BloodHorse.com

With all the major stakes being run at Belmont Park on Saturday, there is one that has special meaning to me – the Gallant Bloom Handicap. I have decided to reprint my column from five years ago about the race’s namesake, and my favorite filly of all time. Although Gallant Bloom will be the main focus of this column, no mention of that amazing ...

From long before sunrise to well past sunset Sept. 25, activities took place on the grounds of Keeneland Race Course that should have a ripple effect on the future of Thoroughbred racing in North America. Out on the track a little after 5:30 a.m. was James McIngvale’s Runhappy, who tore through the darkness on his way to a five-furlong work ...

If you’re a racing fan, especially in the New York area, you can tune in to “Belmont Park Live” on the days it airs and be guided through four races by handicapper Andy Serling and two of the sport’s most knowledgeable observers of horses in the paddock and on the racetrack, Richie Migliore and Maggie Wolfendale. And moving the show along smoothly ...

Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier had the attention of Keeneland’s bidspotter in the back ring of the sales pavilion. Without batting an eye he held three fingers to his chest, and just like that, the restraint that has been seen in the auction arena the last several years went out the window.The bid—at $3 million—was the final one on Hip 454, Clarkland ...

Seeing those familiar Juddmonte Stable silks flying way ahead of the others down the stretch in the Travers Stakes, and witnessing the sheer brilliance and dominance of the horse carrying those silks, all you had to do was replace the sandy loam of Saratoga Racetrack with the lush green grass of Europe’s finest racecourses and you might as well ...

Just as a good horse can come from anywhere, so too can good horsepeople. That was readily apparent Sept. 10 at the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s 31st annual national awards dinner where breeders and owners of all shapes and sizes mingled under a tent at Stonestreet Farm near Lexington. Honored were some of racing’s titans: ...

The date September 30 is so ingrained in my mind I sometimes have to pause for a second so I don’t confuse it with the date of my wedding anniversary, which is September 28. (See the confessions I have to make for the sake of this column). I had already entered the portal into the world of Thoroughbred racing, but that was the day I broke through, ...