Breaking News! Eclipse Awards 2008 Announced!

Yesterday, the 2008 Eclipse Awards were announced and Violet's darling, Curlin, earned Horse of the Year for a second consecutive year, the first horse to do so since Cigar won a second Eclipse during 1995-1996. Curlin also earned Champion Older Male, and his trainer, Steve Asmussen earned Champion trainer. Curlin has now retired to stud for a first year fee of $75,000 at Lane's End in Versailles, but hasn't figured out his new job. Here's what his dad, Jess Jackson, had to say, "Curlin still wants to run. He's running around the ice-hardened floor of his Lane's End paddock, and when he goes into the stable, he gets depressed. He doesn't know what he's up for. I think he's going to be very pleased." Here's a photo of him at his new home taken just this year by Terence Dulay.

Big Brown earned Champion 3 year-old Male and a nod for Horse of the Year and Zenyatta, the undefeated filly who took the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic, was also a nominee for Horse of the Year!

Proud Spell earned Champion 3 year-old filly, and Midshipmanand Stardom Bound earned Champion 2 year-old male and filly respectively. My sweet Indian Blessing earned Champion female sprinter and Adena Springs yet again won Outstanding Breeder. These are just a few of the results for an intense year of racing!

Breaking News! Proud Spell and Big Brown Win Big!

Over the weekend, Proud Spell won the Kentucky Oaks by swimming to a victory on a very wet track. And Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby, proving that he wasn't a fluke, but instead a big fabulous super horse. He broke from the 20th position and was loose, relaxed and floppy-eared as he checked out his competitors. He selected a horse to his left to pace himself off, and then, when the time was right, in the final turn, he ran his own private race. He simply floated away from the rest of the field to a very fast driving victory. Today Proud Spell and Big Brown have happy families!

Breaking News! Busy Girls

Yesterday, March 11, Rags to Riches returned to work at Palm Beach Downs by breezing 3 furlongs at 38:40.

Indian Blessing will take a break to freshen up for the summer and fall season. She won't enter the Oaks. She was undefeated in 5 races, but just recently came in second to Proud Spell in the Louisiana Downs. Her trainer says that she fought with the jockey the entire time for the right to just speed bump the whole race. She's a rocket and wants to flat out run without patience in any way for an endurance. So, they don't think that she's ready to muck about at the long distance of the Oaks. They want to rest her and get her laser sharp for shorter sprint races.

Proud Spell, though, is going to pack up her things and leave the Fairgrounds for Keeneland sometime soon. She is going to prepare for an early April race with her eyes set for the May running of the Kentucky Oaks!

Good luck and good health to these good girls.

Breaking News! Big Saturday at the Races!

Yesterday was a BIG day of racing as part of the Derby and Oaks preps! Here is just a little sample of the tasty races that were run yesterday. The Fairgrounds in New Orleans had major race cards! Pyro wove his way through traffic and proved that he is a steely top contender for the Derby by winning the $600,000 Louisiana Derby.
Proud Spell finally beat Indian Blessing in her third attempt at the task by winning the $400,000 Louisiana Oaks. Indian Blessing led most of the way and fought to go even faster with her jockey, but Proud Spell tucked herself neatly behind IB and then went wide and around to get past her at the end. Indian Blessing's trainer said that they are both fabulous girls, but that the better girl won on that day! Wasn't that a nice thing to say!

Circular Quay just beat Grasshopper in the $500,000 Louisiana Handicap, which is especially nice because last year CQ won the Louisiana Derby as part of his Derby preparations. He has good fortune in New Orleans.

In other places around the states, Visionaire ran through pea soup heavy fog to win the $250,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, and Ariege won the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks.

It's looking like Pyro, War Pass, El Gato Malo, Denis of Cork and Colonel John are going to be Derby favorites, though I am putting my heart on Pyro and El Gato Malo. And among the girls, well, it's anyone's guess who will be the lady of the day between Indian Blessing, Proud Spell, and Country Star!

These are AP photos taken by Bill Haber right after Pyro's win in the LA Derby! Doesn't his jockey, Shaun Bridgmohan, look happy!

Derby and Oaks Preparations!

Yesterday was a really nifty day. I went to Ann Arbor for my yearly cardiac checkup, went home and voted in the Ohio primaries, slogged around in the icy snow, had dinner with a friend and watched the Academy Award winning film No Country for Old Men AND I received a slew of HorseWatch emails alerting me to activity by some of my favorite fillies and colts! They were all being registered as formal contenders for the $2 million Kentucky Derby and the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks -- their names were pouring in El Gato Malo, Pyro, War Pass, Cool Coal Man, Proud Spell, Indian Blessing, Golden Dawn, Country Star and others!

So, here is my first official Derby and Oaks 2008 postings for you! In this photo, you see one of the colts, El Gato Malo by El Corredor and One Bad Cat by Mountain Cat (out of Storm Cat). This photo was taken when he was a young boy by his syndication owners West Point Thoroughbreds. The other photo is of my sweet little unbeaten Eclipse two-year-old filly Indian Blessing by Indian Charlie and Shameful by Flying Chevron. The photo was taken by the talented Terence Dulay last year at the Breeders Cup, the site of IB's bigger wins!

This weekend is filled with important trial races, including the Louisiana Derby and Oaks. In the Lousiana Oaks, Proud Spell will try for the third time to beat Indian Blessing -- they have finished 1/2 their past two times together. It's going to be a big day of racing.

Anyway, if you want to start tracking your Derby and Oaks contenders and picking your favorites then please go to the official homepage links below:
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/
and
http://www.kentuckyoaks.com/2008/

Breaking News! Perfect Girl at Fairgrounds!

Hal and Patti Earnhard's homegrown baby girl, Indian Blessing, just won the $200,000 1 1/6 mile Grade 1 Silverbulletday Stakes Race at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. She won by a length with Garrett Gomez aboard and dominated for most of the way, running confidently by a 90-1 longshot, Miss Missile, for awhile until that gal ran out of steam! This was her longest distance yet!

She is now 5 for 5! Ai-yee!

In this photo, you see her after winning the Breeder's Cup Fillies (Grade 1) last Fall.

In January, she won the Eclipse Award for Champion 2 year-old filly, and has won her 5 races at 5 different race tracks, and taken 4 stakes races among them. This is a macho, yet girly girl!

Her parents are Indian Charlie and Shameful.

She was such a favorite that she only paid $3,40, $2.21, and $2.10. And the final standings were her, Proud Spell and Highest Class. Proud Spell was also a favorite, so the Exacta for those two fabulous girls only paid $7.80!

Rock 'n Roll in New Orleans today!