Portland Meadows

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...

The in-flux nature of racing at Oregon's summer fairs took an encouraging turn Thursday when Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) executive director Jack McGrail announced that all four stops on the circuit now intend to host mixed meets in 2021. That's an improvement from the update McGrail provided at the March ORC meeting, when the status of Eastern Oregon Livestock Show meet in Union and Harney County Fair in Burns were both considered to be in limbo because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Those two fairs will join Crooked River Roundup...