BloodHorse.com

Features editor Lenny Shulman came by my office several weeks ago holding a smallish envelope that contained faded clippings of newspapers, magazines, and other miscellaneous materials. With Bob Baffert threatening to become only the second trainer in history to win two Triple Crowns, Lenny thought it would be interesting to write about the ...

With the Haskell Invitational the next big step on the 3-year-old calendar, this is a perfect time to go back 30 years to one of the greatest races I have ever seen. The 1988 Haskell had huge shoes to fill coming one year after the epic three-horse battle that featured Alysheba, Bet Twice, and Lost Code and forever stamped Monmouth’s premier ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman We all known how successful trainer Chad Brown has been at conditioning top-class turf horses. Just check out his extraordinary record in graded stakes races on grass—he's won a staggering 154 such races since 2008 while maintaining an eye-catching 24% win rate, and this despite the ...

There is a wide variety of opinions when it comes to your favorite racing movies, mainly because we all have different standards. Racing movies can be viewed with a critical eye for realism and historical accuracy or they can be viewed on an emotional level, with less regard to detail. As for biographies, people who have seen the subject ...

Has any breeder had a better fortnight than John Gunther? On June 9, he was in the box seats at Belmont Park with his daughter Tanya and lifelong friend Steve Irwin watching Justify win the Triple Crown. Ten days later, in tails and top hat, Gunther was across the Atlantic at Royal Ascot to see Without Parole, whom he not only bred but owns, take ...

By J. Keeler Johnson (''Keelerman'') Twitter: @J_Keelerman Over the years, the $500,000 Ohio Derby (gr. III) at Thistledown has danced around the calendar looking for its niche, but since moving to the fourth week of June in 2015, the race has consistently attracted better fields and regained Grade 3 status last year, making clear that it's a ...

When you’ve been involved in anything for half a century, especially something that encompasses your life, you have a tendency to fall back on history when dealing with the present and looking ahead to the future. To ignore history is to indulge in nothing more than speculation and the slim possibility that something can be accomplished that ...

Many know the name James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, but few know the story behind the training legend who spent 78 of his 91 years on the racetrack (see pg. 38). Fitzsimmons was a dominant trainer in New York during the middle of the 20th Century, and his barn annually swelled with top runners bred by Belair Stud and the Phipps family. After winning ...

Every year when the Triple Crown is concluded, we evaluate the stars who competed in the three races and try to determine which ones will be the horses to watch in the summer, mainly in the Haskell Invitational and Travers.Our thoughts also turn to the second wave of 3-year-olds, who were late developing and appear to be coming into their own, and ...

This column is for me. Because of its length I don’t expect many to make it to the end, and I am fine with that. Some may find it self-absorbed, but not only is it a much-needed cathartic experience, it needs to be in print, whether anyone reads it or not. It is more about the writing of the column than the reading. The thank you is for ...