Anytime Bill Mott and Mark Casse have something to say I pay attention…and they have weighed in on the importance of maintaining use of furosemide (Lasix) on race day as a help in preventing pulmonary bleeding during races. I agree with them…but with one condition. Horses who receive Lasix should carry more weight. Bill and [...]

May is my favorite time of year at Liberation Farm in New Jersey. The harshness of winter on my San Diego toes and fingers has given way to the smiling faces of daffodils and geraniums and fuchsias and to the rejuvenating feel of my hands digging in the softening earth. And of course, it's Kentucky [...]

The new TDN Topics feature (click here to read TDN Topics: Should the Crop Be Banned?) creates a great opportunity for those of us who care about the long-range health of racing to stand up and be counted. Therefore, I am moved to write one last time, despite being “retired” from 40 years of handicapping, [...]

This Swahili phrase means, “The journey, it has blown apart.” I write these words because my own journey in the horse business has come to an end. [...]

Where one lives can change one's perspective. Six years ago we moved from Lexington, Kentucky to the Tennessee county with the lowest population density and lowest per capita income of any county in a state where per capita income as a whole is 13.2% lower than the national average, according to 2010 census data. As [...]

My Op/ed of September 27th detailed the fact that breeders lost more than $100 million in this year's Keeneland September sale. It's even scarier that breeders collectively lost a half billion dollars over the last four years. [...]

The Keeneland September sale is now in the record books and the dust is settling. How it went pretty much depends on who you talk to and their particular reality and agenda or intention to spin. [...]

I learned yesterday that a nine-year-old daughter of Horse of the Year Point Given out of Belmont graded stakes winner Inquisitive Look was ticketed for an imminent trip to slaughter in Canada. Her name is Au Currant and I was co-breeder. She was last seen in a sales ring at Keeneland in 2006 when sold [...]

We currently are experiencing “a jobless recovery” in the broader world where contraction and consolidation places greater wealth and power in the hands of fewer people, and drives a stock market that churns along on corporate earnings while long unemployment lines remain unchanged. The gap between rich and poor grows daily as more people on [...]

Two reasons define the Breeders' Cup as the American organization with the most leadership potential: (1) Unlike other groups that may bark but have no teeth, the Breeders' Cup can establish rules for participation related to drug use, whipping, and other practices in need of reform, and then actually enforce compliance; and (2) by attracting [...]

I happened to watch She'sawontontomato win the 6th race at Golden Gate on Saturday, June 4, as two of my favorite commentators celebrated Russell Baze winning his ninth race in 11 starts. Winning without honor, however, is not winning. After 30 strikes with the whip, I lost track of the number of times Baze hit [...]

Why stud fees need to be slashed. A few stud fees for 2011 have already been announced, and so far it looks like business as usual, even though business as usual is a disaster. We cannot ignore the math and go forward with “blinkers on” when the best thing that can be said about this [...]