Bluegrass

Nothing, it seems, will help you see through the vanity of materialism quite like a $4.1 billion fortune. A few summers ago, I was sitting alone in the baronial boardroom at Spendthrift, waiting to interview the farm's owner. It was a hot day, but here all was panelled cool, the venerable furnishings slumbering through the prosperous drone of a lawnmower. I was thinking about this apt conflation of heritage and modernity when startled by the entry of a tanned octogenarian whose casual apparel, in the round, must have cost rather...

Across the world, the economic tsunami triggered by the pandemic has been stemmed, to some degree, by massive government interventions. But these can only go so far, whether in funds, duration or reach. Beyond those margins, many hugely deserving enterprises find themselves perilously exposed--and it will fall onto society, onto each one of us, to help determine which are worth saving. Broadsided by this unaccountable emergency into a sudden, existential crisis, Horse Country is now turning to the community it serves and making its own case for salvation. That's a...

Entries have been announced for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, which honors long-form pieces on horse racing and offers $10,000 in prize money. Winners have traditionally been announced each April at a reception held in the historic stallion barn at the Ryan family's Castleton Lyons farm near Lexington, Kentucky. This year will be different due to the broad reach of COVID-19; the springtime celebration honoring the winner and finalists has been postponed for now, with plans to reschedule as a possibly scaled-back event in the fall. Each of these...