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I had a really neat experience on Dec. 2. After writing this blog last winter about Thoroughbreds in Tinsel Town, and interviewing Cari Swanson of Swanson Peterson Productions, my editor informed me that Arctic Bright, a white colt I had also previously written about had been recruited by that company to train for a career in the movie ...

Zenyatta. A big, beautiful mare. Dappled out, the champion is relaxed in her new surroundings at Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky. She has been handwalked daily since her arrival. On December 9, for the first time, Zenyatta was walked around in her paddock. With her was Charles Campbell, Broodmare Manager at Lane’s End. Her habit of ...

Last month I had the opportunity to visit Three Chimneys Farm in Lexington. Kyle Wilson, in charge of stallion season sales, was on hand to show and discuss the stallions. Big Brown jogging at Three Chimneys First I'll mention something that many readers know, that Three Chimneys exercises many of their stallions by riding them on a ...

Travers Stakes (gr. I, video below) winner Afleet Express (TrueNicks,SRO) has joined TrueNicks, allowing breeders to run unlimited nicking reports on the stallion. The Afleet Alex colt will retire to Gainesway in Lexington, Kentucky. From the first crop of champion three-year-old Afleet Alex, Afleet Express is out of the stakes-placed Distant ...

Standout 2010 three-year-old Concord Point (TrueNicks,SRO) is now available on TrueNicks in advance of the 2011 breeding season. The striking gray son of Tapit retires to Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Lexington, Kentucky. A $220,000 Keeneland September yearling, Concord Point was sold privately following a flashy debut victory at the end of his ...

Welcome back to Triple Crown Talk. Breeders' Cup Chat normally switches over to Triple Crown Talk once the calendar turns, but for the sake of my sanity and many others', I've decided to do it a few weeks earlier this year. I simply cannot bear to see the same subject written about anymore. It's time to move on folks. Though there is a lull in ...

The blazing fast colt Majesticperfection (TrueNicks,SRO) is now available on TrueNicks. He retires to Airdrie Stud for the 2011 breeding season. A son of Florida Derby (gr. I) winner Harlan's Holiday, Majesticperfection is out of the Wavering Monarch mare Act So Noble. Initially named Cruisinforabruisen, the colt sold to Padua Stables for ...

Breeding Thoroughbreds for the commercial marketplace always has been a risky venture. Sometimes Mother Nature doesn't cooperate and the result is a crooked foal. Sometimes the stallion chosen goes from hot to cold by the time its offspring are ready to sell as yearlings. Sometimes the result of a mating gets sick or hurt and is unable to be sold ...

I stated in my last blog that it would be the last one on Zenyatta. Well, now that her farewell appearances at Hollywood and Keeneland have come and gone, I have discovered the Zenyatta reservoir is a lot deeper than I thought. That revelation came after witnessing the scenes at both places via TV and video, especially seeing over a thousand ...

 (Originally published in the December 11, 2010 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 TwitterFirst-year sires used to be the darlings of the Thoroughbred breeding industry. The owners of graded stakes-winning ...