Seth Hancock

Eleven new members have been elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, headed by late trainers Christophe Clement and John A. Shirreffs, plus racehorse Kona Gold. Additionally, Kentucky-bred Gulch, Virginia-bred Mongo and the late trainer David A. Whiteley were chosen in the Historic Review Category; and the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, Dr. Robert Copelan, Seth W. Hancock, G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. and the late Joseph E. Widener were elected by the Pillars of the Turf Committee. Clement, Shirreffs and Kona Gold were chosen on the...

"The first big firework that's gone off since I got here," acknowledges Jacob West. "And I will say this: I think it'll put the other farms on notice. I think people are going to say, `woah, they're back. Not exactly a new shooter, obviously--but reloaded.'" The new stallion seasons and bloodstock manager at Claiborne Farm is at pains to stress that the recruitment of Mindframe (Constitution) only builds on the work of his universally esteemed predecessor Bernie Sams. After all, the last stallion brought here by Sams, who's still sharing...

The breeding community lost a friend and asset last week. Annette Covault died Friday, Dec. 13, from complications of ill health that she had dealt with for several years. As the booking secretary for Claiborne Farm first and then Gainesway Farm over several decades, Covault, known to her familiars as "Netto," provided common sense and good humor to breeders and farm managers working through the prickly process of getting mares booked to stallions in a timely manner. The stallion veterinarian at Gainesway from 2008 to 2019, Rocky Mason, DVM, noted...

In our walk of life, nothing succeeds like succession. As with any other form of agriculture, a horse farm is not just a business but a legacy sometimes shaped by several generations of rain-or-shine toil and kitchen-table lore. The balance sheet may happen to be in the black, or in the red--but that's just a moment in time. How does one put a price on the decades of patient nurture that have gone into land and bloodlines? Yet there's never any guarantee about the next generation, whether in terms of...

A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the weekly Going In Circles podcast, which is hosted by Chuck Simon, the former trainer who's also a top-notch writer at his blog, and Barry "The Sniper" Spears, an excellent handicapper and well-known figure on Twitter. Simon asked for my opinion on which stallion I'd consider to be the most influential of the past 50 years. You can listen to a nine-minute clip of the conversation here. My answer? Claiborne's iconic Mr. Prospector, of course. The clip generated quite a bit...

Robert "Gus" Koch, died Saturday, March 20, 2021, at his beloved Mt. Carmel Farm, after a 24-year battle with cancer. He was 74. The retired longtime manager of Claiborne Farm, Koch was a Marine and a Vietnam veteran. Koch was the subject of one of the TDN and Keeneland's Life's Work Oral History project, and Chris McGrath's story on him may be read here. Hired when Seth Hancock took the reins at the farm, Koch was at the helm at Claiborne for 31 years, running perhaps the best lineup of...

Lane's End Farm's William "Bill" Farish, who serves on the boards of numerous Thoroughbred industry and Central Kentucky organizations, has been appointed a Keeneland Trustee. Farish succeeds Claiborne Farm co-owner Seth Hancock, who is retiring as a Keeneland Trustee after having served since 2015. "I am thankful for the opportunity to have served as a Keeneland Trustee for the past several years," said Hancock, "and I know that Keeneland is in very capable hands." Hancock will remain on Keeneland's Board of Directors. "On behalf of Keeneland, I want to extend...