Keeneland Archives - Page 11 of 15

April 7, 2016April 7, 2016

Keeneland Kickoff

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It’s a chilly start to Spring here in the Bluegrass but it still brings warmth to my heart that my favorite track, Keeneland, in Lexington, KY opens tomorrow! The Spring Meet is open from April 8 to 29, 2016. Live racing takes place on Wednesdays thru Sundays throughout those dates. I have to work all weekend so I made sure I got to participate in some of the pre-race events.

Yesterday morning I arrived before 8 a.m. EST and headed to the Racing Office. The horses enter the race track through an opening, “the gap”, right next to this building. Slowly, a large group of horses and exercise riders assembled. They were mounted and waiting for as far as I could see. The fans, connections of the horses and photographers were looking on with anticipation. At about 8:30 the horses took to the track. Some Thoroughbreds went at a leisurely pace while others sped around like they were floating. I love to catch the pictures with all four hooves in the air.

After the excitement of the workouts I headed to the newly renovated Track Kitchen. I had biscuits and gravy. If you haven’t had Southern food like this you are really missing out.

Next, I went to Kellyn Gorder’s barn. He had just recently returned to the grounds after having a nice season at Turfway and ongoing at Oaklawn race track. I visited with his horses and he was very busy on the computer, phone and with office visits in preparation for more races. Some of his nice horses are pictured below. I gave these cute noses some petting.

After the Gorder barn I went to see the remaining stable area. Keeneland has 57 barns with the capacity to hold 1,951 horses. Horses aren’t the only animals you will find on the grounds. In addition to birds, pet dogs and barn cats I met two busy goats along my adventure. I also saw some cool tack including Nyquist’s bridle and Tepin’s Breeders’ Cup blanket that has been refurbished with silk flowers.

The best part of my trip was looking for our favorite race horses. I went to the Casse Racing barn hoping to find 2015 Eclipse Award Champion Grass Mare and winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile, Tepin, but she had moved to Churchill Downs. I was not disappointed in meeting Airoforce, 2nd in the 2015 BC Juvenile Turf, Catch a Glimpse and her teddy bear, 1st in the 2015 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and Noble Bird, graded stakes winner, pictured below in order on the top row. I went to most of the barns to see what I could but unfortunately several trainers do not label their stalls so I just had to appreciate the unknown beauties as they were.

Saving one of the best for last I finally found the undefeated and 1st place winner of the 2015 Sentient Jet BC Cup Juvenile, Nyquist. He is the favorite for the Kentucky Derby with 5/2 odds currently and he is second on the leaderboard for points behind Gun Runner. He was happily snacking during my visit. I was going to return to see him train this morning but his white blood cell count was slightly elevated so he is going to rest up for now and perhaps train on Friday or Saturday. See how sweet he looks below.

Post time begins at 1:05 p.m. EST on Friday. There are 10 races that day. On Saturday post time is 12:35 p.m. with 11 races. 5 of those are stakes races, numbers 6 thru 10. The 9th race, the 15th running of the Madison Grade I stakes, for fillies and mares 4 and older is packed with multiple graded stakes winners. The 10th race is the 92nd running of The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. It is a Grade I race with a million dollar purse. The 9 furlong dirt race for 3 year olds posts at 6 p.m. This race gives 100-40-20-10 points to Kentucky Derby Contenders based on a 1st to 4th place finish respectively. There are a lot of great races at Keeneland this meet. I hope each of you has a chance to get in on the action. Catch my blog next week here and on Facebook and Twitter for more Thoroughbred news and events.

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April 1, 2016April 2, 2016

Memory Lane

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Come with me as I take a walk down memory lane. Pictured is a driving/walking path at the Lexington Cemetery, in Lexington, KY, where Spring is in bloom. There are some big Kentucky Derby prep races tomorrow, 4/2/16. While looking forward to those races I recalled some history about racing’s past.

Tomorrow brings the Florida Derby at 6:48 and the Spiral Stakes at 5:43 PM both EST. No owner has won the Florida Derby more than Calumet Farm located in Lexington, KY. Calumet won with Gen. Duke in 1957, Tim Tam in 1958, Forward Pass in 1968, Eastern Fleet in 1971 and Alydar in 1978. This farm was, for a long time, owned by the Maysville, KY born Lucille Parker Wright Markey. She lived from 1896 to 1982 and was a businesswoman and a philanthropist. She inherited Calumet from her late husband. Markey ran the farm for 30 years. She won the KY Derby 4 times during that career with horses including FL Derby winners Tim Tam and Forward Pass.

At the same cemetery, is the final resting place for John M. Gaver who lived from 1900 to 1982. He was the American Hall of Fame trainer for 73 stakes winning Thoroughbreds he managed at Brookdale Farm and Greentree Stable. In 1966 he received an Eclipse Award from the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. The KY portion of Greentree is now the great Gainesway Farm in Lexington. I bought into a partnership with Spruce Lane Pinhooking and we share ownership on one of our horses that is living at Gainesway!

On the same grounds, Hal Price Headley was laid to rest. Headley lived from 1888 to 1962. He is the founder of my very favorite and my home track, Keeneland! He was president of Keeneland Racetrack from 1935 to 1951. He was an owner and breeder, as well, at Beaumont Farm in Lexington,KY.

The next 3 horsemen all held important roles at Elmendorf Farm, Lexington KY. Charles Henry Berryman lived from 1867 to 1946. He managed Elmendorf when it was owned by James Ben Ali Haggin from 1897 to 1914. This farm was founded in 1874 and churned out fine race horses. Man o’ War’s sire, Fair Play, and dam, Mahubah, are buried at Elmendorf. Much of Elmendorf is owned by Clovelly, Normandy, Green Gates and Old Kenney Farms now. Elmendorf still holds part of a ruined mansion’s pillars where I attended a wedding reception once. Many Thoroughbreds are buried near the pillars. It is very pretty.

Before it was managed by Berryman, William Thomas Hughes operated Elmendorf Farm from 1862 to 1874. He inherited the farm from his father but he found himself in debt and was forced to sell the farm to Milton H. Sanford. Hughes was not always buried where he rests now, near his wife’s plot. He was buried in Richmond, KY for some time.

Hughes father, Thomas Hughes was the third owner at Elmendorf Farm. He bought the property from Carter Henry Harrison. He owned the farm from 1855 to 1862. He was first buried at the Hughes Farm but later moved to Lexington Cemetery. The Lexington Cemetery was established in 1849.

Across the street and over a few blocks is another cemetery. This is Calvary Cemetery created in 1874. It is not nearly as pretty but it is a peaceful place. I went looking just for Belle Brezing’s grave. The top says “Mother”. Her last name is spelled incorrectly on the stone. She is most famous for being an internationally known madam but she was an important figure in Thoroughbred racing too. She lived from 1859 to 1940.

I wrote more on the Lexington Cemetery and Belle Brezing in my other stories:

Heaven’s Horsemen

Brothels, Books and Bloodstock

I hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane. I am excited about the races tomorrow. The Florida Derby will be held at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL. The inaugural race was in 1952. The 1 and 1/8 mile (9 furlong) dirt track will award a purse $1 million dollars. It is a Grade 1 stakes race. 8 horses including Nyquist and Mohaymen will compete for 100-40-20-10 KY Derby points, based on the finish of 1st thru 4th. The Spiral Stakes, 1st held in 1972, will be at Turfway park in Florence, KY. This race is the same length but has a synthetic track. It is a Grade III race with a purse of $500,000 dollars. 12 horses including Airoforce will try for 50-20-10-5 respective points. These are my favorites to win. Choose your picks wisely and if you can’t get to the track enjoy this lovely Spring. As always, thank you for following me on my web page, Facebook and Twitter.

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March 19, 2016March 19, 2016

Reimagined Red Mile

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Hello to all of my fellow horse fans. I have been enjoying all the great racing for Kentucky Derby prep and otherwise good fun and competition. I was hoping to make it to Turfway Park to see one of my favorite horses race live yesterday but that race proved to be a little too far away and too late. However, I finally made it to the Red Mile to enjoy an evening of historical and simulcast racing.

The Red Mile is a standardbred harness race track in Lexington, KY, my hometown. Harness racing is not my favorite sport but I have been there a few times to see it. The track length is a mile and it is composed of red clay thus the track’s name, Red Mile. The 1st race there was on September 28, 1875, There was no live racing at Red Mile yesterday, 3/18/16, rather the facility was remodeled last September to mark 140 years and to feature “Instant Racing”, simulcasting, dining and entertainment in addition to harness racing. Keeneland went in with Red Mile to make it the fun place it is today.

“Instant Racing” is a lot like slot machines. There are over 900 terminals featuring pari-mutual electronic games. The games show historical racing on a small screen after you have picked 3 horses and made your bet. I thought it was fun to play and I loved seeing all of the different tracks featured.

After, I left the machines, with more money than I had brought with me, I checked out the areas for dining and the space for the live band. The food looked appealing and affordable. The band, Zed’s Dead, was entertaining.

I also ventured up a floor to see all the simulcasting. They had a handicapping contest taking place too. The facility is nice, very clean and spacious with plenty of helpful staffing. I was looking forward to watching a race at Turfway Park, in Florence, KY, set to post at 9:09 P.M. EST.

I have had the good fortune of visiting with two of breeder, Lucy Bassett’s, horses since they first began training. These two 3 year old fillies are Titled and Ma’am. Before they were racing, these two horses lived at The Thoroughbred Center, a Keeneland affiliated farm in Lexington, KY. They stayed and trained in Geoff Mulcahy’s barn. He has been kind enough to let me watch him train them on a few occasions. Now, Ma’am and Titled are training with Kenneth G. McPeek. Ma’am was sired by Colonel John and her dam is Lady Siphonica. Ma’am has Corey S. Nakatani for a jockey and is owned by Lance, Greg and David Gasaway with David Hamby III. Titled has Lily’s Girl for a dam and her sire was Scat Daddy. Titled is still owned by Bassett and she has Sophie Doyle for her jockey. Ma’am has raced 3 times at Oaklawn Park and she broke her maiden the last time out on 2/27/16. Titled had her second career race last night. She also got her start at Oaklawn.

Titled has not broken her maiden yet. It was still very exciting to see her come from the back of the pack to sweep third place last night. I enjoyed wagering on her from the Red Mile and she paid $5.60. I am pleased with both Ma’am and Titled and I’m looking forward to their next races. I would love to see them race live and I’m still hoping to make it to Turfway Park in the near future.

The Red Mile is an excellent place for various entertainment and simulcasting. I imagine I will be back soon and I have my own rewards card now. It was easy to get to, parking was plenty and free. The facility is open year round from 10am to 2 pm Sunday thru Thursday and open 2 additional hours, until 4 am, on Friday and Saturday. If you are planning a trip, check the Red Mile out here: Red Mile Please, comment, like and share. I will post a new story weekly or more often. Thank you for your time!

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February 16, 2016February 21, 2016

Purrfect Pest Control

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I woke up to more snow and more shoveling this morning. It is yet another chilly day here on the Bluegrass. On the real cold nights I say some extra prayers for all of the homeless people and animals. I know they have it tough living outside. When I visit barns I am just as excited to hunt down the cats as I am the beautiful horses. I think that the barn cats have it best. They have all the shelter and food they could want and interaction with horses, people and other such animals when they choose to allow it. The cats are a benefit to us as well. They provide pesticide free rodent control and companionship to our horses and equestrians.

Sancho, is one of the better known barn cats. He has the honor of being the barn cat for Runhappy . Runhappy is a champion runner but he likes his sleep and he wants Sancho in his stall when he drifts off. Watch Sancho creep into position here: Sancho with Runhappy.

Another well known barn cat is the Twitter sensation, Gator Kitten. He is the resident handicatter (that’s right, this cat can handicap races) at Woodbine Race Track but he is spending the winter with a lot of his favorite Thoroughbreds at a barn near Gulfstream Park. He frequently visits with Juba. Follow him here: Gator Kitten. He posts often and has followers as far as New Zealand.

Do you want to know how can you help the barn cats? When you are packing in the peppermints to see your favorite horse put some cat treats in your pockets too. Mice aren’t the only snacks barn cats enjoy. Also, you can re-home feral cats this way too. Check out these links to animal shelters with specific barn cat programs in many states. My city has Horse Country Barn Cats ran by the Lexington Humane Society. A cat from the program comes vaccinated, microchipped and spayed or neutered. Horse County Barn Cats . See the other states listed here or Google to find a resource near you: Texas , Minnesota , California, Michigan, Illinois, Massachutes, New York

Did you know that cats were domesticated around 7500 BC for the purpose of pest control, not for pets? Cats must keep down the rodent population that are drawn to barns for food and warmth. Rodents like to eat the same grain as the horses but they can spread disease and cause trouble if they aren’t controlled. There are over 70 varieties of domesticated cats ready to do the job. In the United States cats are the second most common pet behind fish. In most barns I have seen have one or more resident felines.

Get creative when searching for cats in a barn. They can hide pretty good and the cat just might be an image on your horse’s face. I’m always looking to learn and share and when I saw the picture of American Pharoah’s half-sister, I discovered something new. American Pharoah’s dam, Littleprincessemma, gave birth to a filly sired by Tapit on 2/13/16. It has a lovely stripe of white chrome on it’s nose that looks like a long tailed cat. This marking is referred to as a Kitty Blaze! See her cute face here: Littleprincessemma/Tapit filly

I hope you have enjoyed these barn cat photos. I have not met Sancho or Gator Kitten so I don’t have their pictures yet but my collection is from Old Friends, Churchill Downs, Taylor Made Farm, Keeneland and The Thoroughbred Center. Please, share pictures of your favorite barn cats and return for next week’s post too. Thank you!

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February 6, 2016February 6, 2016

High Flying, Adored

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I would certainly love to hop on a plane and head to some place warmer with live racing right now. Perhaps I would go to Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, maybe even Dubai? While I may be dreaming of a snowbird get away it is a busy time at Blue Grass Airport for arrivals too. This coming Monday and Tuesday, February 8 and 9, 2016, Fasig-Tipton will hold it’s Kentucky Winter Mixed sale here in Lexington, KY.

When you build an airport in the horse capital of the world you don’t just design any ordinary airport but rather it is a special airport worthy to handle the needs of regular passengers, world wide equestrians and of course, horses! The Army began using this airport in 1942 and by 1946 the airport went commercial. Blue Grass Airport sits right in the middle of horse country. Many flight patterns go directly over Keeneland race track which is across the street and nearby Calumet Farm. In 2008 the bronze equine sculptures featured in the 2 pictures above and 1 photo below were put on the grounds at the doors to the terminal. Gwen Reardon designed this paddock scene. She is the same artist that created the works at Thoroughbred Park, which I featured in an earlier story. The Kentucky Horse Park has a life sized piece of her art too. My favorite bronze is the piece below. It looks like James E. “Ted” Bassett III playing groom. He is a former chairmen of the board at Keeneland and former president of the Breeders’ Cup. I like to eat my breakfast with him at Keeneland’s track kitchen, on special occasions, and I read his biography from cover to cover. I have watched his story played over and again on KET (Kentucky Educational Television). I own his autographed book too!

Other lovely pieces of equine art are found inside and on the grounds of the airport. The floor of the terminal lobby has a concentric designed chart depicting the lineage of 800 Thoroughbreds over 300 years. There is also a nice stained glass piece depicting Big Lex created by John F. “Zig” Zeigler. Big Lex is a blue horse who is the mascot for the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is blue from grazing on Kentucky bluegrass. He can be seen all over Lexington, even on my refrigerator and my car.

One of my favorite works, at the airport, is the enormous trompe l’oeil mural painted by Eric Henn. It is painted on the retaining wall on the edge of the runway facing Keeneland. I have a print which I have yet to get framed seen below.

It is nice that all of this beauty is at the airport for the travelers. I hope as all the visitors make their way into Lexington this weekend to prepare for the Winter Mixed Sale they take time to appreciate the art. The sale has horses foaled in France, Great Britain, Ireland, Argentina, Ontario, Louisiana, Virginia, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, West Virginia, Indiana, Texas, California, New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota and of course, Kentucky! H.E. Sutton Forwarding Company, also known as Tex Sutton or I prefer the name, Air Horse One, can help them ship here. They have a specially equipped Boeing 727-200 that holds 21 horses loaded 3 wide and 7 deep. The company’s symbol features Pegasus, a winged horse. The plane is labeled “First Class Equine Air Travel”. The individual stalls have seat belts and each horse is served hay and water. Human attendants accompany the horses in the aisles. The horses fly faced forward and the tallest horses are placed in the center stalls. See American Pharoah fly here: Air Horse One

I’m pretty excited thinking about the horses that will be shipping in for the sale. There are 528 entries cataloged. Hips 1 thru 296 will show on Monday and 297 thru 528 will be featured on Tuesday. The sale starts at 11 a.m. EST each day. See the catalog here: Fasig Tipton KY Winter Mixed 2016. The sale will feature a nice variety including horses of racing age, in-foal mares, 1 or more mares with foals, short yearlings and broodmare prospects, some with graded stakes credentials. Hip 255 is Trojenna, a mare by Lawyer Ron with a brand new Mucho Macho Man filly, so cute! Fasig-Tipton held it’s Midlantic Winter Sale last month. In that sale a yearling colt by Curlin was the sale topper at a price of $76,000. The KY Winter Mixed sale has 4 horses sired by Curlin. These are Naked Watch (hip 98), Princess Rocket (136), Split It (213) and Charismata (362). There are 4 yearlings by Grade 1 winning, Graydar in the sale. I met him at Taylor Made Farm this summer, so handsome. Check out some of Graydar’s 1st crop; hips 140, 149, 274 and 454. Look how sweet Graydar is below.

I hope the KY Winter Mixed sale is a big success. I would love to watch this sale’s grads race or breed new champs in the future. I can’t attend myself, due to my job, so if you make it out please tell me all about it. Who do you think will fetch the best price?

Here’s a You Tube from one of my favorite movies, “Evita”. When I think about Air Horse One, I think of this song. I love dreaming about all of favorite horses high flying around the world and how they are truly adored!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7b_p00PiXE

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January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

100 Days Till Derby

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Wow! I still can’t get over the rush of American Pharoah’s Triple Crown and Grand Slam wins. Meanwhile, today marks only 100 days until the next running of the Kentucky Derby. Just in time, the early nominees have been announced! Will we get another big winner? Will it be Nyquist, pictured above following his undefeated 2015 season after winning the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile? He does look nice in the crown!

On Saturday May 7, 2016 Churchill Downs will host the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. Early nominees for all 3 legs of the Triple Crown were due on 1/16/16. Early nominees pay a fee of $600 while later nominees can enter until 3/21/16 but that fee is $6,000. The fee jumps to a large sum of $200,000 if entered after that. The deadline for the latest entry is 5/4/16. Today, the 368 select 3 year-old Thoroughbreds were revealed. Eclipse Award Juvenile Male, Nyquist, tops the list of contenders. He is owned by Reddam Racing, LCC. His trainer is Doug F. O’Neill and his jockey is Mario Gutierrez. He won twice at Santa Anita and twice at Del Mar prior to his BC win at Keeneland. He had a nice workout at Santa Anita on 1/24/16. Nyquist is preparing for the Saint Vincente Stakes on 2/15/16 at Santa Anita and he is a top nominee for the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on 4/2/16.

368 nominees are considered low for an early selection. Brody’s Cause, Mor Spirit, Greenpointcrusader, Mohaymen, Hit It A Bomb, Ralis and Swipe are some of the other early favorites. Swipe is seen at the top of the second photo just barely losing to Nyquist at the BC races. Only 3 fillies were nominated. These little ladies are Northwest Tale, Royal Obsession and Flora Dora.

On the road to the Kentucky Derby, Nyquist leads in points with a score of 30. He is followed by Exaggerator, Brody’s Cause, Mor Spirit, Flexibility, Swipe, Mo Tom, Airoforce, Mohaymen and Greenpointcrusader for the top 10 of 20 available positions. Urban Bourbon is nominated from Bourbon Lane Stable.

In regards to trainers, who have nominated horses, Bob Baffert leads with 35 entries. He was the trainer for our 2015 Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. One of his entries this year is Southern Pharaoh, another colt sired by Pioneer of the Nile. Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, D. Wayne Lukas (my favorite with 10 entries) and Mike Maker round out the top trainers, by number of entries. Kellyn Gorder is entered with Torrontes.

Again we find the American Pharoah connection when we see the owners with the most entries. It is Zayat Stables that owns 15 entries. Zayat is followed by Calumet Farm, Charles Fipke and Keeneland’s biggest winners, Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

Following the Kentucky Derby, the 141st Preakness Stakes takes place on 5/21/16 and then the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes is on 6/11/16. The full list of nominees for the Triple Crown is available here: 2016 Triple Crown Nominees

These 100 days are going to be so exciting. I love watching all of the prep races and the leaderboard on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Who is your favorite? Please, share this and share with me.

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January 16, 2016January 16, 2016

Action At The Auction

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What a sweet week I had. I was able to go to Keeneland 4 times for the January Horses of All Ages Sale. It was a moving experience as always.

This sale featured hip numbers 1 thru 1796. Of these, 1,040 Thoroughbreds sold versus 948 for this same sale last year. I arrived the day prior to the sale and the grounds were bustling with horsemen, prospective buyers and of course, the horses we love so much. The sale ran from Monday 1/11 thru Friday 1/15/16. The 5 day session was a full day longer than the previous year. On opening day, the auction began with hip 3 after the first 2 horses, and several more were “out” for various reasons. Hip 3, seen above in the Keeneland sales pavilion, is Captive Melody. She was consigned by an agent for Claiborne Farm. At a price of $70,000 she didn’t really get sold. She is listed as “RNA”, reserve not attained. This was the case with several of the horses at the auction. Captive Melody is 13 years old. She was sired by Unbridled’s Song and she did race. Her earnings are over $117,000 and she is pregnant with Malibu Moon’s foal. I find her to be very pretty.

Many horses did fetch a good price. Hip 259 was Summer Solo. She is a 5 year old daughter of Arch, in foal by Ghostzapper. She was consigned by Denali Stud for the dispersal of Sarah J. Leigh’s estate. She was purchased by Payson Stud, Inc. Her half-sister, hip 260, is Summer Sweet. Sired by More Than Ready, this 2 year old filly was also sold by Denali to Payson. These beauties were sale toppers at $700,000 and $550,000 respectively.

Virginia Kraft Payson bought the above Arch filly, hip 230, from Denali as well. She fetched $450,000. Payson was this sale’s top buyer. In all, the sale grossed over $35 million dollars. It made $158,000 more than the 2015 January sale and should be considered a success.

The crowd released audible coos when hip 76, Grenobloise, entered with her 5 day old baby. What a doll! I heard from Taylor Made Sales Agency, the leading consignor with 92 horses sold, that several babies were born in the Keeneland stalls during the sale. Grenobloise and her baby were also RNA. They were consigned by Buckland Sales.

I couldn’t attend on Tuesday but on Wednesday I saw 4 of the top 5 sale prices for that session. Seen above are hip 828, a filly by More Than Ready for $95,000, hip 917, Ready For Romance for $240,000, hip 927, Rock Me Mama for $90,000 and 945, a colt sired by Shanghai Bobby for $105,000.

Prom Time, hip 1271 and a colt by Super Saver, 1314, were the two top prices on Thursday. Each can be seen above. Eaton Sales consigned Prom Time. She was sold to Warrendale Sales. The colt was consigned by Hidden Brook and sold to Calumet Farm.

The best thing about Thursday is that it was the first time I was warm enough to roam the grounds freely. I saw some nice short yearlings and some stallions too. That is one of the pleasures of this sale. It is such a mixed bag. This sale offers horses that have raced, that will race, great broodmare prospects, stallions, you name it! Not only are they all ages but they are all kinds of pretty too. I likes the grays, especially the ones that almost look white. See some of the lovelies below.

I didn’t make it out yesterday but I see that it closed strong and the final horse was hip 1795, a gray or roan colt sired by Uncle Mo. Consigned by Brandywine Farm, this little guy sold to Eico Ventures for $80,000, the top price of the day.

I will have to wait until September 12th thru 24th to see the next Keeneland sale. It will feature yearlings. Fortunately, Fasig-Tipton has a Winter Mixed sale in Lexington February 8-9th. Perhaps, I can venture out then. Stay warm my friends and keep watching for my next post.

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January 9, 2016January 14, 2016

A Tepin Time

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With just a few days/steps in time, this year is off to a fantastic start! I had a great response to my post I wrote on New Year’s Eve and there are so many good things going on in the Thoroughbred racing industry. I am so thrilled that today brings the return to racing for California Chrome at Santa Anita. At this same track and this same day, Mrs. Penny Chenery will present the Secretariat Vox Populi Award to the connections of American Pharoah. We have had several new Thoroughbred babies born in the last week. The January Keeneland sale starts Monday and I made it out to the barns to see some of those horses today. Also, the finalist for the Eclipse Awards were announced on January 6th and on the 16th the winners will be announced. Shew, there is just so much to enjoy. Speaking of enjoyment, I’m pretty happy to see that Tepin is up for an Eclipse Award and I hope she wins!

The 45th annual Eclipse Awards will be presented to the winners of 17 horse and human categories including 6 media categories, Horseplayer of the Year and a lifetime achievement/award of merit winner. The awards dinner will be held at Gulfsteam Park. The 6 media winners have been chosen. They are; Jennie Rees, Mary Simon, Tim Sullivan, NBC Sports, Scott Serio and Brad and John Hennegan. The Horseplayer of the Year Award goes to John O’Neill. Leonard Lavin takes the Eclipse Award of Merit. The other 17 categories are up for grabs! Here are the nominees:

Horse of the Year: American Pharoah, Runhappy, Beholder
2 Year Old Filly: Rachel’s Valentina, Songbird, Catch a Glimpse
2 Year Old Male: Airoforce, Nyquist, Mohaymen
3 Year Old Filly: Found, Stellar Wind, I’m a Chatterbox
3 Year Old Male: Dortmund, Runhappy, American Pharoah
Female Sprinter: Lady Shipman, LeVerdad, Wavell Avenue
Male Sprinter: Rockfall, Private Zone, Runhappy
Female Turf Horse: Found, Stephanie’s Kitten, Tepin
Male Turf Horse: The Pizza Man, Big Blue Kitten, Cold Horn
Older Dirt Female: Sheer Drama, Beholder, Stopchargingmaria
Older Dirt Male: Honor Code, Liam’s Map, Tonalist
Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan, Demonstrative, Bob Le Beau
Jockey: Victor Espinoza, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Javier Castellano
Apprentice Jockey: Angel Cruz, Eric Cancel, Tyler Gaffalione
Trainer: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chris Brown
Owner: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.
Breeder: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Darley

I can’ t blog on forever so I picked the Female Turf Horse category. I am crazy about all 3 entries, heck I love all these Thoroughbreds. I had the pleasure of watching Tepin, Stephanie’s Kitten and Found on the last day of the Breeders’ Cup this past year. Read on to see the pictures I took and a small bio on each horse.

Found is a lovely Irish filly. She was born in March of 2012. Her sire is Galileo and her dam is Red Evie, both are Irish as well. She won 1st place in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf. This is the first time a 3 year old filly has won this race. She has not raced since but she has had 11 career starts in which she won 4 times, placed 5 times and showed 1 time. Found has over $2 million dollars in earnings and is ranked 9th in earnings for 2015. Her jockey is Ryan L. Moore. Found is trained by Aidan O’ Brien and owned by Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith. Her breeders were Roncon, Wynatt and Chelston. She is up for 3 Year Old Filly too! Last I read, she should race again in 2016.

Stephanie’s Kitten was foaled in March of 2009. She is the progeny of Kitten’s Joy and Unfold the Rose. Stephanie’s Kitten is now at Northern Farm in Japan. She was formerly Kentucky bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. She won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2015. This horse had Irad Ortiz, Jr, for her jockey and was trained by Chad C. Brown. She was 2nd in the same BC race in 2014 and won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011. She ranked 8th in earnings in 2015. She has earned over $4 million dollars. Stephanie’s Kitten has had 25 career starts. She won 11 times, was second 4 times and came in third 4 times. I hope she has a happy life as a broodmare in Japan and perhaps she can someday retire back home in Kentucky.

Tepin was also born in March but in 2011. She is the Kentucky bred daughter of Bernstein and Life Happened. Tepin was owned by Robert E. Masterson when she won the BC Mile in 2015. She is second in earnings for 2015. She has gross earnings of over $2 million dollars. During her career she has 7 wins, placed 3 times and showed once in 15 starts. I saw her win on October 3rd this past year at Keeneland in the Grade 1, First Lady Stakes. She has not raced since the BC win but she had a nice workout at Palm Meadows Training Center yesterday. Julien R. Leparoux is her jockey. Machmer Hall is Tepin’s breeder and she is trained by Mark E. Casse. I’m hoping she has a nice 2016 career and I’d like to see this Eclipse Award granted to her. I thinks it is Tepin’s time! Click the link for Disney’s Mary Poppins song, “Step In Time”.

Step In Time

I like all the choices for Female Turf Horse as well as the other award candidates. I am looking forward to the reveal on the 16th. I hope some of you have a great time live at Santa Anita today and I wish others will join me at the Keeneland Sales starting on 1/11/16 but already bustling in the barns, see below. I will share with you all about the auction. Have a great weekend!

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December 3, 2015December 3, 2015

Jotting For Juba

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Greetings racing fans! It is good to be home but there has not been much action for me since I returned other than Thanksgiving and lots of shopping. Yesterday, I had some down time and I started to think about what I wanted to check out and what I wanted to write about. My favorite horse, Juba, had a race that day and that was where my mind was set.

Juba is “Twitter’s favorite race horse” and since my first “tweet” this past February he has quickly become my favorite horse too. Twitter is one of the more popular social media networks. It was created in the summer of 2006 and by this summer it had over 500 million users. I joined to have an outlet to share my blog with. I found out fast that Twitter is the best way for me to get the latest information on current events in the Thoroughbred racing industry. I am happy to have over 200 followers on Twitter. Juba has over 2,200 followers. He is found on Twitter here @Jubacolt . Juba (the Gray), can not do his own tweets, since he is a horse, so an anonymous person handles that for him. He has created hash tags such as #GoJubaGo for his races and #haikujuba to write poetry and inspire others to do the same. Juba, the horse, still strikes the best poses and lights up for the cutest videos.

The real Juba is a 4 year old colt. He is gray with a black mane. He is so fair he looks white on photos and television. He is the Kentucky bred son of Tapit and Adoradancer. He grew up on Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, KY after his birth on 5/25/2011. He was sold to Centennial Farms at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2012. He lives at Belmont Park in New York now. Juba has had 11 starts with 2 wins, 3 second place finishes and 3 times at 3rd. He has raced at 4 tracks: Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park, Saratoga and Belmont. Juba’s jockey is Jose L. Ortiz. He is trained by Jimmy Jerkins. Yesterday he ran at Aqueduct again. It was a nasty day. The track was muddy and the fog was thick. Centennial Farm tweeted #GreyColtsBlendIntoGreyFog. He was in the 8th race. The 9th race was cancelled because weather conditions were so bad. Juba finished 7th in a field of 11 horses. He was doing well at second place early in the race. It was an odd race to watch because the fog was so dense. Sometimes fog can be exciting like on the top of Mount Humphreys, seen at the top, when I took that climb but in yesterday’s race it looked dangerous. It is very hard to even see. Click watch video here Race 8 Aqueduct 12/2/15

I have never seen Juba live. Centennial broke my heart this past October when it was decided at the last moment that he would not be racing at Keeneland shortly before the Breeders’ Cup. That put Juba and myself in a huff. I hope that I can pet his pretty face someday but it is a long trip from Kentucky to New York. I called Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY yesterday to see if I could tour, meet his sire Tapit and see 8 other stallions but they responded that they are not currently doing public tours. Too bad, I hope they change that soon. Tapit is gray too. He has been the leading sire in the United States for 3 years now. He has the highest stud fee at $300,000. In 2015 he was bred to 135 mares. This year 5 of his off-spring have won Grade 1 stakes races: Frosted, Tonalist, Untapable, Ring Weekend and Constitution. He is the leading sire of G1 winners. Juba’s dam, Adoradancer, had 19 starts at 8 tracks including Keeneland, my home track. She raced there twice in 1997 so perhaps I have seen her.

Despite yesterday’s race I still wanted to do some jotting for Juba. I wanted to share that even horses that don’t win every race are still ever so wonderful. Penny Chenery, owner of the great Secretariat, is wise to stress this truth and award accordingly. She created the Secretariat Vox Populi award in 2010. Vox Populi is a latin term meaning the voice of the people. The winners from the 1st year to 2014 have been: Zenyatta, Rapid Redux, Paynter, Mucho Macho Man and California Chrome, respectively. She noted that while most awards for Thoroughbreds are based on statistics and performance measures she thought some horses should be honored for being a favorite of the public and an ambassador for the sport. Thru an on-line poll, done by the public, votes are collected. You can vote here now Vox Populi Award . Voting is open until 12/6/15 then the votes are reviewed by Ms. Chenery and a panel of 8 experts. On 1/9/16 the recipient will be announced at Santa Anita Park. American Pharoah, Beholder and Rachel’s Valentina are the horses on the ballot but write-ins are accepted. The horses listed are all lovely and deserving choices but Juba is “Twitter’s favorite horse” and I think that is quite a distinction in the popularity department.

Who will you vote for? Give Juba a thought or share who means the most to you. I will be blogging again before next week’s end and I will share the people’s choice with you in January as well. Please, keep following and sharing. Thank you!

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November 23, 2015November 23, 2015

This Side of Paradise

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A week ago today, while I was still on vacation, I finally put my track quest into action. I have been to Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky many times and I will be there a whole lot more but I want to see all of the U.S. tracks eventually. On 11/16/15 I made it to Turf Paradise in Phoenix, AZ!

Turf Paradise opened on January 7, 1956. It was built in the desert on 1,400 acres of land by Walter Cluer who owned the track for around 25 years. It was the first professional sports establishment in Arizona and is still the third largest sports attraction in the state to date. Ownership has changed hands five times since and there have been remodels but the track is still up and running. Currently, it is in the possession of Jerry Simms.

There are two tracks at this course. One is a 1 mile dirt track and the other is a 7 furlong turf track. Over 2,000 horses live and train on the backside. The track has live racing for 7 months, one of the longest live racing calendars in the country. The 2015-2016 meet runs 10/17/15 thru 5/8/16 on 136 scheduled days. There are seats for 7,500 guests. More than 14,600 fans have been in attendance at one time. The grandstand is 3 stories high and there are seats in the Clubhouse and Turf Club as well. The paddock is connected from the track and is easy to see from most viewpoints. The track is elevated to about eye level from a standing position in the area in front of the grandstand. There is a lovely infield pond with geese and ducks. Palm trees all around and mountains in the background make the atmosphere really beautiful. I had nice views of the horses in the paddock and while racing. I was there to see the 1st 6 races of 8 that day.

I mostly stayed in the clubhouse which is available for no extra charge on Mondays. Each of the little booths had a television for off track betting and a nice track view for all. A waiter came to the table to take our order and serve us lunch. My Arizona brother went for the taco salad, he can not get enough tacos. I had a nice reuben. Other than burgoo and hot dogs that is my go to track food of choice.

Notable races held here include the Turf Paradise Handicap, the Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile, the Arizona Oaks and the Luke Kruybosch. One of the more famous horses to run here was Da Hoss. Da Hoss lives at the Kentucky Horse Park now. He moved there in 2000. I met him this past June and he was lovely. He is known for his kisses. He ran and won the 1st three races of his career at Turf Paradise. Da Hoss went on to win many graded stakes including the Breeders’ Cup Mile twice, once in 1996 and again in 1998!

My time at Turf Paradise was fantastic. I would recommend spending a day there to any race fan. I have been told so many times how nice I have it at my home tracks in Kentucky and I agree but going to Turf Paradise makes me very excited to see all the other tracks this country has to offer. I am real glad I was able to attend this track for it’s 60th season.

Thank you for reading my stories and I hoped you learned something new or appreciated my review. Please, keep sharing and commenting and I will have another post for you no later than next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

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