Allen Jerkens

Nick Vaccarezza, 25, won his first race from 12 starts as a licensed trainer June 30 at Presque Isle Downs. Although every conditioner's first victory is a special accomplishment, Vaccarezza's was unique because it occurred in a stakes race. Off at even-money odds, Keeneland-based shipper Golden Afternoon (Goldencents) prompted the pace and drew off by 2 1/2 lengths to capture the $100,000 Tom Ridge Stakes over six furlongs. The win was also sweet because Golden Afternoon is owned by a partnership of friends (Eddie and Pat Greco, Scott Jaffe, and...

When Rashmi (Oscar Performance), the latest ingenue to punctuate a dynasty of George Strawbridge-bred starlets, made short thrift of the latest running of the GIII Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, her win affirmed the charmed run enjoyed by her trainer, Jonathan Thomas, shows no outward signs of lost momentum. Will Then (War of Will) cruising away with the GIII Jimmy Durante Stakes. Truly Quality (Quality Road) showing rare quality in the GII Hollywood Turf Club Stakes. Mrs. Astor (Lookin At Lucky) doing double Grade III duty in the Red Carpet...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--There was a steady stream of people ambling over to trainer Kenny McPeek's barn at the Annex behind the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning. They all wanted to send good thoughts to him and his 3-year-old filly, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), as Saturday's $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course quickly approached. McPeek, standing outside his office with his canine companion Sonny at his side, accepted all the positive vibes. Some lucky ones were even able to secure a pink Thorpedo Anna baseball cap, which were...

The handle on Thursday's nine-race card at Hawthorne was $2,080,655. That may not seem like much, but at Hawthorne, which opened Mar. 5, it was a cause for celebration. It was the fourth time this year that the Chicago-area track had topped the $2-million mark in handle, something that happened just once all of last year. What's going on? The answer, says Hawthorne Racing Analyst Jim Miller, is that bettors are gravitating towards the track's 12% takeout in the win, place and show pool, an industry low. "The lower takeout...

If anything, you would think it the very last thing that might appeal to one who has spent decades acquainting himself, at viscerally close quarters, with all the things that can go wrong with a Thoroughbred. Yet here he is, sharing the same vicissitudes as those clients for whom--weighing the ups and downs of their trade--his veterinary skills so long served as a vital fulcrum. As one of the original partners of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Dr. Scott Pierce could scarcely have gone into breeding with fewer illusions....

For better or worse, we're all products of our environment. Better, plainly, in the case of Jimmy Jerkens and Wesley Ward--both raised by exemplary practitioners in a trade that this weekend sees each send a gifted sophomore dashing round a single turn. Each of these trainers, of course, has long stood on his own two feet. So we'll wait and see how much flexibility Jerkens may consider latent in Green Light Go (Hard Spun) after he returns in the Roar S. at Gulfstream Saturday. Sprinting, after all, could yet turn...