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 [...]

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 [...]

After the 2003 blockbuster film, Seabiscuit, these two horses grew to be house-hold names nearly 70 years after their time. Most of you have probably seen the cinematic version of this race. But it can’t hold a candle to watching the real thing. War Admiral was a 15.2 brown thoroughbred, son of the legendary Man [...]

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 [...]

After much early speculation about a match-up with defending champ Curlin and horse racing’s all-time leading money winner, Big Brown is officially out of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and retiring for good following a hoof injury during a routine workout at Aqueduct. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner has been plagued with hoof problems for [...]

While the Kentucky Derby is the most widely known, and viewed, event in American thoroughbred racing, the fall Breeders’ Cup is the biggest money event. In fact, it comes up second on the list for most money awarded in a sport during one day … behind racing’s Dubai World Cup and just ahead of the [...]

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 [...]