My Meadowview Farm

Longtime owner and breeder Leonard Riggio, founder of the bookstore giant Barnes & Noble, passed away Tuesday in New York City, according to the Wall Street Journal. He was 83 and had been battling Alzheimer's disease. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Riggio acquired a single Barnes & Noble store in Manhattan in 1971 and turned the company into the country's largest bookstore chain, but he entered into racing almost by accident with a single purchase in 2001. "My wife and daughter love the show horse world and they would...

The old school has found a new Idol. The son of Curlin made his breakthrough a couple of weekends ago in a race cherished by traditionalists, and did so with genes of which much the same might be said. Indeed, if the GI Santa Anita H. winner can go on from here--and he has still only made six starts--to lead the older-horse division, then we'll be looking at one of the most eligible stud prospects on the scene. Even traditionalists, of course, must accept that the world moves on. Or,...