Former jockey Shane Sellers’ daily routine is far different than his previous lifestyle, yet he’s only 15 miles from Keeneland where he had some of his most successful moments on the track. In a career that closed in 2013 after 30 years, counting a five-year premature retirement, Sellers won 4,393 races. His mounts, including Hall […]
Continue readingDespite retiring, longtime trainer Hal Wiggins could not stay away from the racetrack so he returned to the traveling lifestyle with sojourns all the way back to his roots. In his 33 years as a trainer, Wiggins won nearly 900 races, highlighted by the 2009 Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks with Rachel Alexandra for Dolphus Morrison, […]
Continue readingFamily has always come first with Kenny “Chopper” Bourque. During much of his race-riding career, he opted to stay close to his family rather than competing on out-of-state circuits. In his semi-retirement, he savors time with them at and near the home he and Mary, his wife of nearly 50 years, have between Louisville and […]
Continue readingAfter reinventing himself many times, Bill Boland now lives as a typical retiree with golf always on his schedule. Seven decades before his current incarnation, Boland won the 1950 Kentucky Derby aboard Middleground as a 16-year-old apprentice. That triumph and so many others earned him induction into the Hall of Fame in 2006. Other segments […]
Continue readingWhen Phil Hauswald disbanded his small stable in 2006, he figured he would be back in business within a year with a barn of quality runners. His plan never materialized and instead he has found a comfortable niche as a Belmont Park-based shipping agent for Sallee Horse Vans. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, […]
Continue readingIf success is measured by personal well-being and kindness to others, Fabio Arguello Jr. is a superstar. He also achieved the more traditional definition of success during his jockey career, in which his mounts won 1,251 races and banked more than $23 million from 1990 to 2018. He was a 1991 Eclipse Award finalist for […]
Continue readingOne day in 1987 at Keeneland, Kaoru Tsuchiya was wondering why one of her peers had not arrived in the female jockey quarters. A short time later she realized why — Sandy Hawley was a man. The two relish telling the story of their initial introduction, especially since all these decades later they are now […]
Continue readingStatistically, Mark Guidry is one of only 34 jockeys to win more than 5,000 races. In addition to those glittery stats, he is so well regarded by his peers that he received the 2006 George Woolf Award that honors jockeys whose character and career reflect positively on themselves and Thoroughbred racing. When he received the […]
Continue readingDespite profound changes in his life, Mark Johnston is fundamentally the same. He still loves horses, the racetrack, winning and camaraderie. In his past, Johnston enjoyed those experiences as a jockey who won 3,085 races and the 1990 Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice. These days from his Paris, Ky., base, he gains similar satisfaction using […]
Continue readingA decade after a seamless transition from Classic-winning trainer to semi-retired bloodstock advisor, Frank Brothers continues to enjoy the Thoroughbred industry. Called “Frankie” by all who know him, his name is forever linked with a long list of high-profile runners topped by Preakness and Belmont winner and 1991 champion Hansel and 1997 Blue Grass Stakes […]
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