bred issued by The Jockey Club.Alex Waldrop, CEO of the NTRA, noted five areas Oct. 15 that were targeted for health and safety reform, among ...

-by Patrick Patten, author of Handride.The F&M Sprint is the first BC race, and I hate to say it, but it’s the one I’m looking forward to the most.  This will be the most competitive race, and the proof I use to claim this?   The horses entered are in the money 77% of the time.  Adding up all their lifetime performances, ...