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Greetings from Churchill Downs, two days out from the 2011 Breeders' Cup World Championships! It was a chilly morning in Louisville as I roamed the barns, talking with trainers of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IIT) contenders, but those frigid early hours have melted into a beautiful and mild afternoon. I thought I would share a few ...

On Oct. 17,  I was graciously invited to attend a benefit for Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement facility near Georgetown, Ky. honoring Hall of Fame members Skip Away, Noor, and Precisionist. I thought you all would enjoy seeing some photos of this special occasion. The event started with an observance for the three ...

Our Mims Haven is a wonderful Paris, Ky.-based Thoroughbred retirement facility that features a stellar group of mares. This Saturday morning, Oct. 15, the retired multiple graded stakes-winning mare Lotka, an Our Mims resident, will be featured at Keeneland's ''Breakfast with the Works.'' The event begins at 8:45 a.m. in the paddock. Recent ...

This week, I received an interesting news release that I would like to share with you regarding a brand new organization called the Thoroughbred Horse Show Association. I have also included information about three upcoming retired Thoroughbred charity events, so be sure to check them out! As always, I welcome any thoughts you may have ...

I apologize for being absent for awhile. I will be back with a longer blog story next week, but as I am currently dealing with some family issues, this week I will simply be sharing with you a touching article that I read recently. I love reading stories about horses with huge hearts. The subject of this article—an 8-year-old Australian-bred ...

Lisa Miller, who has created a non-profit venture called “The Foal Project,” deserves some recognition for her painstaking efforts to document a series of Thoroughbred births in a beautiful, yet informative manner. Miller, who didn’t know much about the Thoroughbred industry when she photographed her first Thoroughbred foaling, immersed herself ...

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a retired Thoroughbred spotlight, and when I heard the story of Nikki Egyed’s Flying Cayman, I thought he was a perfect candidate. Egyed owns and operates a successful riding stable called Silver Shadow Training Services in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Flying Cayman, a 9-year-old chestnut gelding by Fly So ...

I wanted to give you guys a little update on Noor’s remains being sent to Old Friends. The plan is for the body of the deceased Hall of Famer to be shipped to Michael Blowen’s Georgetown Ky.-based farm Aug. 30. Noor is being exhumed from his previous burial ground at the Loma Rica training track in California due to the land being ...

During the month of July, New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program hosted two horse shows that featured Thoroughbreds competing off the track. The first event was held July 9-10, during which nearly 40 Thoroughbreds gathered at the Kentucky Horse Park to compete in two Thoroughbred restricted hunter/jumper classes. It marked the second ...

Last summer, when Sophia Mangalee read a story on Equidaily.com about the winner of the 2010 Mongol Derby, she was more than intrigued and entertained. She was inspired. “I was 100% convinced from the minute I saw (the article) that I would do that race,” said Mangalee, 28, the marketing manager of Monmouth Park.  “I thought about it for ...