BloodHorse.com | Horse Racing News

What's Going On Here - Looking Like We Care

If racetracks look like they don't care, why should the new fan?

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What's Going On Here: Phenomenon

Forget struggling for words; some European handicappers struggle to give Frankel a rating.

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What's Going On Here: Quality Sells

Whenever the best horses are brought together, good things happen for racing.

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And They're Off: End of the Derby Trail

Lenny and Steve discuss TailGate, Bodemeister, Dullahan, and the Derby picture.

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Commentary: Feisty

By Robert Laurence - Let me tell you about our Thoroughbred. Feisty, by Acaroid, out of Some One Finer, by Lord Rebeau. It would be generous to call her pedigree "modest."

Commentary: Who Cares?

By - Dr. C. Reid McLellan - Education? We don't need no stinkin' education!" Few horsemen actually use that paraphrase of Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles movie quote in public, but many practice that mantra, even if they don't preach it.

Commentary: New Chief

By Stacy Bearse - It is my privilege to introduce Dan Liebman as the editor-in-chief of The Blood-Horse. Dan is the sixth chief editor in the long history of this publication.

Commentary: Culture Change

By Bobby Trussell - Fifty years ago, the average number of lifetime starts per runner was more than 40. Now, shockingly, it is less than 14. Why? What has changed so much?

Commentary: Field of Play

By Bob Summers - I've been playing horse races for 47 years and have not regretted a minute. But I've just passed another birthday and feel it's time to get one little confession off my chest.

Commentary: Charming Trip

By Steve Haskin - When the doors of the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., open for Silver Charm Aug. 6, there will be no one blocking his way, and he will take his rightful place among the greats of the sport.

Commentary: Mother's Day

By Ray Paulick - There is a touch of irony that Mom's Command will be inducted into the Hall of Fame the same year as the trainer of Forward Pass, Henry Forrest, who was elected by the Historic Review Committee.

Commentary: Distance Dilemma

By Clay S. Robinson - What the breed needs is a series of big money stakes on dirt over a longer distance of ground.

Commentary: Back Into The Hole

By John McEvoy - I have been caught in the squeeze between aggressive corporations battling for monopolistic control of "the product" while turning a frigid shoulder to the people who purchase the product.

Commentary: Huddle Up

By Dan Liebman - Never having been in such a position, Gallion had trouble putting a value on Curlin...

Tune In

By Ray Paulick - Nobiz Like Shobiz and Tiago have a license to make beautiful music together on the first Saturday in May.

Tainted Vote

By Bill Christine - When I mentioned to a colleague that I was taking on the Racing Hall of Fame again, he tried to dissuade me. "That's too easy," he said. "That's not shooting fish in a barrel; that's shooting a guppy in a teacup. Pick on somebody slightly harder, like President Bush, or Britney, or Frank Stronach."

A Life of Giving

By Ray Paulick - So many people owe thanks to Jonabell Farm founder John A. Bell III, who served on countless committees with numerous industry organizations for more than a half-century.

Final Chapter

By Sean Clancy - In early January, I found myself at my kitchen table, trying to figure out an end to the book I was writing on Barbaro and Matz. I couldn't shake Matz' voice from my head, "How do you know that's the end? Maybe there's a lot more to the story..."

Unhappy Ending

By Steve Haskin - Fairy tales are not supposed to have unhappy endings. Barbaro was to leave New Bolton Medical Center, walking soundly with his head held high, and live happily ever after. But Thoroughbreds, despite the fairy tales they inspire, live in a different realm than Walt Disney.

A Rose By Any Other Name

By Ray Paulick - Business was up. Television ratings were down. That's the quick summary from this year's Kentucky Derby (gr. I)--the first run with Yum! Brands as the presenting sponsor.

Going For Broke

By Ray Paulick - With extraordinary luck to go with soundness, speed, heart, and three full racing seasons, the Forestry colt bought by Coolmore and its partners for an all-time record price for a horse sold at public auction could dig nearly halfway out of that $16-million hole while racing.

Butt Out

By Lenny Shulman - The rumors of Gulfstream Park's demise, happily, are vastly exaggerated.

Raising the Stakes

By Ray Paulick -- Getting caught is no picnic, but occasional fines, suspensions, and hefty legal bills are included in the price some horsemen have been willing to pay to live on, or over, the edge of the game's rules and regulations.

Stablemates

By Joe Hickey -- Bonds made as classmates, teammates, roommates, shipmates, and soulmates often last a lifetime. And so, too, can bonds made among stablemates.

Not So Smart

By Gary McMillen -- Sometimes it takes a thorn to get rid of a splinter. Like a Maryland blue crab dropped out of a basket, I scurried to the safety of my office. There were questions I needed to ask myself. Smarty Jones did not give me what I wanted but maybe he gave me what I needed.

Cowboy Up

By Dan Liebman -- About 10 years ago, Robert A. "Cowboy" Jones quit keeping track. But it's safe to say the number is more than 50,000. While others spend billions each year on diet books, diet pills, diet fads, and diet programs, Cowboy Jones lost 50,000 pounds in a sweatbox. Didn't cost him a penny.

Building Blocks

By Ray Paulick -- Somewhere at the Aurora, Canada, corporate headquarters where Frank Stronach sits atop his Magna International and Magna Entertainment Corp. empire, there is a warehouse filled with architectural drawings and miniature models for changes to the racetracks Magna now owns.

Not So Smart

By Gary McMillen -- Sometimes it takes a thorn to get rid of a splinter. Like a Maryland blue crab dropped out of a basket, I scurried to the safety of my office. There were questions I needed to ask myself. Smarty Jones did not give me what I wanted but maybe he gave me what I needed.

Buyer Beware

By Ray Paulick -- The Jockey Club of England apparently is poised to clamp down on the fleecing of horse owners by banning agents and trainers found to be in serious violation of an industry code of ethics from the country's 59 racecourses.

The Gripes of Wrath

By Graeme Beaton -- It may be one of the eternal truths that emerges on judgment day--that the cost of horse ownership is really a tax on stupidity.

Knock of an Angel

By Amanda G. Simmons -- If the walls of her "sunflower" room could only talk...she was a stranger to no one, and an impeccable hostess to all; she was an elegant woman from old Virginia stock, but a modern woman who pursued her career in the Thoroughbred industry long before it was fashionable.

Muscle Tussle

By Ray Paulick -- How serious is the drug problem in contemporary sports? Serious enough that President Bush, a former partner in Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers, has called for a White House summit to examine the use of steroids among amateur and professional athletes participating in football, basketball, hockey, baseball, and track and field.

Here Comes Malicious

By Morton Cathro -- Racing fans shopping for that increasingly scarce commodity, the equine hero, are finding slim pickings these days as the shelf life of star Thoroughbreds continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate.

Raises For Roses

By Ray Paulick -- It's only mid-February, but it's never too early to start talking about the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and the Visa Triple Crown Challenge.

Colorful Commentary

By Frances J. Karon -- A colleague remembers Joss Collins as a man even more colorful than the multi-colored shirt that was his trademark.

Capital Idea

By Ray Paulick -- An organized visit to Frankfort on Feb. 3 is strongly urged to let the horse industry's voice be heard...

Looking Forward

By Tim Smith -- We'll remember 2003 for its highlights, but right now it's time to hazard some predictions for 2004...

Signaling Trouble

By Ray Paulick -- In an age of telephone and Internet betting and rebates the price of the signal must be re-examined.

Czeched in the Stretch

By Paul Deblinger -- When the Breeders' Cup announced a few years ago that it would become the World Thoroughbred Championships I thought, why would a successful brand change to an unwieldy new brand? Would there really be an effort to make it a true world championship?

Say It Ain't So

By Ray Paulick -- To call Joe the dean of Turf writers is an understatement, because he is more than that...

Of A Certain Age

By Victor E. Zast -- Old race fans never die, they just get old and sentimental...

Shoeless

By Ray Paulick -- Shoemaker served as a spiritual leader and confidant to a new generation of riders.

Failure Not An Option

By Scott Davis -- Remembering "Glenners" -- a writer of great skill and courage.

Name Game

By Ray Paulick
At The Blood-Horse, we try to condition our writers and editors to "drink the Kool-Aid" when it comes to recognizing the companies that put money up to sponsor races we report on throughout the year.

King Knocker

By Neil Pessin
"ENTER THEN KNOCK." I will always remember that sign hanging on the office door of Fair Grounds racing secretary and director of racing Mervin Muniz. Quite a bit of "knocking" occurred in that little office over the many years that Mervin was racing secretary. If you were the subject of the knocking and were present at the time, it was futile to try and defend yourself. There was even a horse named after Mervin--King Knocker.

Prime Rate

By Ray Paulick -- How big was Funny Cide's run for this year's Triple Crown? In terms of television ratings, no prime-time program received a higher number during the week of the Belmont Stakes than the final hour of NBC's 90-minute race telecast.

Playing Politics

By Ray Paulick -- Barring a last-minute miracle in the Maryland legislature, the horse industries in Maryland and Kentucky came up on the short end of the stick in their efforts to get legislation permitting slot machines at racetracks.

No Robbery

By Laura Hillenbrand -- Seabiscuit's story did have a "fairy-tale ending," but he didn't need me to give it to him.

Picked Apart

By Ray Paulick
The confidence of horseplayers has been shaken, and that is a very serious matter for racetracks, owners, breeders, and anyone else with a financial stake in this business.

A Life Well Lived

By Ray Paulick
Bill Casner once said he felt like "a kid outside the candy store, looking in at horses I felt I should have had, but couldn't have."