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Question: At this time last year, if you had to name the one juvenile filly with the best chance of being a 3-year-old superstar, who would it be? Chances are, most of you would have chosen champion 2-year-old filly Stardom Bound, not Rachel Alexandra. I know I would have. I was blown away by her spectacular late runs in both the Oak Leaf and ...

Watching Dr. Bryce Peckham, the state veterinarian in Kentucky, go from stall to stall doing pre-race examinations on horses entered to race on a recent evening at Turfway Park wasn't my idea of a day at the track. But the 90 minutes or so spent in the receiving barn opened my eyes (even if it numbed my brain) to a few things: Peckham and ...

It was during the Keeneland September auction a year ago that we first saw the devastating impact of a plummeting economy on Thoroughbred sales. The large scale of the industry's largest yearling sale makes it a bellwether for every tier of commercial Thoroughbred breeding, and it quickly became clear that the recession would leave little room for ...

By Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA  Next week, it’s my privilege to speak to marketers from racetracks and ADWs across the country at the NTRA’s Annual Meeting and Marketing Summit in Las Vegas.  I plan to speak frankly about the challenges Thoroughbred racing faces as a result of a down economy and a business model that ...

There were several stakes for juveniles last weekend and two freshman sires, Kitten’s Joy (who also had the Summer S. (gr. III) runner-up Becky’s Kitten) and Roman Ruler (TrueNicks,SRO) put stakes winners on the board. Kitten’s Joy, who now has 11 first crop winners, was represented by Sunday Silence Stakes winner William’s Kitten who is out of ...

Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky has renewed their TrueNicks subscription for all 11 of their stallions. Few stallions have had the kind of success in the past decade as [Dyaformer]. Barbaro, Lucarno, Perfect Drift, Riskaverse, Starrer, Film Maker and Purim are all among his 18 career group/grade I winners. And he’s certainly not slowing down as he ...

Complimentary TrueNicks ratings for the stallions standing at Brereton Jone’s Airdrie Stud in Kentucky will once again be available to breeders for the 2010 breeding season. Indian Charlie (TrueNicks,SRO) is one of the many recent successes for Airdrie. The son of In Excess is the sire of 43 stakes winners and 80 total stakes horses, including the ...

As many of you know, there aren't many horses in training that I like more than Fabulous Strike. The gutsy 6-year-old will try for his second Vosburgh win next week and then a decision will be made whether to send him back to California for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he finished fifth a year ago. Until very recently, I thought Fabulous ...

The day off from selling at the Keeneland September yearling sale provides consignors and buyers alike a chance to catch their breath after the first four days of the auction while preparing for the remaining days of the two-week long sale. The harsh reality of the severity of the drop in the market had set in (for the first four days, the gross ...