Rise and shine! It’s another beautiful day in sunny Del Mar, California. The race track will soon be packed with fans from all over the earth to watch the last day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Today, the final 9 races will take place where each contending Thoroughbred will stake their place in history.
Share This: American Pharoah at stud following his 2015 Grand Slam in the Breeders’ Cup
Good morning racing fans! Today is the day we have been waiting for. The finale of our 2017 champion racing season is upon us. For 2 days only, we will witness a lucky 13 signature races that will define many of the world’s best champion Thoroughbreds. Welcome to the Breeders’ Cup!
The best 17 days of Fall are over in the Bluegrass. Keeneland Racetrack, in Lexington, KY ended their Fall Meet yesterday on a high note filled with many records and new memories. It was a special meet filled with quality Thoroughbreds, trainers, jockeys and owners. An outstanding 31 horses that raced and trained at Keeneland this October are pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup. The BC World Championships will be held at Del Mar in California on November 3rd and 4th. Final entries for each of the lucky 13 races will post tomorrow. Return to this same post for updates. For now, here is a bit more on the BC bound Thoroughbreds that came through Keeneland this month.
Share This: Zing Zang, competes in a maiden for Steve Asmussen at Keeneland.
Although it seems we have only just begun, Keeneland initiates its final week of the Fall meet today. The meet is brief but jam packed with quality racing. Thoroughbreds took to the track for live racing on October 7th and will continue to race there until the 28th. I will be present for the final two days of action. There have been several stand out horses, trainers, jockeys and owners involved in this October racing season. I met and had my picture made with one of my long time favorite jockeys, Big Money Mike Smith. A stand out trainer I have been following this Fall, at Keeneland, is Steve Asmussen.
Today, I attended A Celebration of Life for the late, great, Penny Chenery. Helen Bates “Penny” Chenery Tweady entered the world on 1/27/1922. Though she lived a full 95 years, she left too soon when she passed last month on 9/16/2017. Gone but never to be forgotten, the legends Penny and her horses like Secretariat and Riva Ridge blazed will last eternally.
The Scat Daddy fillies are really turning my head. On a mission to find this sire’s beautiful Lady Aurelia, I was wildly entertained by another of his gorgeous daughters, Daddys Lil Darling.
This week started with some sad news. Social media was on fire with reports that Helen “Penny” Chenery, owner of the great Secretariat had died Saturday, 9/16/17, following a stroke. There have been countless stories and posts on her passing. It is wonderful to have this opportunity to reminisce about all the great things Penny did for Thoroughbred racing. It is equally fascinating that the passing of Penny has created an increased focus on women in racing. I am really enjoying all of the focus pieces on unique “Queens” that are important to “The Sport of Kings”. I want to share a bit on the legacy of Lucy Gay Bassett.
Share This: Man o’ War, photograph by Bert Clark Thayer
The 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale is underway and while attending I visited their magnificent library. Currently, the Keeneland library is featuring a photographic exhibit honoring Man o’ War in celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth.
While preparing for the yearling sales this season I had the nice fortune of visiting five Kentucky Thoroughbred farms in just one day. A few farms were new to me and others were more familiar. One farm I had visited before was Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY. I have been on their stallion tour and stood in awe of the beautiful and great Tapit. Stallion tours are quite popular and I truly enjoy them but there is so much else going on at the horse farms. This time I saw another part of the expansive Gainesway Farm including one of several Thoroughbred graveyards.
Share This: Free Drop Billy at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale, 2016.
I won’t be home for the holiday as I will be laboring on Labor Day. Despite that, there is hope for the holiday, the Hopeful Stakes to be exact. As Saratoga winds down, the nation’s 2 year-old Thoroughbreds are racing forward.
