Standing on the backstretch last Sunday at Churchill Downs, it was sad to view the desecration at Kentucky’s most famous landmark. I’m not talking about the barns that were ripped asunder by the recent tornadoes. They will be rebuilt after the current meet, and, unless Churchill management does it on the cheap, always a possibility, […]

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It’s too bad that no news outlet had a reporter stationed in the jockeys’ room during the 137th Kentucky Derby because it would have been priceless to watch the reaction of Robby Albardo as Animal Kingdom, the horse he was supposed to be riding, won the roses with John Velasquez in the saddle.
Albarado rode the […]

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Almost everybody who has seen the movie Secretariat seems to like it, and I can see why. It’s a sweet story that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy. Some of the camera shots are spectacular. The actress Diana Lane shows again why she’s Sandra Bullock’s main rival for the role of America’s Sweetheart.
Unfortunately for […]

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Speaking on ESPN’s Sports Reporters show, sports columnist Mike Lupica declared the thoroughbred racing season to be officially over in the wake of Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver’s disappointing loss in the Preakness. He staggered home so far back of the victorious Lookin at Lucky that he might as well have been carrying Prince Fielder […]

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The Courier-Journal never published a special Kentucky Derby section until 1974, the year of the 100th running of the world’s most famous race. I know, because my friend Jim Bolus and I collaborated to write the lead story about Cannonade’s front-running victory for trainer Woody Stephens and jockey Angel Cordero Jr.
From then until 1986, the […]

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LOUISVILLE – Until it was time for the horses to leave the paddock and head for the track, the day of the 136th Kentucky Derby was such a dreary affair that YUM! Brands, the corporation that has leeched its name onto the world’s most coveted horse race, should have offered everyone a refund or, at […]

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LOUISVILLE – If the winner of the 136th Kentucky Derby turns up with a positive post-race drug test – heaven forbid! – the media immediately will begin looking for two people: the colt’s trainer and its veterinarian.
The trainer will be easy to find. But the vet? Well, suffice it to say that none of the […]

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LOUISVILLE – The addition of light poles around the track at Churchill Downs has done more than make the hallowed home of the Kentucky Derby look like your basic NASCAR or harness-racing oval. It has inspired thoughts that sooner rather than later, the world’s most popular race will be run at night.
Back in the day, […]

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LOUISVILLE — Todd Pletcher has to be included in any conversation about Best Trainer Who Has Never Won the Kentucky Derby. He’s the guy who wins everything everywhere, but who turns into Joe the Plumber when he shows up at Churchill Downs. And it’s not that he hasn’t tried. My, has he tried.
Pletcher’s Derby record […]

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When a demagogue overplays his hand and exposes himself as the cheap bully he really is, his supporters begin quietly distancing themselves from him, leaving him to twist slowly in the wind. The more he raves, the more of an embarrassment he becomes until, finally, he leaves the public arena in disgrace.
So it was with […]

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