Kentucky

Former Kentucky Governor and Airdrie Stud founder Brereton Jones died at age 84 on Monday. His Sept. 18 passing was announced via social media by current Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. No cause of death or details about services were listed, although the current governor's posting said the Jones family would release a statement in the coming days. Jones was governor from 1991 to 1995, and is best remembered in politics as a reformist who advocated for universal health care in Kentucky. He had previously served as lieutenant governor under Governor...

Alex Penn wasn't at Keeneland when his family's Penn Sales sent their first seven-figure yearling through the ring during Book 1 of the September Sale. He was back home in Bourbon County, busy prepping the rest of their consignment's yearlings pointing for the later books. "They were all drinking champagne and I was grooming horses," he said as he jokingly nudged his wife Kendra and laughed, because really, he wouldn't have it any other way. His family's business was founded a century ago as an all-purpose farm--over the years raising...

Keeneland Library has scheduled a number of events for the remainder of 2023 to expand the reach of its exhibit, The Heart of the Turf: Racing's Black Pioneers, the repository said in a release Friday. Due to demand, the Library's free exhibit and its on-site youth and adult programs have been extended through Dec. 8. Other events include: Now: Companion book available The companion book to The Heart of the Turf: Racing's Black Pioneers is available at the Library and The Keeneland Shop (in store and online) for $10. All...

Imad Al Sagar's Blue Diamond Stud is the new owner of Stonereath Farm in Kentucky in a purchase which "underlines the intention of the stud to compete on the world stage". The Kuwaiti-born owner-breeder of Group 1 winners Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) has a burgeoning involvement in racing and breeding in North America, where his Blue Diamond Stud has been represented this season by the homebred Wonderful Justice (Justify), winner of the Black Gold S. at Fair Grounds. The 3-year-old colt is trained by...

On an impossibly sunny day in October 2022, I found myself at L&D Stables in Nicholasville, Kentucky, looking at a very handsome chestnut gelding for my first OTTB restart project. Despite his flashy presence, my eye kept drifting to a small herd of mares in a nearby paddock. I made my way to the fence line and was met immediately by a pair of kind eyes and an inquisitive pink nose, searching for my face and neck. Sixty seconds later that nose was gently resting on my shoulder. I was...

Trading in horsepower is second nature to Nathan McCauley. For many years his father Ron owned a big Toyota franchise in Lexington, and McCauley showed a precocious flair for the same game when opening his own dealerships in Tennessee. And since quitting automobiles for Thoroughbreds, McCauley has discovered a couple of niches largely unexplored by those horsemen whose own transitions, from one generation to the next, tend merely to consolidate familiar commercial conventions. In fact, since opening River Oak Farm for business in 2019, he reckons to have bought and...

Amid the speed-filled tempo of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale this week, it's all about equine and human partnerships for Gandharvi Racing as they add Case Clay as a Business Consultant to their team. Mind you, this isn't about making a splash or just putting together some haphazard deal. No, the intent behind this organization's latest move tunnels much deeper into the recesses of history. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was a racing stable. Like city-planning in the ancient world or otherwise, success just...

More than seven years after Maria Borell, trainer of 2015 champion sprinter Runhappy, was accused of animal cruelty to animals in the second degree, charges against her were officially dismissed Thursday in district court in Mercer County, Kentucky. Daily Racing Form reported Wednesday that Borell's attorney Russell Baldani had indicated that a proposed dismissal order had been filed earlier in the week that would lift the ban that forbade Borell from caring for horses. The Blood-Horse confirmed Thursday that the case had come to a conclusion. Borell, who was fired...

Starting in 2024, the Kentucky November breeding stock sales dates will be fixed on the Monday and Tuesday after the Breeders' Cup, despite the location of the event, according to a joint press release from Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland, who said that the goal was providing "stability and the strongest market possible." This year, the Fasig-Tipton November auction will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7, and Keeneland November will open Wednesday, Nov. 8. Beginning in November 2024, the Fasig-Tipton November Sale will take place on the Monday following the Breeders' Cup, while...

Back in early 2022 when John and Diane Fradkin announced that their homebred GI Preakness winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy) was being retired after suffering a soft tissue injury they went to work to find him his new home. The horse has a good pedigree and is a Grade I winner, so the expectations were that he'd stand at stud in Kentucky. Regional markets were also considered. Another option was Japan. But no matter where their horse might land, the Fradkins decided that Rombauer's racing career was over. That was the...

Although Kentucky's horse racing purses will not directly benefit from recently legalized sports betting, the state's nine tracks on Monday were authorized to apply for retail sports book permits starting Tuesday, July 11. They could start taking bets on games as early as Sept. 7, the first day of the National Football League season. Online sports wagering, which is expected to eventually account for 90% of an estimated $23 million in sports betting tax and licensing revenues for the state, will be rolled out Sept. 28. Those dates were confirmed...

Prominent owner/breeder Susan Moulton has made a $2-million donation to Town Branch Park in Lexington which will be used to fund the construction of a water play area named in honor of Moulton's son Will Naylor Smith, who passed away 16 years ago at the age of eight. Moulton, who for the last five years has been splitting her time between San Antonio, Texas, and her Versailles farm, has expressed an interest in becoming more involved in the community--especially with children. Town Branch Park is helping to transform acres of...