The 2009 Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing may just be the most memorable since Affirmed beat out rival Alydar to take the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes 31 years ago. Since, no horse has won all three of these coveted races.
Big Brown came close last year, the ninth horse in three decades to win the first two races but fail miserably at the long and grueling Belmont. But as exciting as it was to have Triple Crown hopes last year, I think Mine That Bird, Rachel Alexandra, and …

It’s 17 days until the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby and the internet is afflutter with discussion on which horses will be in the field, who the favorite will be, and who is going home with the roses. There are videos galore, contradictory predictions, and Twittering horses and jockeys. It’s a whole new world of research material for choosing which of the 20 Derby contenders to support.
But for me, nothing beats the post parade for finding the horse I like best.
I can read win histories, look at bloodlines, and …

Thoroughbred racing is an incredibly high-risk sport.
A crowd of young, energetic, flighty, half-ton animals careen around an oval at speeds sometimes in excess of 40 miles an hour with lightweight humans perched precariously on their backs. The impact contained each time a hoof hits the ground at that speed carrying that much weight is unfathomable. They run next to each other with barely inches to spare, making it all to easy to trip one another up. The accidents that can happen if one horse stumbles can cause pile-ups of horses …

Two chestnut colts made history in 1978. Affirmed, the last horse to win thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown, and his arch-rival Alydar whose unmatched feat was to run second in all three Triple Crown races.
I wasn’t around yet in 1978, so I had never heard of Alydar until I got Ace last summer and checked out his pedigree. Others who knew better than me were thrilled to discover that Alydar was Ace’s paternal grand-sire, so I’ve been researching ever since.
Affirmed, owned by Harbor View Farm, and Alydar, owned by Calumet Farm, …

2008 was a rough year in the equestrian industry. A series of high-profile accidents and deaths across several sports got national attention and brought to light key problem areas in the respective disciplines.
The tragic death of the filly Eight Belles, who was euthanized 10 minutes after running second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby and fracturing both front ankles, was probably the most well-known of these incidents. It brought about an uproar among horse people, bloggers, and the general public about thoroughbred racing. Why it happened and what can be done …

PETA seriously needs to find something more productive to do than bother Eight Belles’ poor owners and trainer. I came across this today on the PETA site:
“Eight Belles’ trainer, Larry Jones, has admitted injecting the horse with Phenylbutazone–a powerful anti-inflammatory drug–just 27 hours before the Kentucky Derby, but no investigation has been undertaken to determine if Eight Belles’ handlers knowingly jeopardized her safety. PETA is also asking Stengel to file criminal charges under Kentucky’s cruelty-to-animals statute, which prohibits “cruel or injurious mistreatment” of animals.”
Are you kidding me? If they had …

There’s a reason that it has been 30 long years since a horse has won the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing: it’s nearly impossible.
In the 130 plus years that the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes have been run, only 11 horses have managed to capture all three. Secretariat may be the most remembered Triple Crown champion, winning three races impressively in 1973. Affirmed was the most recent, way back in 1978. Since then, only eight horses have won the first two legs of the journey, only to be …