Lexington

Sometimes a historical moment has to be pointed out. Australian (GB), Fair Play and Fair Play's son Man O' War each sired three GI Belmont S. winners. Lexington sired four Belmont winners who all won at Jerome Park. Now Tapit joins the illustrious ranks of Lexington. Like Lexington, Tapit has now sired four winners of the Belmont: Essential Quality, Tapwrit, Creator and Tonalist. Tapit also sired Belmont runners-up Tacitus and Frosted, as well as Belmont third finishers Hofburg and Lani. An asterisk might be added for last year's fluke 2020...

Trainer Kenny McPeek said Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimney Farm's King Fury (Curlin) will be pointed to the GI Kentucky Derby or the GI Preakness S. after winning the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. Saturday at Keeneland. The chestnut returned last night to McPeek's division at Churchill Downs, where he has two wins including the Street Sense S. With the 20 points he earned in the Lexington, King Fury ranks 28th on the Derby points leaderboard and would need several defections to draw into the May 1 Run for the...

As the librarians at Keeneland were making plans to move items from the old facility in the general offices to a new, larger building, they realized how many duplicates they had of many books, periodicals, papers, catalogs, etc. Working at The Blood-Horse at the time, I received a call inquiring if the publication would be interested in any items. As the library there was bursting at the seams, the short answer was no. But ... I would come take a look. Searching through boxes, I found a set of old,...

While trainer Mike Stidham isn't fully closing the door on a run in the GI Kentucky Derby for his pupil Proxy (Tapit), Saturday the colt will divert from the big-stage preps in an attempt for a confidence builder as he figures a prohibitive favorite in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland. A second-out graduate Nov. 26 at Fair Grounds, the Godolphin homebred repeated in an allowance there Dec. 19 before passing the class test with a good second in the GIII Lecomte S. Runner-up in the GII Risen Star...

Keeneland will build six new barns and make other improvements at its year-round training facility, The Thoroughbred Center, located on Paris Pike on the Northeast side of Lexington. Two concrete barns will be demolished and replaced with six state-of-the-art barns--upgrades to walking rings, muck disposal and drainage, as well as landscaping and access to and from the track, are also in the works. "Keeneland is excited to break ground on these significant improvements to the barn area at TTC for the benefit of our horses and horsemen, many of whom...

Visit Horse Country, like many others, suffered a serious financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Several members of the industry, such as Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland, the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club, stepped into help. However, Visit Horse Country has now partnered with the Bluegrass Community Foundation to launch a charitable fund supporting initiatives like services for TAA-accredited aftercare members of Horse Country which receive a complimentary membership; scholarship and field trip visits; community outreach such as Meet the Neighbors; and a new workforce development partnership with the Kentucky Chamber of...

The second of two Lexington-bound horse transport flights operated by Tex Sutton did not depart Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York, as planned Monday morning, Larry Ulrich, a New York-based representative for the company confirmed. The morning's first Tex Sutton flight departed Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island at 7:49 a.m. EST, 49 minutes behind schedule, and landed at Lexington's Blue Grass Field at 9:21 a.m. EST, 44 minutes late. As the morning wore on in greater New York, the winds intensified, causing a trailer ban across...

A caravan of four massive Sallee Horse Vans journeyed from Fayette County to Bourbon County today to deliver the 13 members of the Hill 'n' Dale stallion roster to their new residence: Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. While Hill 'n' Dale President John Sikura said there was apprehension going into the big move, everything went smoothly. "It's kind of like when a horse goes in the starting gate- lots can go wrong," he said. "But thanks to the quality and class of the horses and the horsemanship of everybody who...

The last few weeks have been a series of 'firsts' for Shannon Bishop Arvin. Named Keeneland's President-elect on Sept. 1, she will officially transition to President and CEO once the calendar turns to 2021, and in doing so, become the first woman to take on the position at the storied racetrack. Soon after Arvin was named President-elect this month, Keeneland conducted the first as-scheduled auction following the Coronavirus pandemic with the annual world-renowned September Yearling Sale. [tdn_vimeo_embed title="Keeneland's President-elect Shannon Arvin " admp4="https://player.vimeo.com/external/443062018.sd.mp4?s=9281d875881c13761cb298e3e2e6c1a3278b1b12&profile_id=165" videomp4= "https://player.vimeo.com/external/460267221.sd.mp4?s=a58b68a38504214f67682422c9ab9e4f07fe9d86&profile_id=165" thumbnail= ""] Arvin's first weeks...

If you peak through the windows of the new café in downtown Versailles, Kentucky, the sights and smells of the tantalizing cuisine draw you closer to the door. Cajun shrimp and grits, chicken pesto pizza and beef short ribs are laid out across wooden tables adorned with mason jars filled with freshly-cut flowers. Normally, many people living in this community wouldn't dream of stepping across the threshold of such an upscale, and perhaps mistakenly pretentious, establishment. The dollar signs listed on the menu next to those mouth-watering entrees would make...

On a sparsely traveled road in downtown Lexington, African Cemetery No. 2 sits encircled by a worn iron fence. The sounds of cars flashing by nearby busier streets, the incessant barking of a neighboring dog and the harsh droning of a drill from the adjacent auto parts shop carry through the isolated eight-acre plot. Opened in 1869, the site now contains over 5,000 graves, of which fewer than 600 are recognized with markers. The plot inters hundreds of enslaved African Americans, as well as members of the U.S. Colored Troops...

   The TDN has partnered with Amplify Horse Racing to present "The Next Generation," an ongoing video series featuring young people who were not born into the Thoroughbred business, but are now excelling within the industry. The only thing six-year-old Samantha Bussanich needed was a trip to Calder Race Course with her grandfather to know that racing was the sport for her. Flash forward less than twenty years later, and she's now an alumna of the University of Kentucky, and has made a name for herself in many sectors of...