digitaLmbuL’s FiLes

Intense battle to the wire in the 1989 Preakness evokes images from another dramatic Triple Crown finish — Affirmed and Alydar’s Belmont. Shades of another famous showdown, the East versus West match-up of Nashua and Swaps in the 1955 Kentucky Derby, were present in 1989, as well. Sunday Silence played the Swaps role as West [...]

     Champions come in all shapes and sizes, and nothing could validate this fact more than a comparison between Cicada and Personal Ensign. Where Cicada had been subjected to an incredibly demanding campaign for three of her four years on the track, Personal Ensign had been exposed as often and handled as delicately as the Crown [...]

No insect produces a louder mating call than the cicada, although the female of the species is mute. The equine that was named for this creature was perhaps mute in terms of a mating call, in fact at stud she produced only one stakes winner, but Cicada’s exploits upon the racetrack were heard all across [...]

The first filly to win $1 million from worldwide earnings — although she earned much of it in England — was Dahlia. Like Susan’s Girl, she won at a time when the largest distaff purse in this country was a modest $100,000, although major stakes in England and France were much larger. Foaled in Kentucky [...]

     No filly or mare in the top 100 racehorses of the 20th century, compiled by The Blood-Horse, won more stakes or more races than Susan’s Girl. But it was not merely the number of races that she won that made her sixth-best filly of the last 100 years; it was just as much the quality [...]

THE FILLIES While affirmative action has produced social and economic changes in America, the philosophy that was the impetus for legislating equality between sexes has never carried over to horse racing, here or anywhere in the world; at least on the racecourse, females of the equine species are considered to be inferior to males. In [...]

     The best two juveniles in the country in 1976 were similar only in that they were bought as yearlings at Keeneland for the proverbial song: Seattle Slew for $17,500 and Royal Ski for $20,500. The resemblance ended there. Royal Ski and another useful colt, Run Dusty Run, each won six of nine starts that year [...]

     Including Forego in my best five was not difficult since I had seen him race on so many occasions. But Kelso, another great gelding, was excluded only because of less familiarity. They were individually recognized as Horse of the Year no less than eight times between them, with Kelso taking a slight edge in longevity [...]

     Thoroughbred racing can take credit for staging one of the most memorable rivalries between any two competitors in the annals of sports. And when the shouting was over, the “battle of the titans” produced a clear winner: His name was Affirmed, which was indeed fitting, because his position as one of the greatest American racehorses [...]

     It often has been said that the foal crop of 1954 was the finest of the 20th century. Bold Ruler was foaled at Claiborne Farm that year and, although he offered brilliant speed before he ever ran, he would have no monopoly on important races when he came to the track. Although voted Horse of [...]

Ten Of The Finest Thoroughbreds, In This Man’s Opinion by John W. Russell  THE COLTS  To a greater degree than his equine friend, mankind is a capricious animal that will always have widely divergent opinions on any given subject. It is unlikely, therefore, that many people will agree with me on which were the finest [...]

The term Thoroughbred describes a breed of horse whose ancestry traces back to three foundation sires — the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerly Turk.  Named after their respective owners — Thomas Darley, Lord Godolphin and Captain Robert Byerly — these three stallions were brought to England from the Mediterranean Middle East around [...]

The town of Epsom first became famous for it’s natural mineral water, found up in the downs when a local farmer Henry Wicker took his cattle up to a watering hole on the Downs in 1618. The alleged healing properties of the water brought crowds from London who wanted to escape the squalor in return [...]

Source: www.bloodhorse.com