Grindstone

When Kristin Pierce of Tacoma, Washington, explains that she owns a retired racehorse who is aspiring to a second career that involves sniffing out lost hikers in the wilderness, even people who are familiar with Thoroughbreds are surprised to learn this olfactory skill comes naturally to horses and that they can learn to master it. Yet that's precisely what Prayerstone, a 12-year-old by 1996 GI Kentucky Derby champ Grindstone, has been taught to do over the last several years. Pierce told TDN in a recent interview that the strapping dark...

It was a good week to have a Hall of Fame jockey on the TDN Writers' Room, presented by Keeneland, as the Green Group Guest of the Week and especially to have that jockey be Jerry Bailey, who knows a thing or two about analyzing a race for an audience. Bailey pulled no punches when asked about whether or not he felt Forte (Violence) should have been disqualified in the Jim Dandy Saturday at Saratoga. "I thought it was a bad call," said Bailey. "I thought he was the best...

First things first: let's give their chance to the guys off the bench. Okay, so there are going to be plenty of eyeballs rolled now that three of Bob Baffert's four Derby migrants are joining a former assistant, on the same circuit, with a total of 38 starters to his name this year—especially as it was the handling of another Baffert medication violation that reportedly caused the scuffle between this same gentleman and a fellow trainer at Clocker's Corner one morning last April. (Both were fined $500.) The wiseguys will...

Grindstone, the winner of the 1996 GI Kentucky Derby, passed away at age 29. The news was reported by Oakhurst Equine of Oregon, which acquired the stallion in 2009. "RIP Champ," Oakhurst Equine posted on its Facebook page. "Thank you for providing us with the thrill of a lifetime. You changed our lives when you joined us and will always be missed." Grindstone was the oldest living Kentucky Derby winner, a status he enjoyed for just a few days. At age 31, 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin died...