BloodHorse.com

(Originally published in the June 26, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)   By Evan Hammonds It was roughly 20 years ago when the migration from wagering on track to simulcasting began in earnest. The rule of thumb over the last few ...

By Tim Capps  With the 2010 Triple Crown now in the record books, it is time for the annual wailing and gnashing of teeth that always follows or starts happening during the five weeks of Triple Crown hoopla. This year’s wailing has been predictable: The races are too close together; it’s too early in the season for 3-year-olds who, in ...

Afleet Alex (TrueNicks,SRO): Conformation, left, and nearly falling before winning the 2005 Preakness Stakes (gr. I,Video). With a view to the future, it’s possible that the most significant race of the weekend in the U.S. was the Pegasus Stakes (gr. III) at Monmouth. With plenty to play for as far as leadership of the ...

Here's an interesting first crop Florida stallion... Standing for a mere $7,500 fee in 1975, Mr. Prospector sired 28 foals in his initial crop that included 1978 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly It's In the Air. By 1981, Mr. Prospector's continued success had brought him to Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. Here he developed into one of the breed's great ...

Over the last few years, British racegoers have learned to have a very healthy respect for Australian sprinters. One of the first horses to school them in that regard was Choisir, a Danehill Dancer son who took both the King’s Stand Stakes (gr. I) and Golden Jubilee Stakes (gr. I) within a five-day period at the same Royal Meeting. On Saturday, it ...

Despite lacking Special Duty, winner of the English and French 1,000 Guineas (gr. I) – both on DQs – and Bethrah, the Coronation Stakes still may have given shape to the three-year-old filly division in Europe. Lillie Langtry had won the Debutante Stakes (gr. II), Coolmore Stud Fillies Sprint (gr. III), and the richly endowed Tattersalls Timeform ...

For Zenyatta's eventual first year in the breeding shed, which of these high-profile, proven Kentucky stallions would you select? Explain your choice in the comments section below. Healthy debates are encouraged. Which stallion would you choose for Zenyatta?customer surveys Below are links to TrueNicks reports for each hypothetical ...

Believe it or not, guys and gals, there are other Breeders' Cup related things we can talk besides Rachel vs. Zenyatta (although no matter what the new topic is I'm certain it will inevitably come back to that). There are other divisions out there shaping up nicely, including the intriguing older turf females, which has three legitimate ...

When Newsells Park Stud sent Dahlia’s Krissy, a stakes-placed Kris S. mare out of a stakes-placed daughter of the great runner and producer Dahlia to the court of Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO), we doubt that they expected the resulting foal would start his career at four in a bumper (a National Hunt Flat race, run under jump rules, but without ...

We are often asked why we assign a No Rating designation to some crosses. Well, it's quite simply that sometimes the most honest answer to a question is “We don't know – there isn’t enough evidence to give a verdict.'' Click for Conveyance's pedigree, an example of a No Rating. In assessing a cross, the TrueNicks algorithm tries to calculate a ...