Janis Whitham

Well, okay, maybe he has retired--but Frank Penn has never quit. "You know the problem with life?" he asks with a chuckle. "By the time you know everything you need to know, you're too damn old to do anything with it." But that won't keep the rest of us from profiting. We're not here to learn about the half-dozen mares Penn still shares with brother John and nephew Alex, over at their place near Paris, nor about the show horses keeping him interested in his own paddocks. Instead we're at...

This is one of those programs, temperate and patient, that nourish the very marrow of our industry. It has never comprised more than around 10 mares, whose foals are brought into the world not just to make a fast buck but actually to go out there and run. Whitham Thoroughbreds is run by an octogenarian widow and her son: they devise matings to draw out speed into a second turn; they're not scared of using a turf stallion from time to time; and they work with horsemen who operate on...

Hall of Fame inductee Bayakoa (Arg) (Consultant's Bid) put Frank and Janis Whitham's racing program on the map when she won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff in 1989 and again in 1990. Over two decades later, Bayakoa's great-granddaughter Walkathon (Twirling Candy) is carrying out her female family's accomplished legacy. Last weekend, the 3-year-old Whitham homebred trained by Ian Wilkes got her first graded stakes win in the GIII Regret S. Still a maiden after her first four starts, Walkathon switched to the turf this spring and reeled off consecutive scores...

Early Thursday, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners tweeted that Speech (Mr Speaker), second to GII Toyota Blue Grass favorite Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GII Santa Anita Oaks June 6, would be withdrawn from Friday's GIII Beaumont S. in favor of Saturday's GI Ashland S., leaving a competitive field of five 3-year-old fillies for the seven-furlong affair. 'TDN Rising Star' Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map) kicks off her sophomore campaign Friday afternoon and should vie for favoritism. Impressive in breaking her maiden by 6 1/4 lengths over future SW & GSP Highland Glory...