BloodHorse.com

We have previously posted about the impressive start that Coolmore's group I English Derby winner Galileo has had with mares by the ill-fated champion sire Danehill. The Coolmore stud ''mega-nick'' added a juvenile group success when Cuis Ghaire (Galileo-Scribonia, by Danehill) scored a 3 1/2 length victory in the €100,000 Gr3 Swordlestown Stud ...

No matter what happens in the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I), the 2008 Triple Crown season will always be defined by the triumph and tragedy of the heir apparent crown prince, Big Brown, and the fallen heroine, Eight Belles. And tradition says that this Belmont, factoring in Big Brown’s pre-race hoof injury, will come up as a “hold your breath,” ...

I watched parts of the Indianapolis 500 May 25. But I wonder how much less of it I would have viewed had the first 75 laps been on one network and the last 125 laps on another. Just a small inconvenience? I don’t know. I might have just tuned out because of the silliness of making me—or is it asking me or expecting me—to do such a thing. If ...

By The New York Times The following column, “He Was Named for Aly, Darling,” by Red Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, appeared in The New York Times on March 24, 1978, and is from “To the Swift: Classic Triple Crown Horses and Their Race for Glory” (St. Martin’s Press), edited by Joe Drape. HIALEAH, Fla. — The tack boxes spaced ...

Alan responds to a few readers' questions... Q: Are there any downfalls to nicking? A: Nick ratings are a measurement of one area of pedigree affinity, that of the sire (or sire line) for mares by the broodmare sire (or broodmare sire line). There is a very high correlation between a high TrueNicks rating and the potential for success. However, ...

Courtesy of HorseRaceInsider.com Barron’s, last week, asked this question: “This economy keeps dispensing with decades of statistical precedent. We have a 23-year-high inventory of unsold homes, a 49-year-low in per-capita home sales, a 28-year-low in consumer confidence, and an all-time high in inflation-adjusted oil prices. With it all, is it ...

  If you haven't seen the latest comments from Rick Dutrow Jr. regarding Smarty Jones and what he feels was questionable training by John Servis leading up to the 2004 Belmont Stakes, here they are: ''I think maybe the way they trained that horse for that race going up to the Belmont had a lot to do with him getting beat,'' Dutrow said. ''I ...

After such good, but heavy conversation in my recent posts, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a lighter side of race horses. This includes a new angle for betting I have stumbled upon for the Belmont and my prediction of who could win.While touring the awesome stallions at Lane's End Farm, my buddy Aragorn stood out from the crowd with ...

By Steve Zorn, courtesy of NYTimes.com Right now, Bill Turner is the only living trainer of a Triple Crown winner. His horse, the great Seattle Slew, was undefeated in nine races, a streak that ended with his Belmont Stakes win in 1977. Bill might lose that distinction June 7, if Big Brown takes the Belmont, but for now the reporters are still ...

Big Brown's auction prices of $60,000 as a yearling and $190,000 as a 2-year-old in training weren't high enough to attract much attention when other horses were bringing millions of dollars. But the amounts did stand out among the progeny of the stallion Boundary in their respective years. According to The Blood-Horse Auctions of 2006 ...