All Equine All The Time

A wet and interesting weekend at Pimlico Race Course had more than a few talking points when everyone headed home on Saturday night. Justify (Scat Daddy) gave Bob Baffert his second Triple Crown chance in four years when he raced through the fog to win the Preakness Stakes as the biggest winner of the two-day festival but he wasn’t the only big story. Seven different stallions had spectacular weekends that saw Pimlico playing a leading role with just a few weeks before breeding sheds close around the northern hemisphere. Here are the leading men who didn’t let a little mud or fog in Maryland stop them from making headlines. Awesome Again/Deputy Minister – At 24 years old and still an active stallion, Awesome Again (Deputy Minister) is already impressive. But add in the fact that that he plays a major role in the pedigrees of the top two Preakness finishers, the Black Eye Susan second and the Chick Lang third and it was a great weekend for the Adena Spring stallion. In the...

Gun Runner With 89 different horses winning the 112 Grade 1 races run on the flat in North America in 2017, there was a lot of news throughout the year. The racing season had something for everyone with 71 of the 112 Grade 1s taking place on the dirt and 40 on the turf, ranging from distances of five furlongs (the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint) to 1 ½ miles (six at that distance spread between dirt and turf). While the names of most of those Grade 1 winners are well known, it’s a good time to dig a little farther into their season – and their families – as we reflect back on the 2017 racing season. Gun Runner – Probable Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride) had the most North American Grade 1 wins of anyone in 2017 with four. He was followed by Kentucky Oaks winner Abel Tasman (Quality Road), Stellar Wind (Curlin), and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner World Approval (Northern Afleet) who have three each. Fourteen other horses have two Grade 1s each. By The Ages – The Grade 1 ...