Deputy Minister

It almost feels like he's on the other end of some celestial phoneline, listening in and smiling. Because somehow Marty Wygod seems to have arranged things so that family and friends, since mourning his loss in April, could be consoled by an afterglow of the same vitality that had sustained his 84 years. First a colt gifted to his daughter Emily Bushnell and longtime racing adviser Ric Waldman took them to the GI Kentucky Derby; and now another graduate of his program has assisted its transition with a $2.4 million...

It felt like everything was up in the air; but actually everything was falling into place. Even as a kid, from nowhere obvious, Fred Seitz had discovered an affinity for horses. And the young man stepping onto the tarmac at Lexington airport had meanwhile learned resilience and adaptability with the Marine Corps. Sure enough, all the perplexity Seitz felt about his future was about to evaporate. "I was wondering what I was going to do when I grew up!" Seitz recalls in his gentle, humorous tones. (He was, by this...

What do Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper), and Knicks Go (Paynter) have in common? For one, they've cumulatively won three of the four most lucrative dirt races contested in North America so far this year. Hot Rod Charlie won the $1 million Gll Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds last weekend; Mystic Guide was first in the $600,000 Glll Razorback H. at Oaklawn Feb. 27; and Knicks Go took the $3 million Gl Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23. The other big-money race was the...

So this dismal year slinks under our resentful glare towards the back gate, like an uninvited guest who has wrecked a party by outrageous behavior. Soon, perhaps, there will be a cheerful ringing of the doorbell and we can welcome one to revive spirits around the world. In the meantime, somehow, the Thoroughbred is managing to hold together the strands linking all our yesterdays and whatever tomorrow may bring. I've often remarked, during recent months, that horsemen will be well served by the patient perspectives they require even at the...