The races at Doncaster racecourse in England on April 17, 2010, were fairly far down the list of major racing events among the six British tracks operating that day. The seven-race evening program was one for bettors, purists anxious to see the flat season get going, families seeking an outing, and the South Yorkshire party crowd. For those paying attention, the fifth race on the day was won by a colt who would go on to much greater things in the next seven months.

Denmark doesn’t even have jump racing, and that’s only part of the Percussionist story.

The Irish-bred, Danish-based steeplechaser raced in England, Norway, Sweden, and the United States in 2010. He finished fifth in Sweden’s Champion Hurdle. He won Norway’s. He captured the Grade 1 American Grand National, the richest jump race in North America at $250,000. And that’s only part of the Percussionist story.

Back in 2000, Flat Top won the Royal Chase steeplechase stakes at Keeneland.

Ken Ramsey was the happiest guy in the place, smiling broadly, slapping backs and jumping into the winner’s circle photo.
Even though he wasn’t the horse’s owner or breeder.

Ramsey raced Flat Top on the flat and sold him – cheap ­– as a steeplechase prospect. The horse went on to win two Eclipse Awards and earn just short of $600,000.

“I’m not about to let that happen again,” Ramsey used to say as he explained his steeplechase forays, which started in 2003.

For all the research, planning, and forethought that goes into the average mating, predicting Thoroughbred destiny can sometimes be akin to winter driving without a defroster.

Nobody knows for sure where these horses are going.

As great as 2010 turned out to be for Evening Jewel, a nose here and a nose there might have made it that much better. But for an inch or two in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes and the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, the filly not only would have taken home considerably more than the $915,343 she bankrolled from nine starts, but she also might have swayed more Eclipse voters into her corner.

In nearly every 3-year-old crop, colts or fillies, there seems to be the late bloomer who makes a major impact in his or her division. In 2010, Havre de Grace clearly fit that description by bursting onto the scene in the middle of the year and continuing to deliver impressive performances.

Starting with her first race at 3, Blind Luck showed what a thrilling year it would be. She rallied from last to win the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 13 by a nose, setting the stage for a season full of heart-stopping finishes.

With the exception of one rocky plane ride, Turbulent Descent’s first season of racing went much smoother than her name might suggest. Undefeated in three starts, she capped her campaign with a win in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet in December and is now a finalist for champion 2-year-old filly of 2010.

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’ ”
– John Greenleaf Whittier

The most exciting question of the 2010 racing season was left unanswered: How good might Eskendereya have been?

ANN AND JERRY MOSS

Ann and Jerry Moss have a small broodmare band that produces outsized success, often putting the California couple among the nation’s leading breeders by percentage of winners and stakes winners from starters. But in 2010, as in 2008 and 2009, an inexpensive yearling purchase put the Mosses at the top of the game as owners.