Andrea Branchini

by Andrea Branchini APOGEE (f, 3, Malibu Moon--My Limit, by Wagon Limit) The name of Christophe Clement's recent 3-year-old winner at Tampa Bay Downs is wise to lunar science and astronomy. She is by Malibu Moon out of My Limit, and her name is Apogee, which, according to the Google Dictionary, is "the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is furthest from the earth." Brainy, inventive name. An Italian native, Andrea Branchini now lives in Lexington, KY, where he works in the equine...

TARAZ (f, 3, Into Mischief--Silk Route, by Empire Maker) Oaklawn, 2-1, Martha Washington S., 1m, 1:38.64. The unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' and Oaklawn winner owes her name to a smart historical/geographical connection. The 3-year-old is out of the mare Silk Route. The 2000-year-old city of Taraz (now in Kazakhstan) was a major trade center in the inland regions of the Silk Route, which was a series of ancient trade networks that connected China and the Far East with countries in Europe and the Middle East. Sharp, sophisticated name. An Italian...

by Andrea Branchini DAY THE MUSIC DIED (g, 5, Maclean's Music--Kelly's Question, by Mr. Greeley) Laurel Park, 1-31, Alw, 6f, 1:10.95. O-Electric Rooster Racing Stable, LLC; B-R. Larry Johnson (MD). The recent Laurel winner Day the Music Died is poetry in motion, literally. Don McLean is the author of the 1971 song and world hit "American Pie," whose most famous and often repeated verse is the refrain line "the day the music died." The song is supposedly about the plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll performers...