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Plato, who along with Socrates and Aristotle helped lay the foundations of Western philosophy, once said ''A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.'' Here at TrueNicks we could not think of a more apt saying that encapsualtes our common theme of intelligent interpretation of the TrueNicks report. The rating generated is one ...

By Fran Jurga, Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog This photo just showed up in my email a while ago. I thought it was quite beautiful...and even moreso when I realized ''the rest of the story''. This horse's toe crack has been patched with PMMA adhesive, which will harden into a shell-like covering that closely mimics the hoof wall. Plastic wrap is ...

Reader question:  Mr. Gillies - I am just getting  interested in Thoroughbred breeding.  The more I read the more I became interested in rare Thoroughbred lines and out crossing.  I have been reading your blog and just love it.  I have a couple of questions, does it matter if a horse descends from a Northern Dancer say , ...

It is the second week in March, the second Future Wager is upon us, and that means the Kentucky Derby contenders are pretty well established…or are they? That’s what we’ll find out this weekend when the second wave storms the beaches at Fair Grounds, Tampa Bay Downs, Oaklawn Park, and Santa Anita in an attempt to secure a late spot in the Derby ...

My boy Einstein has done it. Become richer, yes, but that isn't my point. He has become a horse of all surfaces by winning the March 7 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I). Photo: A. Duckworth Caption: Einstein He is a master on turf, a soldier on dirt (winning the grade II Clark Handicap and finishing second to Horse of the Year Curlin in the grade I ...

Last week, the Gotham presented us with a tough set of challenges. This week, the Louisiana Derby makes the Gotham look like an introductory course to handicapping. Easily the most challenging Derby prep race of the season from a handicapping perspective, Saturday's Louisiana Derby is a head-scratcher. On paper, you can make a case for all 10 ...

Before being made available to the public, TrueNicks was tested on a group of more than 100,000 horses. That study firmly established a correlation between a high nick rating and success at stakes level: in fact, while only 13% of the population earned a variant rating high enough to qualify for a rating of A or better, 37% of stakes winners ...

In 1999, Stephen Got Even came into the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) as one of favorites, having won the last three of his four starts, including the Galleryfurniture.com Stakes (gr. II) at Turfway Park. Away well, Stephen Got Even was bumped at the first turn, and thereafter never reached contention, ultimately finishing fourteenth to ...

By Patrick Patten, Handride  Well what was once a trickle is now a full blown tsunami. Twitter is here, and whether people know what it's good for or not they are tweeting and clogging up blackberries and phone in-boxes by the millions. (FYI no one really knows exactly what Twitter is good for, hell the people running it can't make a ...

If you raise horses to be sold, and even if you don't, you're probably trying to find ways to cut your veterinary bills. The Blood-Horse spoke to several top veterinarians in Kentucky about reducing veterinary expenses, and here's what they had to say: Dr. Andrew Clark, CEO of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, Lexington: ''When optimism is in ...