Thunder Gulch

Among the top trainers on the New York circuit for decades, John Kimmel has announced his retirement. Citing the economic difficulties facing many trainers these days, Kimmel, 71, said he would devote his time to building his business as a bloodstock agent. Kimmel has been doing double duty over the last three or four years, continuing his training operation while acting as a bloodstock agent to outside clients. While training full-time, he was known for having a keen eye when it came to picking horses out at the sales, including...

One of the most iconic personalities in horse racing and a man that helped transform the face of the industry over the past half a century, D. Wayne Lukas passed away at his home in Louisville Saturday night from complications from a severe infection. He was 89. Lukas is survived by wife Laurie, grandchildren Brady Wayne Lukas (Dani) and Kelly Roy (David) and great grandchildren Johnny Roy, Thomas Roy, Walker Wayne Lukas and Quinn Palmer Lukas. A statement from Lukas's family released Sunday, read, "It is with heavy hearts that...

John Kimmel had $25,000, and wanted an Exclusive Native filly. But he had to pass up his first choice, at Fasig-Tipton in 1978, after she went to $32,000. She turned out to be Genuine Risk. A first experience to put most people off, right? Kimmel gives a wry chuckle and shakes his head. "I'd have been ruined," he says. "I was a sophomore in vet school. Can you imagine? I'd have been wrecked." As it was, he had proved his eye. He continued absorbing the bittersweet lessons routinely dispensed by...

For those of us who only seldom witness a Thoroughbred stallion in the throes of lust, hollering and snorting and shuddering, there's always a sense of awe at the primal energies harnessed by Nature to meet the reproduction imperative. Presumably, then, even nearly four decades of seeing the same thing repeated again and again--with another new covering season imminent--will never quite stifle that wonder, that privileged connection with the very wellspring of life, the constantly recurring miracle of creation. Put this to Richard Barry, however, and he gives you a...

Jerry Bailey, whose varied career in the sport included stints as a veterinarian, breeder, owner, pinhooker and consignor, passed away Dec. 17 due to complications from pneumonia after a bout with COVID-19. He was 78. Bailey started out on the racetrack as a veterinarian and took a position as the resident veterinarian for E.K. Gaylord's Lazy E Ranch in Oklahoma, later adding the role of general manager to his duties. He moved to Florida in the late eighties and partnered with Ken Ellenberg to start Bailey Ellenberg Select, a partnership...

When Ettore Sottsass was asked which of his many diverse achievements had given him most satisfaction, he gave a shrug. "I don't know," he said. "Life is a permanent project. It's a passage from one thing to another." The Italian designer and architect transcended disciplines in a fashion not dissimilar to his compatriot Federico Tesio, whose singular genius was as stimulated by his furniture workshop as by his breed-shaping stud farm. And there's a corresponding breadth of engagement to the man who wrote to the widow of Sottsass, asking permission...