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Man, that didn't take long. The Churchill Downs meet will be into its ninth day May 7, and already the horse population is a question mark. The May 7 program consists of eight races, instead of an expected nine, and the May 8 program has 10 races instead of 11. Field size is light--there are five six-horse fields May 8--even though the Kentucky ...

Since 2003 The Blood-Horse MarketWatch has published an annual analysis of the top 400 broodmare sires by their Average Earnings Indexes (AEI). This year's study, which is featured in the April issue, includes Smart Strike for the first time because his daughters' progeny met the minimum criteria of five North American runners in ...

Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO) had no luck with his son Hold Me Back in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), but he was still represented by a weekend classic winner when his daughter Ghanaati captured the Stanjames.com One Thousand Guineas (Eng-I). Ghanaati was making her seasonal debut -- her last start came in October -- ...

Several recent posts inspire us to take a quick look at some similarities -- perhaps coincidental -- between the pedigrees of Birdstone (TrueNicks,SRO), Medaglia d'Oro (TrueNicks,SRO) , and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) third Musket Man. As we've mentioned (here), Birdstone's sire Grindstoned is out of a mare by Drone (whose ...

by Dan LiebmanTrainer Bennie ''Chip'' Woolley Jr. had a rough start to the year. He crashed his motorcycle in some gravel and broke his leg, and his stable was having a tough time winning races, with one lone maiden winner from 32 starts.On May 2, his year got better. Chip Woolley won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).Which is ...

Well, we saw one bird fly over the rainbow. The vast majority of experts and racing fans were astounded, aghast, and amazed at Mine That Bird’s otherworldly performance in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), in which he took off on a demonic dash as if he were being chased by a swarm of angry hornets. Read the full ...

Every year following the first Saturday in May, a standard question about the latest Derby winner is: Can he handle the distance in the Belmont?  It's always assumed -- or at least it has been for maybe a couple of decades now -- that the Derby winner will be comfortable with the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) course.  After all, ...

The Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) was taken in devasting style by Rachel Alexandra, who romped by 20 1/4 lengths. Like Mine That Bird, she is from the first crop of her sire -- in her case, Medaglia d'Oro (TrueNicks,SRO) .  (With Tapit (TrueNicks,SRO) , Speightstown (TrueNicks,SRO) , Candy Ride (ARG) (TrueNicks,SRO) , and Even the Score ...

Squeezed back as the field left the stalls and way off the pace early on, Mine That Bird -- under a rail-skimming ride from Calvin Borel -- ran past a rubber-legged field in the stretch to take a muddy renewal of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) by 6 3/4 lengths. The $9,500 yearling -- the least expensive in the race -- ...

.commentForm, .postComments, #comments{display:none;} Brought to you by: OCD Pellets Calvin Borel, the hard-working and unassuming jockey who won his second Kentucky Derby aboard 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird, will be the guest on BloodHorse.com’s Talkin’ Horses podcast this Thursday, May 7.A 42-year-old Louisiana native whose brother, ...