Letter to the Editor

It was with great interest that I read Earle Mack's recent TDN Letter to the Editor and Bill Finley's Week in Review piece supporting Mr. Mack's opinion that a major switch to synthetic racing surfaces is called for to save the Thoroughbred Industry. Although I do not know either of these men personally, I respect their accomplishments in our business, their intentions, opinions and intellect. With that said, as much as I agree that training and racing surfaces are critical to horse safety and synthetic tracks have lower catastrophic injury...

Bill Finley (If Baseball Can Change, So Can the Triple Crown, TDN, Tuesday, May 16, 2023) has hit the nail on the head. As one who was and now is again a baseball fan, I agree that baseball's changes have been dramatic and effective. Some traditions are great, but when traditions are barriers to one's existence they need to be rethought. The truth is that only our sport's diehards would even know the difference if we spread our Triple Crown races out a month apart. The reality is that the...

by Janet del Castillo When you train with the vet, you'll notice horses can't run every two weeks, like they did for years. They get pumped up with various meds--legal if given in a particular time frame--but which can be detrimental long term. Horses that run clean can take care of themselves. The trainer knows how his horse comes out of the race because he's not masking anything. For years, horses ran in all three Triple Crown races--not so much today. Here's a thought! HISA is supposed to stop the...

by Edd Roggenkamp, Versailles, Kentucky Racehorse owners are the lifeblood of this industry. Without owners, there is no need for breeding farms, sales companies, consigners, vets, feed companies, et al. But the number of licensed racehorse owners is declining in most states, which is a seriously negative trend for the horseracing industry. Over the nearly 30 years that I have owned and raced Thoroughbreds, I have always found it most interesting to sit down and have a candid conversation with another racehorse owner. It lets me find out how they...

Horse racing is an honourable sport that is steeped in tradition; built by generations of hardworking and passionate individuals and families. It's an industry that brings people together from all walks of life, and is critically dependent on everyone's contribution to its stability and success. While this diversity of roles and shared passion is racing's greatest strength, it exists within a very complex and challenging business environment that results in constant pressure to plan, adapt, and aggressively fight to secure our future. At Woodbine Entertainment, we own and operate two...

I grew up in the 'Golden Age' of Canadian racing and breeding. Windfields, Sam Son and Stafford Farms are a few great breeders that come to mind. Thriving yearling sales and horses like Deputy Minister, Kennedy Road and Kamar also come to mind. Founded by the great E.P. Taylor, the consistent goal was a thriving industry with stewards of the turf to elevate Woodbine to the highest standards of thoroughbred racing. Secretariat made his final start at Woodbine and the most influential sire of my lifetime, Northern Dancer, was born...

On March 9, Thoroughbred Daily News published a letter to the editor that lambasted the Thoroughbred industry's media as biased while hiding his or her identity under the cloak of anonymity. To which I answer without anonymity, nonsense. I don't really know the motivation of this anonymous toxic waste, although it fits into the pattern of blaming the media for just about everything that goes wrong in an industry or a society, whether characterized as "fake news" or not. The anonymous writer must have some beef with the industry and...

Editor's Note: the author of this letter is known to the publishers of the TDN, but has asked to remain anonymous.  At this point, we have to be skeptical of any news story about the horse business. Most journalists have an agenda, and there are a lot of angry, envious people ready to feed publications what they want to hear. There are also a lot of readers eager to consume such negative stories. It's a perfect storm of bogusness, with dishonesty at each stage of the pipeline, from the sources...

Valkyre Stud cared for Burt Bacharach's Kentucky broodmares for many years. His champion filly Heartlight No. One is buried here. He was a wonderful, caring man who truly loved his horses. He kept personal contact with the people who cared for his horses and was very interested in their well being. He would call during concert breaks and check to see if a mare had foaled and ask about Heartlight. So many memories--in a limousine with him on the way to the Kentucky Derby, he became very quiet and started...

This Sunday is the biggest day in American sports--Super Bowl LVII. While I enjoy this annual ritual, I much prefer the first Saturday in May--or really any Saturday where there is great Thoroughbred competition to watch. I grew up a bettor, then became a marketer and ultimately an owner in the sport. And all three of these experiences I've enjoyed immensely. And for the benefit of each, I applauded the efforts to finally, finally, finally bring Thoroughbred racing under the long-overdue establishment of uniform safety and integrity rules through the...

As the legal saga that is HISA continues to be bantered around the courts horse racing fans have heard some common themes develop from those in support of and in opposition of the legislation and regulations. Those in opposition have raised many points they have repeated used as arguments for what is wrong with the entire idea and process. One of the themes that has been made as part of every opposition argument is that there is a better way to go about this, and a better set of uniform...

It seems that every tick of the clock marks the demise of another friend and colleague in my life. Word came in today of the passing on January 15th of Dr. Billy (Merritt William) Marrs, who died in Indio, California, close to his winter home in Palm Springs. Such news usually travels fast in our circles, but this veterinarian has spent more of the last few years on out-of-town golf courses than on the backside or at a horse sale. Nevertheless, there will be a few tears and many fond...