We have witnessed numerous changes in recent years in how horses are prepared for major races. Three-year-olds race so infrequently now, we hardly know anything about them when they get to Churchill Downs...
Read More
Have we seen the last of Justify? That was a burning question during the week following the July 10 announcement that this year’s unbeaten Triple Crown winner would be “evaluated after some filling in...
Read More
I won’t keep you in suspense, other than to say the premise of this column is a bit offbeat. The greatest horse of all time, if I may take the liberty, is Bob Baffert. Or to put it in equine terms, the...
Read More
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...
Read More
History is a never-ending chain of events, trends, and discoveries that determine how we think and look at the present, and often the future. When history tells us something cannot be accomplished, it...
Read More
In some ways it seemed appropriate that all we saw of Justify in the stretch of the Preakness Stakes was a ghostly shroud, with his white silks and white face, emerging from the murk that had settled on...
Read More
Rick Hammerle has been racing secretary at Santa Anita for 15 years and was stakes coordinator at Monmouth Park for 12 years, and he thought he had heard everything. That is until one day in mid-February...
Read More
Few people have experienced the joy of breeding or racing a horse good enough to start in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Imagine how breeder John Gunther felt April 7 after two...
Read More
Rain dampened the best-laid plans for a big crowd on Big ’Cap day at Santa Anita, but with apologies to Al Jolson, perhaps March showers can lead to flowers that will bloom down the road at The Great Race...
Read More
1 Bolt d’Oro Mick Ruis Medaglia d'Oro —Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy In the context of the Kentucky Derby, both Bolt d’Oro, placed first from second in the San Felipe Stakes (G2), and McKinzie, disqualified...
Read More