My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Lord Miles, winner of the Wood Memorial, has been scratched from the Kentucky Derby after his trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr. was suspended from Churchill Downs indefinitely following the unexpected — and unexplained — death of two horses trained by Joseph over the past week at Churchill Downs. “For the betterment of racing, the health and […]
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Yesterday, Equine Ink looked at the Derby entries with the highest Derby points, their starting gate positions and their jockeys. Today, I’m going to look at how breeding might help identify contenders that have the stamina/endurance to perform well over the Derby’s mile and a quarter (keeping in mind that with 20 three-year olds breaking […]
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There are only four more days until the Kentucky Derby (and three to the Kentucky Oaks). With post positions announced yesterday, it’s time to look how the races might shape up. The new 20-horse starting gate installed by Churchill Downs in 2020 has changed the dynamic slightly. Before then, they used a 14-horse gate and […]
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Tamie Smith and Mai Baum pulled it off becoming the first U.S. winner since 2008 and the first American female winner since 2005! Coming into show jumping the pressure was on — with less than a rail between her and Tom McEwan, she showed nerves of steel and pulled off a clear round within the […]
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Tamie Smith and Mai Baum are poised to be trendsetters after a tough day of cross country competition at LRK3D. The last time an American rider won the LRK3D was in 2008, when Phillip Dutton and Connaught took the trophy (as Phillip was originally from Australia, it’s a bit of a cheat. The last time […]
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This weekend is the highlight of US Eventing with the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. All the horses were accepted at this morning’s inspection, which means all 38 teams will progress to the first day of dressage tomorrow. Where can you watch it? Click here for the livestream. Of course the highlight of the event […]
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On Grand National day, it seems appropriate to show some young steeplechase jockeys in training as they hurtle around the Steeplechase Ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. For some of these young riders, I imagine the ride is as scary as the race. My first thought when seeing this ride in motion was, “why aren’t they […]
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How many times did you read Black Beauty as a child? I’m not sure I can even count that high! Unlike the pure equine fantasy novels of Walter Farley (I longed for him to write a book about a girl as I read and re-read The Black Stallion and the Island Stallion series), Black Beauty […]
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