If you believe Seth Hancock quit the Churchill Downs board of directors simply to “move on and embrace new challenges,” as his official statement said, then you don’t know much about Hancock’s values, his family’s history, or the bottom-line mentality of the track’s current administration.
Hancock, president of the world-famous Claiborne Farm and a Churchill director […]

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The mystery of Big Brown’s shocking demise in the Belmont Stakes is potentially a far greater scandal than Eight Belles’ tragic breakdown after the Kentucky Derby. Yet where’s the outrage both inside and outside the industry? Why hasn’t a commission been empanelled to investigate it? Where are the custodians of the sport’s integrity when we […]

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Whenever Jim McKay walked through a pressbox, he wanted to be treated as just one of the guys. His ego was the flip side of Howard Cosell, his longtime colleague on ABC Sports. Where Cosell was bombastic and vain, McKay was quiet, dignified, and totally unimpressed with himself.
Among the ink-stained wretches – or dashing knights […]

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The petty thief in Rick Dutrow’s larcenous heart told him he could get away with stealing the Triple Crown. He knew the Big Brown that was heading into the Belmont Stakes wasn’t the same Big Brown who rolled in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But the petty thief whispered, “So what, babe? Hey, he’s good […]

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Nobody asked me, but…
YOU’RE A SUCKER if you bet against Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes. Maybe you don’t like trainer Rick Dutrow’s obnoxious boasting, but, as the saying goes, “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” Blunt and insensitive, Dutrow has only been stating the obvious. Give him credit for being honest […]

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If Big Brown wins the Triple Crown, the “sport of kings” will momentarily become the “sport of knaves.” The colt’s trainer is a boorish loudmouth who has a long rap sheet for illegally medicating horses. One of the partners in International Equine Acquistitions Holdings, which owns Big Brown, has a shady reputation from his days […]

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The noted historian Robert Montgomery Knight once said that if the NCAA had been in charge of planning the D-Day Invasion, the Allied troops would have landed in Portugal. Sadly, the same can be said for the organizations that govern thoroughbred racing.
Historically, racing’s leaders pay lip service to the concepts of teamwork and sacrificing for […]

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A few days before the Kentucky Derby, former Governor Brereton Jones was standing on the backstretch at Churchill Downs, talking about trainer Larry Jones’ decision to run the filly Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby instead of the Kentucky Oaks. Brereton applauded the decision, and not just because it meant that his filly, Proud Spell, […]

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On the morning of the 40th Kentucky Derby that the grandfather would see in person, he picked up his daughter and son-in-law so that they could go to Churchill Downs together. It was a splendid first Saturday in May, the warming sun promising relief from the previous day’s rain, and the grandfather felt the old […]

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The “scattered showers” predicted for Friday afternoon turned into a steady downpour that soaked a lot of Derby hats and took the starch out of just about everything except the Kentucky Oaks, where Proud Spell lit up the day with a stunning performance that defied the slop and the gloom.
I had been on her bandwagon […]

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