Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - February 2012

​Of all the stories that Arnold Kirkpatrick loved to tell – from a repertoire that stretched from his days as a college student at Tulane, to his years as managing editor of Thoroughbred Record, and to his days helping Mr. Leslie Combs run mighty Spendthrift Farm – the story that he told most often, with the heartiest of laughs and with that enormous twinkle in his eye, was of the day he finally agreed to marry me.
Julia Kirkpatrick (February 1st 2012 - Issue 23)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - A True American Hero

Unlike most people of my vintage, I consider memory loss to be one of the benefits of the aging process. Unfortunately, though, my memory just isn’t going fast enough for someone who loves the Thoroughbred game and cares about the future of racing the way I do. For instance, the recent announcements that The Jockey Club has hired the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company – undoubtedly at enormous expense – to generate “a comprehensive study of the current state of Thoroughbred racing and the potential for growth of breeding and racing in North America” over the next decade is a laudatory endeavor at the very least. The problem is that damned memory thing.

By Arnold Kirkpatrick

First Published (25 July 2011 - Issue Number: Issue 20)

The Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - History Lesson

UNLIKE most people of my vintage, I consider memory loss to be one of the benefits of the aging process.  Unfortunately, though, my memory just isn’t going fast enough for someone who loves the Thoroughbred game and cares about the future of racing the way I do.
By Arnold Kirkpatrick

First Published (20 April 2011 - Issue Number: Issue 20)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - Variations on a theme

It’s a theme older than Aesop, who used it as the basis of his fable of The Four Oxen and the Tiger. It has been repeated frequently throughout the ages – as a foundation of the American Revolution, from George Washington to Patrick Henry, who cited it as the fundamental truth in last public speech, a fierce denunciation of the Kentucky Resolution – to today when, in a charming bit of irony, it appears on the state seal of Kentucky: “United we stand, Divided we fall”

By Arnold Kirkpatrick

First Published  (02 February 2011 - Issue Number: Issue 19)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - Pain and Suffrage

Ok, even in view of the fact that I had very little to do with the thing as a whole, I have to say the last issue of North American Trainer may have the best ever. Not only did it have a wonderful picture of Linda Rice – who is not only beautiful but a superb trainer - on the cover, but it also had the first of what promises to be a series of excellent articles from my friend Alan Balch, who has taken over as Executive Director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

By Arnold Kirkpatrick

First Published (20 October 2010 - Issue Number: 18)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - Accentuate the Positive

I woke up today with the lyrics from an old Johnny Mercer song running through my head: You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, E-liminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative, Don't mess with Mr. In-Between.Written in 1944, that song should be a pretty good anthem for today’s Thoroughbred industry.
By Arnold Kirkpatrick


First Published (21 July 2010 - Issue Number: 17)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - Heading in the right direction

It was a dreary ol’ winter in the country, with snow piled derrière-deep on a giraffe throughout most of the country, while the rest of the Northern Hemisphere was suffering from floods, mudslides, etc., as if the snow weren’t bad enough.
Arnold Kirkpatrick (14 April 2010 - Issue Number: 16)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - If I Were Czar – Part 2

Once upon a time, a tiny chicken named Chicken Little was walking in the woods when – KERPLUNK- an acorn fell on her head. Oh my goodness!’ said Chicken Little. "The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king".
Arnold Kirkpatrick (05 February 2010 - Issue Number: 15)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - If I Were Czar – Part 1

Last time I looked, the good ol’ U. S. of A. was not only a democracy but was trying to export democracy to a number of places, several of which didn’t seem overly enthused about having it.
Arnold Kirkpatrick (14 October 2009 - Issue Number: 14)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - Strike Two

Bill Young Jr. is a nice man - quiet, smart, private to the point of being very shy, honest and practical. On June 9, he shocked the Thoroughbred world with the announcement that he was dispersing almost all of the horses who are owned by Overbrook Farm, which had become one of the major success stories in the U.S. Thoroughbred business over the past quarter century.
By Arnold Kirkpatrick (16 July 2009 - Issue Number: 13)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - The AAEP

As long as I've been involved in the Thoroughbred business, which is getting to be a helluva long time now, I have always had an admiration and affinity for veterinarians and the American Association of Equine Practitioners.
Arnold Kirkpatrick (08 April 2009 - Issue Number: 12)

Arnold Kirkpatrick Column - A Point In Time

Happy New Year.  2008 is gone and thank God for that!Last fall, we were ravaged by a perfect storm of a justifiable collapse of confidence in the US economy, accompanied by atrocious results at our major sales, compounded by the anticipation of sales in 2009, where breeders will be selling yearlings and weanlings conceived and born at 2007 and 2008 prices.
Arnold Kirkpatrick (20 January 2009 - Issue Number: 11)