Cold Shoulder
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Expenses from February's ice storm in Central Kentucky could easily exceed $9 million.
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Action
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Can Seabiscuit's long coattails help pull B. Wayne Hughes into the Kentucky Derby winner's circle?
What's in It for Me?
By Kimberly S. Herbert -- We don't have to forget the horses in our quest to keep the business alive and well.
The Chicago Cubs of Racing
By John McEvoy -- Have geldings become to the Kentucky Derby what the Chicago Cubs (last appearance: 1945; last victory: 1908) are to baseball's World Series?
Lexington on Ice
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- The ice storm that socked Central Kentucky could not have come at a worse time for horse farms.
Not Again
By Billy Reed -- Aw rats, not again. That was my reaction. Vindication, the unbeaten 2-year-old champion male and favorite for the 129th Kentucky Derby, will miss the world's most coveted race because of a strained ligament in his right foreleg.
The Pensioner
By John Russell -- Despite the generosity of the sport at large, the funds directed toward the survival, care, and rehabilitation of most of the horses that are no longer wanted on the racetrack or in the breeding shed are relatively small.
Quality Over Quantity
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- The NTRA needs to clearly define for voters what the awards are supposed to recognize and should take control of who votes for the awards, inviting a panel of 50 to 100 of the most qualified and unbiased people in racing to participate.
Wanna Bet?
By Ray Paulick -- An online betting exchange poses a serious threat to horse racing because none of the money wagered is passed on to the industry.
Style Points
By John DeSantis -- The fact Eddie Delahoussaye was a great rider is no secret. But what ultimately separated Eddie D. from his peers was his style.
On the Corner
By Victor E. Zast -- A non-scientific poll conducted on a Chicago street corner finds that a majority believe Seabiscuit is racing's Horse of the Year for 2002.
On the Corner
A non-scientific poll conducted on a Chicago street corner finds that a majority believe Seabiscuit is racing's Horse of the Year for 2002.
The Forgotten Player
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Organizations for breeders and owners have to be engaged in the efforts to bring slots to racetracks.
E-mbarrassing
By T.D. Thornton -- Effort to obtain information from racetracks via e-mail elicits mixed reaction.
Creative Marketing
By Ray Paulick -- Creative breeders are continuing to explore new ways to promote their stallions.
Price of Inflation
By Ray Paulick -- Breeders' Cup purses have not kept pace with inflation --and neither have nomination fees/
Race to the Wire
By Ray Paulick -- The battle between Elusive Quality and Distorted Humor to be leading freshman sire in North America could be decided in a hearing room of the Jockey Club of England next month.
Quarantine Quandry
By Ray Paulick -- Japanese officials are perplexed why owners of the best American horses are showing such little interest in the Japan Cup and Japan Cup Dirt.
Bye Buddy
By Dan Kenny -- The track will never be the same without Buddy Abadie, who died recently.
Chills and Thrills
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- The competitive races at Arlington Park warmed the chilly 46,118 on hand for the Breeders' Cup races Oct. 26.
Juvenile Jinx
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick
Has it really been 18 years since Chief's Crown came storming down the Hollywood Park stretch to defeat Tank's Prospect and Spend a Buck in the first Breeders' Cup race ever run?
I Want My BCTV
By Evan I. Hammonds
In an effort for more television exposure for the World Thoroughbred Championships, the Breeders' Cup and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association have leased 24 hours of local public access time on Breeders' Cup eve and Breeders' Cup day in the Chicago area.
This Lady is a Champ
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- If she adds the Breeders' Cup Distaff to her list of credentials, Azeri deserves consideration for Horse of the Year honors.
Money Machine
- By Steve Haskin
By Steve Haskin -- The late Walter Annenberg, who ran the Daily Racing Form, is remembered as the owner of a "damn good, very profitable newspaper in its time."
Nearly Flawless
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Remembering a mare who is destined for the Hall of Fame and looking at how the horse industry has changed.
Will History Repeat?
By Ray Paulick -- An interesting development occurred at the Keeneland September sale, which took place during a nervous time for stock market investors and for breeders who consign at the top-end of the yearling market. The auction ended with mixed economic signals...
Shareholder With a Heart
By Eric Mitchell -- Let's get something straight up front. Robert Wehle was more than "the man who owns all the stallion shares." He was a passionate student of pedigrees and an enthusiastic teacher of the breeding business.
Tough Ticket
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- A number of the policies for the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships are beginning to resemble those at other major sporting events. That's a good thing, even if it means some people will be unhappy. The Breeders' Cup should be a tough ticket.
Deafening Silence
By Barbara Bayer -- For Japanese racing fans, the death of Sunday Silence has left a huge hole.
Life's A Beach
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- At Del Mar, promotions and activities such as concerts, "family fun club," trackside educational programs, handicapping seminars, and even a day-care facility in association with the local YMCA have helped the track increase business.
Rebate Debate
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Rebate shops have been on the scene several years now, and it appears there has been limited success in slowing down their ability to recruit and retain some of horse racing's biggest gamblers.
Name Protection
By Alastair Bull -- You may not realize it, but Citation is alive and in training. So, for that matter, is Allez France. We've also seen Habibti racing again, and doing very well. None of these horses are clones. All are instead examples of one of world racing's great anomalies: the ability to re-use the names of champion racehorses.
Global Influence
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- The late Howard Battle will be missed, not only at the many racetracks where he worked and by the many younger officials he mentored. His reach extended around the racing world.
Full Plate
- By Ray Paulick
by Ray Paulick -- The story of TJ's Lucky Moon is a fairy tale -- and one for the little guys.
City of Hope
By Lenny Shulman -- Belmont Stakes Day was about War Emblem, Bob Baffert, and Sarava. It was also about a place called New York.
The Natural
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Mike Pegram calls Bob Baffert "an artiste." Bob Lewis says he is "unbelievable." And Prince Ahmed Salman, whose colors have been carried to victory in four consecutive Triple Crown races by the Baffert-trained duo of Point Given and War Emblem, proclaims the conditioner a "genius."
Life Changer
By John Williams -- In the late fall of 1978, the Bee Gees were topping the pop charts with "Stayin' Alive." Sideburns, long hair, and bell bottoms were still cool. Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the Baltimore Colts were still playing football on 33rd St. where they belonged, and the 10th horse to win the Triple Crown arrived to stand at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.
Derby Potpourri
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Giving credit to assistant trainers; changing the entry and graded stakes money rules; and a call to increase the Kentucky Derby purse.
It's Common Sense
By Brereton C. Jones -- It was with great sadness that I watched the industry I love unintentionally embarrass itself and many of us involved by the way it approached the Kentucky General Assembly in an effort to get slot machines at the horse tracks.
Karma Classic
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Handicapping 101 teaches things like pace, trips, and class, but does not cover what the late oddsmaker Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder used to refer to as the "intangibles." When it comes to handicapping the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), the intangibles sometimes seem just as important as the measurable factors.
24-Carat Crown
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Three jewels in the Triple Crown? Not nearly enough, it says here. The series of classic races that ushers in springtime as much as the crack of the bat on opening day has far too much history, far too many heroes, to say there are only three jewels.
Fueling the Fire
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- For a change, let's all accept the winner of this year's Kentucky Derby as the best horse. Period.
In the Beginning
By Billy Reed -- Recalling the unveiling of the Breeders' Cup concept, it was sort of like being there when Elvis Presley slouched into Sun Records in Memphis and mumbled, "I'm here to make a record for my mama." Or being on the front row the day a young geek named Bill Gates first told an audience that someday computers would run the world.
The Mud Bug
By Victor E. Zast -- The "Mud Bug" -- aka Trackside Chicago, the off-track betting facility owned by Arlington Park -- rekindles youthful days spent at Fort Erie.
Driving Us Crazy
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Just as the automobile replaced the horse and buggy a century ago, the manufacture of automobiles has supplanted in importance the breeding and racing of Thoroughbreds in Kentucky, based on the recent actions of Gov. Paul Patton and state legislators.
Olympian Task
By Barry Irwin -- If you want to know which illegal drugs might appear next in horse racing, consider that every drug which has found its way into horse racing was first used in track and field or cycling.
Seabiscuit and Scintigraphy
By W. Cothran Campbell -- The pursuit of Thoroughbred horse racing as a hobby or business has always been a formidable, uphill struggle, and much of the world is aghast at the idiocy of we who pursue it. They have a point.
Hitting the Target
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- Good news and bad news came out of consumer research made public during the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's fourth annual Marketing Summit recently.
Try to Imagine
- By Steve Haskin
By Steve Haskin -- The Gotham Stakes rekindles memories of the Dr. Fager-Damascus showdown 35 years ago.
MRLS Mess
- By Ray Paulick
By Ray Paulick -- As live foal reports from The Jockey Club confirm the full impact of last spring's Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome, the breeding industry continues to be frustrated by uncertainty over the cause of the problem.
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