Current Articles
Zenyatta & Rachel Alexandra: Two Queens One Crown
By Bill Steele In our July Issue of HOLD YOUR HORSES Magazine, I speculated on the outcome of a ZENYATTA vs. RACHEL ALEXANDRA year without them meeting until the Eclipse Awards. The scenario played out almost to script with the main difference being that RACHEL ALEXANDRA went for the Haskell Invitational instead of the Travers.... »
Hialeah Opening Day
By Dr. Stephen Fisch, president of the Florida Quarter Horse RACING Association Saturday was a great day for Hialeah Race Park, the state of Florida and QH owners and breeders all over the country. FQHRA and the horsemen extend a special thanks to the management at Hialeah for doing a super job of getting everything... »
Jonathan Sheppard: A Master at Work
By Ben Baugh It was his life’s ambition. And for over four decades Jonathan Sheppard has been living his dream as a Thoroughbred trainer. The son of a racing official, he would serve a stint in the Army and work at an investment firm in England before making a life-transforming trip to the United States... »
Tony Goswell: Life’s a Gamble and He Won
By BILL GIAUQUE No stranger to games of chance, particularly horse racing, Tony Goswell looked back on his life in the thoroughbred horse business. “I started playing the horses when I was about seven years old,” he said. “Before I would go to school, I would put these two pet ferrets inside my sweater and then... »
“We have met the enemy, and he is us”. –Pogo
The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association (FTBOA) annual meeting has come and gone and the issues that were once hotbed items are just smoldering embers, except for one - the ballots. No matter where I travel throughout the county I have been approached and still am approached about the ballots. Knowing that this was not going... »
Karl Keegan – Memorabilia Man!
By Bill Giauque What is the map that leads from Ireland to jockey school to chef school to the jockeys’ rooms of the New York Racing Association to Ocala, Florida? How does an Irish lad windup in Ocala as a Pittsburgh Steeler fan with a house full of memorabilia? Ask Karl Keegan, assistant trainer at GoldMark Farm.... »
Hialeah Rises from Ashes with Quarter Horses
By Ben Baugh Horse racing will make a triumphant return to a racetrack whose history and beauty influenced and impacted generations of horsemen, racing fans and enthusiasts. The name, Hialeah Park and Race Course, evokes memories of Thoroughbred racing at its finest. The historic track last conducted live Thoroughbred racing on May 22, 2001. But a... »
Editorial – November 2009 – Breeders’ Cup
Breeders’ Cup by Bernie Dickman For 25 years, the Breeders’ Cup provided the sport not only with the greatest day in American racing, but with a modicum of sanity in an era where “insane” has become pretty much the norm. From Gate Dancer’s infamous stretch bumping duel with Slew o’ Gold in the first Classic; to Personal... »
D. Wayne Lukas: A Living Legend
By Ben Baugh It’s hard to believe the man who has set the standard for excellence as a Thoroughbred trainer used to race for $300 and $400 purses at Park Jefferson in South Dakota, and would go on to win 13 Classic races, 18 Breeders’ Cup races and train 24 Eclipse Award winners. D. Wayne... »
Caroline & Paddock Room …The Center of Class
By Bill Giauque Caroline Burgeson, owner of Paddock Room Galleries on Silver Springs Blvd. in Ocala, is not unlike a character from the daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. The B & B, as the soap is affectionately referred to by its millions of devotees, is set in the fashion industry in Los... »