Chelsea Hackbarth

Marilyn Montavon is chock-full of horse racing stories, and none of them are typical – then again, neither is the horsewoman everyone knows as “Fefe.” Her stories rarely have a well-defined beginning, middle or ending. She’s a bit rough around the edges. One story will blend into another several times over before it rolls back […]

Former jockey Rene Douglas admits he “wasn’t doing much” after the 2009 accident that stole the use of his legs. The emotional toll must have been indescribable. In a split second, he went from a leading rider and winner of nearly 3,600 races to being paralyzed from the chest down.  Through more than six months […]

Growing up in Venezuela, Samy Camacho played baseball alongside most of the other young boys.  “I’m so small, you know, so I can’t keep doing that,” said Camacho, 30, now a professional jockey based at Tampa Bay Downs. Camacho still has connections to baseball through Venezuela. His best friend, Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco, is a pitcher […]

There wasn’t a dry eye in the winner’s circle after last Sunday’s sixth race at Santa Anita Park. The first horse across the wire may have been just a $16,000 claimer, but a serious accident last summer left the odds stacked against Vallestina; trainer Anna Meah wasn’t sure the mare would survive to be retired, […]

Upon learning of his nomination for the 2020 George Woolf Memorial Award, which recognizes riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing, jockey Luis Quinones found himself feeling overwhelmed. “I don’t know how to explain how it makes me feel,” Quinones said. “There’s a lot of […]

The fifth choice on the morning line at 8-1, Pegasus World Cup Turf entrant Sadler’s Joy may be a solid price play on Saturday afternoon. The 7-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy has been extremely sharp in his morning training, according to co-owner and breeder Lauren Woolcott, and he is coming off a confidence-building win in […]

As we enter the final weeks of the NFL playoff season, there’s little worse than walking into the office on Monday morning to hear coworkers lamenting the play of their favorite quarterback.  For trainer Robert “Butch” Reid, however, the phrase Monday Morning QB is one of the things that keeps him excited about waking up […]

When Alan Swift’s friends and family learned he’d bought his first Thoroughbred racehorse, one of their earliest questions was: “Will he run in the Kentucky Derby?” Eight months later, Swift watched his colt As Seen On TV in an intense stretch battle in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and felt his own […]

It’s always thrilling to see a horse draw away to win by open lengths, no matter the level. When that horse is a coming 3-year-old filly and she breaks her maiden by nearly 11 lengths, that excitement is multiplied a thousand-fold. Majority owner Domenic Savides wasn’t surprised to see Venetian Harbor perform well on Sunday […]