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I am writing this as I head to the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. I was here these last few days for the 30th annual Japan Cup as a guest of the Japan Racing Association (JRA). It was the first time I ever had sushi for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Japan Cup drew more than 106,000 patrons to Tokyo Racecourse, a magnificent structure that ...

 Discussing the term ''The Racing Game'' in the Thoroughbred industry, many people would relate the phrase to TOBA's amazing The Racing Game mission of Thoroughbred Ownership.However I am talking about a virtual horse racing game. We have had this game on BloodHorse.com for over a year and people who play it seem to have a blast. I have ...

November's issue reviews the 2010 book quality of North American stallions. To accompany The Blood-Horse MarketWatch's standard Quality of Mares Bred charts and leading-sire lists, Eric Mitchell takes a closer look at first-season stallions (cover story). Scot Gillies discuss the implications of young and maiden mares in a short analysis ...

With new 2011 stallions Blame (TrueNicks,SRO), Eskendereya (TrueNicks,SRO), Lookin At Lucky (TrueNicks,SRO), and Quality Road (TrueNicks,SRO) all priced in the $30,000-35,000 range, we thought it would be interesting to get the TrueNicks readers' take: who do you think will get the best book of mares? Of course the word best is quite subjective ...

(By Avalyn Hunter)  In the midst of a still-uncertain market, it is refreshing to see people committing themselves to the future of Thoroughbred racing and breeding. Among them are Brent and Crystal Fernung, who are continuing to add to a promising roster of young stallions at their Journeyman Stud near Ocala, Florida. Already the home of ...

Five-time grade I winner, 2009 champion two-year-old, and likely 2010 three-year-old champion Lookin At Lucky (TrueNicks) has been retired to Ashford Stud for the 2011 breeding season. The son of Smart Strike will stand for $35,000. A $475,000 Keeneland April two-year-old purchase, Lookin At Lucky won the first four starts of his career, ...

 It is time again for my annual Thanksgiving holiday blog.  Knowing that I tend to get caught up in the fun – family, friends and food – I like to take a few minutes before it all begins to express my gratitude too.Here is my list of things in the horse industry for which I am grateful.Horseplayers.  Always, you are at the top of ...

The $1,000,000 Delta Jackpot (gr. III) often throws up a later-developing youngster who has been flying under the radar. This time it was a more exposed type who got the job done. Calder shipper Gourmet Dinner was making his fifth career start, and had already won two stakes—the Dr. Fager Stakes and Affirmed Stakes—before suffering his first ...

 (Originally published in the November 27, 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 Twitter  David Vance, racing manager for Candy DeBartolo, is looking for the answer to two questions: 1. Should ...

I don’t often feature jockeys on this blog, so I figured it was about time when I discovered this sweet story about Robby Albarado while scanning through some old emails I had saved. Albarado, who as of Nov. 23 has won 4,256 races and amassed earnings of $170,076,795, was recently a special guest at the first grade class at Squires Elementary ...