The female factor - it's 80 years since the first female took out a licence to train racehorses. How do female trainers view themselves today in a male dominated industry?
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The concept of Marginal Gains - how it can alter performance
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Changing Surface - from dirt to turf
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Sid Fernando - Curlin leads resurgence in bloodstock industry
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Saving Racing in Texas
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Playing The Claiming Game
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A day behind the scenes with the Kentucky stewards
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Barbara Borden, 55, spent her childhood in the Cleveland suburb of Mentor, Ohio, participating in 4-H and showing horses with her sister, Deb. Her brother, Dave Borden, was a jockey. He introduced his sisters to the racetrack at Thistledown. Both were hotwalkers and grooms. Barb ponied horses and then became an exercise rider. Later, she was a chart-taker for the Daily Racing Form, worked in the licensing office and test barn, and eventually became horse identifier at Turfway Park. She was an associate steward at Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky, and a steward at Bluegrass Downs in Paducah before being appointed Kentucky's chief state steward in 2012.
Read MoreSid Fernando - Pharoah triumph after 37 years →
/Well, it finally happened. American Pharoah did what so many before him over the last 37 years had attempted and failed to accomplish. A Triple Crown winner, the first since Affirmed in 1978, when the game was so vastly different to what it is today that the achievement bridges a gulf of time to reflect upon.
Read MoreSocial Media and Racing
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What Emma Stone’s character says in Birdman could be what fans are saying to the powers that be in horseracing: Things are happening in a place that you willfully ignore, a place that has already forgotten you. I mean, who are you? You hate bloggers. You make fun of Twitter. You don’t even have a Facebook page. You’re the one who doesn’t exist!
Read MoreSouth African Work Riders
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In winning the Vodacom Durban July, the 28-year-old Zulu became the first black jockey in history to win South Africa’s most famous race. The timing could not have been better. As the 20 runners headed down towards the ten-furlong start, the minds of the 55,000-strong Greyville crowd were far from a last-minute flutter on this prestigious Group 1 contest.
Read MoreSid Fernando - All-weather kickback to dirt detractors
/This year's Triple Crown preps were notable for producing a number of high-class contenders, and, coincidently, it was the first year of mostly all-dirt trials since major tracks in California, Kentucky, and Dubai abandoned synthetic surfaces for the real thing.
Read MoreRacetrack Safety - The Most Dangerous Game
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The very nature of horse racing makes it the most dangerous land sport on Earth. Jockeys must control a pack of stampeding animals ten times their size, while precariously balanced atop them as the horses race at speeds approaching 40 mph.
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Tongue-ties
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The use and efficacy of tongue-ties has spawned much debate, and in 2009, veterinarians at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, led by Safia Barakzai conducted extensive research, which was published in the Equine Veterinary Journal, to evaluate the use of tongue-ties on racing performance in Thoroughbred racehorses.
Read MoreRacetrack incentives
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The horseracing industry is battling for its life, and the key point of contention is medication—not just a push for uniform medication rules, but a movement to eliminate all race-day drugs. Two years after the Breeders' Cup banned anti-bleeding medication for its juvenile races, Gulfstream Park in Florida has announced its intention to offer Lasix-free races for 2015, and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is considering doing the same for its tracks. North America is the only region of the world that allows race-day medication.
Read MoreLos Alamitos Race Course - dedicated thoroughbred meet heralds a new expanding racetrack
/Los Alamitos, in Southern California, rose to national prominence as the base of Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome and this summer joins the main California Thoroughbred circuit with 3 meets scheduled for this year. The inaugural meet this July will host the Los Alamitos Derby-G2, with a guaranteed purse of $500,000. The buzz is almost tangible!
Read MoreNorthern Dancer - a giant among Thoroughbreds
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Few horses were ever as animated and filled with a zest for life as the great racehorse and sire Northern Dancer. The bay son of Nearctic needed all the grit and exuberance he possessed, however, because he broke through prejudice and naysayers at every turn.
Read MoreRoyal Ascot - history, tradition - and 5 days of unsurpassable racing!
/Royal Ascot attracts the best trainers and horses from around the world. Watched over by Her Majesty The Queen, with pomp and ceremony adding to five fabulous days of racing, it's easy to see why Ascot draws the international crowd.
"The history and tradition of the place are what makes it so special; it has been going since the early 18th Century." said Ramsey, who has been involved in ownership since 1969 and numbers the 2005 Dubai World Cup among the long list of big races he has plundered, months before the Royal Ascot meeting last year.
Read MoreGolden Ticket - How Goldencents began on the road towards Kentucky
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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - NORTH AMERICAN TRAINER - ISSUE 28
Make them sweat
/I am honored to have the opportunity to speak on a subject that is important to me as a life-long enthusiast of Thoroughbreds and racing. I previously chaired the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI), but the opinions and ideas expressed in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily represent either the RCI or the members themselves.
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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - NORTH AMERICAN TRAINER - ISSUE 27
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Author: William Koester