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Courtesy of Becky Johnston In days gone by, the Breeders' Cup Classic would be so laden with talented horses that I would anticipate the running over and over in my mind, days or even weeks before the gates ever opened.  Looking at what we might see this year, I may find myself watching the Alabama-Tennessee game instead.  ...

Courtesy of Becky Johnston In order to remove myself from the problems that are confronting American racing right now, for one weekend, I am intent on going across the pond for my action.  I dutifully download a copy of The Racing Post dated June 26 to begin my fantasy trip.  Flipping through the pages until ...

Courtesy of Becky Johnston Have you ever tried explaining to a friend who is attending the races for the very first time, why these majestic animals that are bred to run, must be whipped?  You feel that familiar flush of embarrassment, knowing what you are about to say is something you don’t believe yourself.  You can ...

Courtesy of Becky Johnston  South Central opens double for America The Group 2 Norfolk Stakes was the first race on the card of day three at Royal Ascot.  The son of Forest Camp out of the Forty Niner mare, Brittan Lee, won his first start at Carlisle by a double-digit margin.  Today, he squeaked out a win over the Irish-bred ...

By John Clay, Lexington Herald LeaderUnlike last Saturday, this time the superstar delivered. Big time. There is only one true superstar on the Thoroughbred racing planet right now, and it isn't that worn-out 3-year-old who dissolved into a Big Brown meltdown in the Long Island heat during last Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Curlin is king of the ...

By Alfred G. Vanderbilt, courtesy of NYTimes.comThese are the delicious days, the days of debate and doubt as we wait for the Belmont Stakes, the toughest race to win in the United States and the last leg of the Triple Crown. There is no better time to be a horse racing fan. Now the questions begin. How many horses will have enough sand to face ...

By The New York Times The following column, “He Was Named for Aly, Darling,” by Red Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, appeared in The New York Times on March 24, 1978, and is from “To the Swift: Classic Triple Crown Horses and Their Race for Glory” (St. Martin’s Press), edited by Joe Drape. HIALEAH, Fla. — The tack boxes spaced ...

Courtesy of HorseRaceInsider.com Barron’s, last week, asked this question: “This economy keeps dispensing with decades of statistical precedent. We have a 23-year-high inventory of unsold homes, a 49-year-low in per-capita home sales, a 28-year-low in consumer confidence, and an all-time high in inflation-adjusted oil prices. With it all, is it ...

By Steve Zorn, courtesy of NYTimes.com Right now, Bill Turner is the only living trainer of a Triple Crown winner. His horse, the great Seattle Slew, was undefeated in nine races, a streak that ended with his Belmont Stakes win in 1977. Bill might lose that distinction June 7, if Big Brown takes the Belmont, but for now the reporters are still ...

By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY BALTIMORE — For the seventh time in 12 years, a 3-year-old Thoroughbred will take unwavering aim at one of the most difficult feats in sports when undefeated Big Brown advances to the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at New York's Belmont Park. There is one reason to believe that this colt, unscathed through five races in which ...