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The perception of greatness has changed with the times. Years ago, defeats did not diminish a horse’s greatness if the victories were plentiful enough and impressive enough to keep the defeats veiled in the background. On rare occasions, defeats actually helped define a horse’s greatness (for example Seattle Slew and Zenyatta). Horses back then ...

Looking over the past performances of Derby hopefuls, I couldn’t help but make a connection between Louisiana Derby hopeful Ground Transport’s name and the colt’s broodmare sire, Broad Brush. That connection will become apparent as you read on. Just seeing the name Broad Brush brought back a flood of memories, evoking images of one of the ...

It’s starting to get hairy, folks. If there is one thing we’ve learned from the new points system, it’s that you’re playing with fire by skipping the 50-point races and going straight from the wee little 10-pointers to the big, bad 100-pointers.By putting all your eggs in the one proverbial basket, in many cases having to finish first or second to ...

Bob Baffert has taken numerous paths to the Kentucky Derby, but perhaps the one he’ll remember most fondly is the one taken by his first Derby winner, Silver Charm. Looking back, the path Silver Charm took was not a conventional one, considering at this point, he had never run farther than seven furlongs. Well, don’t look now, but with all ...

With my cup runneth over with 3-year-olds these days, I had it suggested to me to run more old photos of great horses. So that is just what I did. They're not exactly professional and a few are downright amateurish, but they're all from the heart. Some of these, mainly Secretariat and Riva Ridge, have been posted on earlier blogs, but this is more ...

Ten years. If Rick Dutrow’s suspension ended today, it would mean the last time we saw him training horses was the year Funny Cide won the Derby and Preakness. That’s a lot of racing and a lot of years gone by. When Dutrow does return, assuming he has exhausted all avenues and finally capitulates, he’ll be 64. There have been a number of ...

Not everything on the Derby trail is what it seems. There are so many twists and turns it is often futile to plot a course and expect every step to go as planned. This applies to everyone, not just trainers and owners. So, when all the “experts” say a horse can’t go a mile and a quarter or is too slow or is regressing instead of moving ...

Only in Thoroughbred racing can one of the greatest champions in the history of the sport share the same stage with a former $5,000 claimer from Penn National. The first two recipients of the new Vox Populi Award, Zenyatta and Rapid Redux, were perfect examples of what the award, created by Penny Chenery, represents – the melding of popularity ...