John Sykes

Xtra Heat (Dixieland Heat--Begin, by Hatchet Man), winner of 25 black-type races in an overachieving career that saw her named the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2001, passed away last December at the age of 24, according to a release from Woodford Thoroughbreds. Bred in Kentucky by Pope McLean, Sr., Pope McLean, Jr., Marc McLean and P. Feringa, the diminutive Xtra Heat sold for less than five figures as a weanling, yearling and 2-year-old, but won her first six races before tasting defeat for the first time in the 2000...

Studying political science at college, the only Constitution she might have expected to see put to the test right now was the one that opens with the words, "We the people..." As it is, Shannon Castagnola just feels relief that fate diverted her from her original vocation, to chronicle impeachments or caucuses, and instead afforded her a professional stake in one of the frontrunners for the highest sophomore office of 2020. Castagnola is the Director of Marketing and Client Relations at Woodford Thoroughbreds, the farm that bred and raised Independence...