Features

The Cigar Mile card featuring four graded stakes is the signature event of the Aqueduct fall meet. The headline race boasts Grade 1 winner Maximum Security and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile victor Spun to Run while juveniles take the spotlight in the Grade 2 Remsen and Demoiselle. Two-year-olds also hold court at Los Alamitos where […]

Following the rush of graded stakes races that occurred during and around the Breeders’ Cup in early November, the racing calendar eased off the gas pedal in the latter part of the month, and the very top of the American Graded Stakes Standings went practically unchanged. Without much activity at the very top of the […]

The rain falling from the sky on Thanksgiving eve in Hobbs, N.M. mirrored the bittersweet emotions in the Zia Park winner’s circle.  A frontrunning 4 ½-length victory by Restrainedvengence in the $150,000 Zia Park Championship saw fresh tears well up in the eyes of his connections; it was just a few weeks after the passing […]

In the hyper-competitive world of managing and standing commercial stallions, the higher-end horses get a chance, frequently a superb chance, to prove whether they have the genetic and phenotypic qualities to make a successful sire. The economic stress of the undertaking, however, means there is a pivot-point in the pricing of stallions, a point at […]

After a few weeks of light graded stakes action in the aftermath of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, things are busy once more across the nation. The Grade 1 Clark Stakes – the highlight of the Churchill Downs Fall Meet – has again assembled a competitive field while juveniles are in the spotlight beneath the Twin […]

The holiday season is officially upon us, but Sarah MacHarg needs no extra reminders to be thankful this year. She has spent the past six months watching her Thoroughbred gelding Great Minds defy the greatest of odds, overcoming an intra-articular joint infection so severe that most veterinarians suggested he wouldn’t be able to survive. “He […]

Veterinarians at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital answer your questions about sales and healthcare of Thoroughbred auction yearlings, weanlings, 2-year-olds and breeding stock. QUESTION: How does foal heat differ from a regular heat cycle, and do I need to do anything differently to breed a mare back on foal heat? DR. MARIA SCHNOBRICH: Foal heat […]

One of the fascinating things about the horses entering stud for 2020 is that they show such a wide variety, in both pedigree and racing character, that breeders are virtually sure to find one or more they can’t live without. In addition to pro-tem divisional champions like Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso (by Curlin) […]

No one would blame Steve Norman if he retired tomorrow. He is 67. He has been a blacksmith for 49 years. Kate, his wife of 35 years, would welcome the opportunity to spend more time with him. So would their three daughters — Sarah, Samantha and Meredith – and his three grandchildren. Norman has nothing […]

This weekend’s graded stakes action features a pair of Grade 3 races at Aqueduct and Del Mar, as well as a pair of Grade 2’s at Woodbine. The G3 Red Smith at Aqueduct is up first, with trainer Tom Albertrani’s Sadler’s Joy as the headliner in the 11-horse field. Other top contenders include Glorious Empire […]