+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=472&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
Final TV ratings for last Saturday's telecast of the Kentucky Derby were down 10% from 2002 figures, following a trend of lower ratings for major sporting events in the second quarter of 2003.
Thursday, May 08, 2003Amerman Racing Stables' Lido Palace, a millionaire twice over and two-time champion colt in his native Chile, has been retired from racing due to a wrenched ankle that has not sufficiently responded to rest.
Thursday, May 08, 2003You won't be able to walk very far in any direction this weekend at Churchill Downs without bumping into someone with a camera or a microphone.
Friday, May 02, 2003It's like combining a Rolls Royce and a Mercedes when the rest of the world is represented by Dodge Darts. Bobby Frankel and Jerry Bailey have dominated their respective professions in the new century, and the dynamic duo hook up again Saturday with--and this is no surprise--the overwhelming favorite to win the Kentucky Derby.
Friday, May 02, 2003Three tracts from R.D. Hubbard's Crystal Springs Farm yearling division outside Paris, Ky., were sold at absolute auction April 26 for a total of $1,789,520.
Saturday, April 26, 2003Overnight ratings for NBC's coverage of major Triple Crown prep races Saturday, April 12, showed a slight increase in viewership over last year's numbers.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003Three months into its four-month meeting, Santa Anita Park will finally have its races shown in Southern California on a nightly replay program.
Wednesday, March 26, 2003All of a sudden there is a glut of sidelined Hall of Fame jockeys in Southern California. The good news is both Laffit Picay Jr. and Julie Krone are resting comfortably, and the prognosis for both looks good.
Monday, March 10, 2003Jockey Mike Smith, regular rider for 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, has switched agents, going from Brian Beach to Bob Meldahl.
Monday, March 10, 2003After a substantial absence, TVG is back in the feature-story business. On Sunday, Feb. 16, the network will air the first installment of a two-part series titled "In Training: The Sales," which will conclude the following evening. Airtime both nights is 8-8:30 p.m. ET.
Wednesday, February 12, 2003Nearly nine months after the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) that triggered the situation, the case of the $1 million bonus payable to the owners of War Emblem has finally been settled.
Friday, January 24, 2003NBC will telecast live three of the Sunshine Millions series of eight races January 25. The Sunshine Millions is a product of Magna Entertainment to be run at the company's two flagship facilities, Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park. The format of the eight races is California-bred horses squaring off against Florida-breds. The eight races have combined purses of $3.6 million.
Friday, January 03, 2003NBC and Magna Entertainment are expected to announce around the first of the year that the network will televise several of the Sunshine Millions races from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park Jan. 25.
Friday, December 20, 2002Elloluv shows off the legs that make her the hot new Hollywood Starlet.
Saturday, December 14, 2002Five-year-old Lido Palace adds the Clark Handicap to his impressive array of stakes victories.
Friday, November 29, 2002Jockey Victor Carrero was fined $2,000 and suspended 15 days Friday by New York State Racing and Wagering Board stewards for an ugly incident the previous day involving the jockey and his mount, which broke down.
Friday, November 22, 2002The executive director of the Illinois Racing Board said Friday it was premature to say if the board will take up at its Dec. 9 meeting the issue of dispersing funds to holders of winning Pick Six tickets from the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships.
Friday, November 22, 2002Tom Hammond, who appeared on last month's Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships telecast on NBC while recovering from heart bypass surgery, will return to the broadcast booth Saturday for the Notre Dame-Rutgers football tilt.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002Five months before the Pick Six Scandal began dominating headlines, the Illinois Derby-Kentucky Derby bonus controversy was making news. A hearing to determine just who will collect the cool $1 million payout should be set soon after the New Year.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002In a dramatic expansion in the investigation into the alleged fixing of a winning Pick 6 ticket during the World Thoroughbred Championships Breeders' Cup Oct. 26, the U.S. Justice Department, through federal prosecutors in Manhattan, along with the FBI, have joined the effort to see if criminal activity was involved.
Friday, November 08, 2002Saturday's $125,000 Matiara Stakes at Hollywood Park will have a decidedly international feel to it, as seven of the 10 scheduled starters were bred outside the United States.
Friday, November 08, 2002Arlington Park track superintendent Javier Baraja said at 9:30 a.m. central time this morning that the track surface for the Breeders' Cup races will start out either muddy or good, but should be upgraded as the day progresses.
Saturday, October 26, 2002Tomorrow's NAPA Auto Parts Breeders' Cup Sprint will be trainer Howard Zucker's first Breeders' Cup contest, but it certainly isn't the first time he has been closely involved with world-class athletes.
Friday, October 25, 2002While horses like Kona Gold and Banks Hill seek to repeat past Breeders' Cup glory Saturday at Arlington Park, many owners are hoping to make encore trips to the winner's circle on racing's biggest day.
Friday, October 25, 2002Regardless of how they run in the NAPA Auto Parts Breeders' Cup Sprint Saturday, two logical contenders will be offered just one week later at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale.
Thursday, October 24, 2002NBC sportscaster Tom Hammond, who has worked on all 18 Breeders' Cup programs to date, will appear on Saturday's telecast from home while recovering from heart surgery.
Tuesday, October 22, 2002NBC broadcaster Tom Hammond, who has worked on all 18 Breeders' Cup programs to date, will likely miss the Oct. 26 telecast while recovering from heart surgery.
Thursday, October 17, 2002The contest to determine the world's fastest Thoroughbred will feature approximately a dozen speedsters from all types of backgrounds. In addition, the NAPA Auto Parts Sprint (gr. I) will mark the only Breeders' Cup race featuring a "War of the Sexes." As many as three fillies and mares--Kalookan Queen, Carson Hollow, and Xtra Heat, will take on the boys to see which gender will prevail over six furlongs.
Thursday, October 17, 2002They're all in the books now. All the prep races for the Breeders' Cup Sprint have been sprinted, and the field for the six-furlong contest is coming into focus.
Wednesday, October 09, 2002Take Charge Lady, Xtra Heat lead Bluegrass parade of Breeders' Cup contenders.
Sunday, October 06, 2002Don Sturgill, prominent Lexington equine attorney who served as general counsel for both the national and Kentucky chapters of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, died Wednesday morning, Oct. 2, of a heart attack at his Lexington home.
Wednesday, October 02, 2002The last round of preliminaries for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) takes place coast-to-coast this weekend, but we may not learn as much as we'd like about the top contenders.
Wednesday, October 02, 2002The $17-$18 million deal to send Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem to Japan to stand at stud includes the 10% stake Chicago industrialist Russell Reineman had in the horse.
Friday, September 13, 2002The queen of the sprint division, Xtra Heat, did nothing to hurt her chances for a return crack at the Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) with a devastating five-length score in the $150,000 Endine Stakes (gr. III) at Delaware Park Sept. 7.
Thursday, September 12, 2002Icecoldbeeratreds turns closing day into a wrap party for Mike Pegram and Bob Baffert.
Wednesday, September 11, 2002Inesperado remains undefeated in the U.S.; Frankel remains in a league of his own.
Saturday, September 07, 2002David Milch plans to end a 20-year stint as a Thoroughbred owner with a dispersal of his racing stock at Fasig-Tipton's Select Mixed Sale Nov. 3.
Tuesday, August 27, 2002At a time when the mare Ipi Tombe becomes the first Zimbabwe-bred imported to North America, the horses remaining in her native land face injury and slaughter due to a government land grab.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002Finally, bobblehead-doll mania reaches to equines. A likeness of the great Secretariat is now available in bobblehead form to commemorate next year's 30th anniversary of Big Red's sweep through the Triple Crown.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002David Milch's Disturbingthepeace takes the Pat O'Brien for sixth straight win.
Sunday, August 18, 2002A three-year-old drug-positive case against trainers David Donk, Todd Pletcher, and Mark Hennig has been dropped by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering.
Thursday, August 08, 2002It is small wonder too that Serena's Song was tabbed for induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame this year as top contemporary female. She was brilliant and she was hickory, starting 38 times in a 30-month racing career. It's one thing to race often, it's another to capture 17 graded stakes and hit the board in another 14. She faced the best in her division, butted heads with the boys, and never took a backward step.
Monday, August 05, 2002Barely two months after realizing his dream of winning the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), Prince Ahmed Salman died in his sleep of a heart attack Monday, July 22, at age 43.
Monday, July 22, 2002The Thoroughbred industry today is still paying for a bad decision made more than 40 years ago. Not only did its popularity plummet as a result of being off television during that medium's original boom time, but more recently the struggle to get possession of the sport's archives and control and coordinate its television presence has cost the industry millions of dollars.
Tuesday, July 09, 2002Trapper Anthony "Flash" Wilcox rids Thoroughbred farms of unwanted visitors.
Tuesday, June 25, 2002In the 1970s, when he attended the University of Kentucky, Gary Drake would forgo class and head out to Keeneland "with $4 in my pocket trying to make my fortune." It's unlikely Drake made a score equal to the one he enjoyed when his New Phoenix Stable's Sarava shocked both him and the rest of the racing world by capturing the June 8 Belmont Stakes.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002By Lenny Shulman -- Belmont Stakes Day was about War Emblem, Bob Baffert, and Sarava. It was also about a place called New York.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002Groom Tom Wade, 43, cared for and lived with Seattle Slew for more than 20 years. He shared his thoughts of the great horse with The Blood-Horse features editor Lenny Shulman.
Tuesday, May 14, 2002Though not as glorious as his salad days on the racetrack, in the last two years of his life Seattle Slew again showed the mettle that made him a champion in all he endeavored.
Tuesday, May 14, 2002One year after his Point Given delivered to Prince Ahmed Salman a crushing defeat, the 43-year-old Saudi Arabian media magnate found his way to the Kentucky Derby winner's circle in the hoofprints of his speedy 2002 victor, War Emblem.
Friday, May 10, 2002+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=473&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=476&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=366&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')
Copyright © 2012 Blood-Horse Publications. All rights reserved internationally.
+10000000)+'&millis='+new Date().getTime()+'&zid=601&referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.location)+')