It takes a village to raise and campaign a top racehorse – and two men who worked closely with Triple Crown champion American Pharoah behind the scenes are among the finalists for the inaugural Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, presented by Godolphin.
Whatever the Coolmore partnership pays trainer Aidan O’Brien it is not enough. That is the No. 1 lesson learned from a packed trans-Atlantic weekend of prep races for the Breeders’ Cup a month hence that began at Chantilly on Saturday morning and ended at Santa Anita on Sunday evening.
Veteran trainer Bernie Flint was beaming in the Churchill Downs winner's circle on Saturday – and not just because One Mean Man had captured the $100,000 Jefferson Cup for his fourth stakes win of the year. The victory was particularly gratifying because One Mean Man is the latest standout from a family of horses Flint has been involved in developing for more than two decades.
Last August, Kenny and Kelli Cross were seriously injured in a car crash, which forced them to downsize their Sovereign Farm operation. Since then, the Crosses have established Sovereign Farm's presence as a consignor, and they took a big step forward in September.
Swifty Farms in Seymour, Ind., has a pair of new additions for its 2017 roster, in Fort Prado and champion sprinter Benny the Bull.
Elnaawi, a Grade 1-placed stakes winner, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Indiana Stallion Station in Anderson, Ind., for the 2017 breeding season for an advertised fee of $2,500.
Hidden Lake, the champion older female of 1997, was euthanized Thursday morning at Old Friends Equine Retirement in Georgetown, Ky., due to the infirmities of old age.
Grade 1 winner Outwork and Grade 3 winner Speightster have both been retired and will begin their stud careers next year at WinStar Farm, joining the farm’s expanding stallion roster.
WinStar Farm sire Colonel John has been sold to the Korea Thoroughbred Breeders Association (KTBA) to stand in Jeju-do, Korea in 2017.
With the inaugural Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, presented by Godolphin, drawing closer, and with several of the finalists in the news for their work with major horses recently, Godolphin has rolled out a series of videos for a behind-the-scenes look at the finalists at work.
