Eric Ward

I read with interest and a certain amount of confusion, Sue Finley's TDN article about the woes of Kentucky stallion studs. On the one hand, everyone is agreed that it is difficult to fill stallion books, and on the other, the idea of any book being full has long been consigned to the history books. When I worked at Ashford in the mid-90s, Woodman topped the active sires list ('96 or '97) and the size of his book caused scandalized conversation in some quarters. One breeder even told me it...

I always enjoy whatever Chris McGrath writes, particularly his way of getting at things that many do not want to address. In Saturday's TDN he touched on a subject close to my heart (This Side Up, Nov. 15 TDN), so much so that I would venture to distil an answer to his question of why modern horsemen are so much more reluctant to ask questions of the Thoroughbred than their predecessors, down to the following: Because in the modern "Thoroughbred Industry" the tail of stud value now wags the dog...

When I opened today's Thoroughbred Daily News and saw James on the front page, I assumed it would be a follow-up to Bobby Flay's glowing words about James's talents in the paper last week. It took me a few moments for the actual headline to sink in. For me, James's death marks the passing of my most influential bloodstock mentor. From the time I first started at his Adstock Manor Stud in 1990, James became a father-figure-like fountain of equine knowledge to me. When I moved into a cottage at...