Carlos Rosas is running out of fingers to count on as he rattles off the names of Breeders' Cup champions he has sat on over the years. As an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for the past two decades, Rosas has played a role in developing an impressive list of superstars. [...]

Blue Heaven Farm had every intention of selling Pyrenees (Into Mischief). As a boutique, family-run breeding program, selling foals is what pays the bills. They had a number in mind for what they thought the colt was worth, but after he RNA'd for $350,000 as a weanling and again for $380,000 as a 2-year-old, they [...]

When Jon Clay first got started in the Thoroughbred business, he launched Alpha Delta Stables with ambitious goals in mind. Step one: breed a stakes winner. Step two: breed something good enough to make it to either the Kentucky Derby or the Kentucky Oaks. Nearly two decades later, Clay has checked off every one of [...]

Sometimes in life, circumstances arise where you can either sink or swim. Meredith Krupp, the 32-year-old who purchased Timber Town Farm in Lexington, Kentucky last year and has since launched her own full-service boarding facility named Pine Branch Farm, has had plenty of experience learning how to pick herself up and keep swimming. Krupp's mother [...]

Whit Beckman was watching from behind the Churchill Downs winner's circle as the horses loaded into the gates for the GI Kentucky Derby. Honor Marie (Honor Code) was the trainer's first Derby starter and as the colt's odds dropped to 14-1 before the start of the race, Beckman liked their chances. But as many a [...]

The first thing you notice as you pull up to Hidden Brook Farm's yearling division is how, on either side of the doors leading into the indoor walker, dozens and dozens of nameplates are lined in neat rows, serving as the honor roll of horses bred, foaled, raised or sold by Hidden Brook. Ask farm [...]

The storylines of “Thurby” can oftentimes get lost in the hubbub of the ensuing weekend of racing at Churchill Downs, but for trainer John Hancock, the Thursday before this year's Kentucky Derby was a day he won't soon forget. Not feeling the greatest that afternoon, the veteran conditioner decided to stay back at the barn [...]

Judy Hicks will be the first to say that it's not the fanciest farm in Kentucky. The fences are not painted and the lawns are not perfectly manicured. But there is good soil at Brookstown Farm and there is plenty of it, enough to where no more than six of the 100 horses who reside [...]

This past weekend, my husband and I brought five of his old high school friends to their first Kentucky Derby. The group grew up together in Baltimore and while some of them have been to the infield at the Preakness, the Derby was their first authentic race-day experience. They flew in from various parts of [...]

One of the many trademarks of Kentucky Derby week during mornings on the backside at Churchill Downs is the media frenzy that never fails to ensue as dozens of outlets vie for interviews with Derby and Oaks connections. Some owners shy from the camera, others embrace their moment in the spotlight, and most fall somewhere [...]

Donnacha O'Brien has a lot to look forward to as he launches into his fifth year of training since retiring as a champion jockey in Ireland. The 25-year-old, who operates under the nom-de-course Bawnmore Racing, is off to a fast start already this spring as he had his first 2-year-old winner of the year at [...]

Making headlines at a sale with big-figure results is all well and good, but any breeze-up consignor with their eye on the future understands that a more significant indicator of sustainable success is how those graduates go on to perform on the racetrack. Cormac Farrell, a trainer and a trader of both breeze-up and point-to-point [...]