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Three colts are charging down the stretch shoulder-to-shoulder toward 3-year-old championship honors. Glory is within the grasp of each, but who captures it will not be decided until Nov. 2 around 5:45 p.m. PDT at Santa Anita Park. The fate of all three will be determined at this time (lengthy objection notwithstanding) in the wake of the ...

We’re all aware by now that Game On Dude controls his fate when it comes to Horse of the Year. It’s pretty simple: win the Breeders’ Cup Classic and you are Horse of the Year. Even a good second could nail down the honors. A sound defeat and it’s up for grabs. Then you can turn your attention to the Distaff and the Mile, where Royal Delta, ...

An interesting statistic came out of the International Simulcasting Conference held earlier this month in Lexington. Hank Zeitlin, president and COO of Equibase, reported that due to the shrinking foal crop the number of starters in Thoroughbred races in 2016 is projected to be about 39% less than it was in 2003.Based on racing through the ...

You think there is a lot riding on Ed Stanco’s decision whether or not to run Princess of Sylmar in the Distaff? If he doesn’t run, she’ll most likely still be the favorite for the Eclipse Award for 3-Year-Old Filly regardless of what Beholder does, having beaten her fair and square in the Kentucky Oaks. Her status supposedly will be decided ...

(Originally published in the October 12, 2013, issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Eric Mitchell - @BH_EMitchell on Twitter The U.S. horse racing industry is yet again waving a big flag emblazoned with: “We cannot regulate ourselves.”On the verge of ...

With Palace Malice, it’s not about how fast he is; it’s not about he stacks up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and it’s not about where he ranks among the top 3-year-olds. In fact, it’s not even about how good he is. All that is opinion, and like all horses, he’s going to have his fans and detractors. With Palace Malice it is all about ...

First there was 1993, then 2003, now 2013. Will the cycle continue? Richard Mandella has had two of the greatest days any trainer has ever had in the Breeders’ Cup, certainly the greatest single day by far. But with those big days have come an outbreak of fires in the Los Angeles area. Mandella showed last year he can win a Breeders’ Cup race at ...

(Originally published in the September 7, 2013 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Eric Mitchell - @BH_EMitchell on Twitter As Saratoga Race Course wrapped up a successful 40-day meet, residents of this upstate New York community began questioning ...

The public may not know how well new NYRA CEO Chris Kay will do in leading the franchise toward an exciting new future, but by now it has a good read on how often he’ll preside at a ceremony.  Kay seems to enjoy the job of showering praise and leveling platitudes.  He has but one speech and it goes something like this – “On behalf of the ...

(Originally published in the August 31, 2013 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.) By Eric Mitchell - @BH_EMitchell on Twitter The auction landscape is being reshaped by economic conditions and buyers’ habits. One casualty of this metamorphosis is the ...