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There is nothing I can say about Skip Away and his owner Carolyn Hine and trainer Sonny Hine that has not been said in the following blog, first published on Dec. 22, 2008. So, I am reprinting it as a tribute to one of the toughest, most durable horses I have had the privilege to see run and the two people whose lives he encompassed. For ...

The Game-Changer of Racing:  Zenyatta's Rock-Star Power Reinvents the Royal Kingdom. By Jennifer Wirth, The Saturday Post I have a word in my arsenal that can start conversations about horse racing with people who have never bet a nickel on the nose of a horse.  It's a great word.  ''Zenyatta.''  For those of you ...

By Bill Pressey, ThoroEdge I'm sure I'll get skewered for this post from all the trainers out there, but here goes: We can't even have more than one Triple Crown RUNNER this year (Dublin as of this time), much less a winner. I don't need to go into training regimens of the top 3 year old contenders - because they are all essentially ...

(Originally published in the May 22, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) The Maryland Jockey Club changed owners April 30 but the shift was from Magna’s right hand to its left. A reorganization through bankruptcy turned Pimlico Race Course ...

The traditional Alibi Breakfast, held two days before the Preakness Stakes (gr. I), had just concluded, and Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, owners of Lookin At Lucky, were milling about near the souvenir stand, ready to head down the stairs, when a crash was heard a few feet away. There on the floor, shattered in small pieces, ...

At the TrueNicks office in Lexington, Ian Tapp and Scot Gillies recently raised some interesting questions about the pedigree and rating of a sister to the very talented Brother Derek (TrueNicks,SRO), who was offered at last Monday’s Barretts May Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. This filly, named Sister Kate, is by Alydar’s son Benchmark ...

Now that the Oaks and Derby are over, I'm going to focus on a few more rescue stories/charitable organizations that are more than worthy of a mention, especially in light of the struggling economy. We ran a little article on a Louisville, Ky.-based organization called Boy's Haven in the magazine a couple years ago when it started an ...

Hello everyone, here is GREAT news on our beloved Arrrrr! --- Posted by Susan on 5/11/2010 Good news! Arrrrr's trainer at Penn National - Mike Salvaggio - just retired him. The horse was vet scratched in a $4,000 claimer at Penn National on May 1. He was telling them he didn't want to be a race horse any more, and they listened. The new ...

A talented son of Smart Strike (TrueNicks,SRO) emerges as a leading Kentucky Derby (gr. I) hopeful; the race goes to a rival who benefits from a rail-hugging ride from Calvin Borel; but the Smart Strike son rebounds to prove his classic credentials in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I). If that sounds like ''déjà vu all over again,'' it is, because the ...