Secretariat

Do you remember Bowie? The Marshfield Fair? Or, how about Liberty Bell? I do. I've been to them all. Someone sent me a link the other day to a list of all the defunct racetracks in the country and it got me thinking how sad it was that I had been to so many that have disappeared into the ether. That and whether or not I hold some sort of unofficial record of having attended more former racetracks than anyone else. I have been to 28 North American tracks that...

Continuing a series celebrating Secretariat's legacy through his remaining offspring, a 2021 calendar featuring the last living sons and daughters of the legendary 1973 Triple Crown winner is now available. It's the fourth annual fund-raising calendar in what has become a tradition of generating revenue for equine charities, a group that now includes Bright Futures Farm, Old Friends, and Victory Alliance Ranch. "It is humbling to see how the racing industry, and Secretariat fans in particular, have embraced this calendar series," said writer/photographer Patricia McQueen, whose creative project is part...

Are you lucky enough to be a real fan of the industry you live and work in? I am. And my new hero is Ian Bartlett. Never met the chap, but he is a well traveled race commentator for more than 31 years, with stints in his native England for the BBC, and for races in Ireland, France and Dubai. And now he is the voice of Royal Ascot. I urge you to listen to his outstanding race calls at The Royal meeting, which is just a five-day stand through...

Favorite Horse: As a kid from a non-racing family in Memphis, I became infatuated with Thoroughbreds while at UVA. In 1982 the Champion 2-Year-Old was Roving Boy (Olden Times), who dominated the stakes on the West Coast. Being a direct male line descendant of Man O'War, Roving Boy was not only brilliant but also romantic as the horse that would continue the Man O'War sire line. Roving Boy fractured a cannon and missed all of the 3-year-old classics, but came back in October to run second in an allowance and...

Secretariat has been established as the horse to beat in Saturday's Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown by odds maker Mike Battaglia. The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown is an animated race created by Inspired Entertainment Inc. using computer-generated imagery that will feature the 13 past Triple Crown winners in a 1 1/4-mile race at Churchill Downs. The virtual race will air around 5:45 p.m. as part of NBC's broadcast of "The First Saturday In May: American  Pharoah's Run to the Triple Crown" Saturday from 3-6 p.m. Secretariat landed post position...

Favorite: My all-ime favorite was Triptych (Riverman). She was nicknamed the "Iron Lady" like Maggie Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the U.K. (and the longest serving). She won 14 times. She frequently took her game to the boys, by accelerating from a position of power close to the pace, and was relentless all the way to the line. Triptych won the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac as a 2-year-old and ran in every major race as a 3-year-old. I was at The Curragh when she won the Irish 2,000...

JULIEN LEPAROUX, JOCKEY Favorite: My favorite racehorse is Tepin (Bernstein). What she accomplished in her career was amazing and it was an honor to be a part of it. She was also a sweet filly to be around, very playful. She loved to play with my whip when I put it in my back pocket, taking it from me and chewing it. Best: The best horse for me that I watched was Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). The way he won his races against very good fields was just amazing. JOHN...

EVAN FERRARO, RECRUITING & MARKETING MANAGER, FASIG-TIPTON Favorite: Songbird The two-time Fasig-Tipton sales graduate has been a personal favorite of mine since first seeing her as a yearling. Back in 2014, my friend and Fasig-Tipton colleague Dennis Lynch returned from a yearling inspection trip in California raving about a Medaglia d'Oro filly he had accepted for our Saratoga Sale. Whenever Dennis talks up a horse, you better listen, as he is one of the best judges around. That filly turned out to be Songbird. Songbird was easy to fall for,...

For Christmas 1973, I received a green sports jersey and a pair of white shorts, a white they'd never be again. We lived in Kilmallock and those were the colours of our county, Limerick. My younger brother was far from as fortunate and less than enamoured with his red and white of Cork, our neighbouring county and foe, just a few miles up the road. I'd also got a book, an annual of the sporting year. It was hardback, thick and as big as me. I was six and, by...

After being forced to postpone all farm tours at the historic Claiborne Farm, the top Bluegrass attraction and Thoroughbred fan destination announced that they would be conducting a live virtual stallion tour through Instagram beginning Tuesday, Mar. 17. The idea was a huge success, with over 200 fans tuning in live on Instagram and thousands more watching the recording later on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. The recording has already received 12,000 views and 300 shares on Facebook. (Watch the video of the tour below). [tdn_video service="youtube" videoid= "HHhSx031dKg"] "It's normally...

TDN is proud to partner with the Keeneland Library and the Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries in a very special collaboration: the Keeneland 'Life's Work' Oral History Project, a series of filmed interviews by TDN columnist Chris McGrath with significant figures in the Thoroughbred industry. The current installment, with Gus Koch of Claiborne Farm, appears here. Legends, to you and me. Immortals, paragons. But to Gus Koch, they were the flesh-and-blood companions of his daily toil: some were cherished friends; others, just a pain...

Amid uncertainty over whether or not the track will be dark in 2020 as negotiations with Churchill Downs continue, the Arlington Racing Department has released the track's 2020 Stakes Schedule. The August 15th $1-million dollar GI Arlington Million is the highlight of the 18-stakes schedule worth $3.65 million. Opening May 1, the highlight of the 68-day race meet is the International Festival of Racing where, in addition to the 1 1/4-mile Million, Arlington also hosts the 1 3/16-mile $600,000 GI Beverly D. Stakes for fillies and mares and the 1-mile $500,000 GI Secretariat Stakes for sophomores. Both the Million and the...