Nashua

Needless to say, all four tried to reject their billing. Between them, after all, they have spent the better part of three centuries dealing with that vehicle of humility, the Thoroughbred. To everyone else present, however, the opportunity to tap into the experience of four such sages as Bill Landes, Frank Penn, Tom Thornbury and John Williams fully justified the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club in promoting their latest meeting in Lexington as "An Evening with Legends." Each, moreover, could be consoled that one of the first tasks addressed--an acknowledgement...

In the unlikeliest of places, far from the rolling hills of Kentucky or any of racing's other hallowed grounds, there's a connection to racing lore. Located in the high desert of California--west of the Mojave Desert, inland from the Pacific Ocean, and due north of Los Angeles--is the sprawling mountain community of Tehachapi. It was here that Hall of Famer Swaps was bred and raised on Rex Ellsworth's ranch. Swaps, of course, had that glorious rivalry with Nashua in 1955 and was named Horse of the Year in 1956. But...

Though in most respects I only grow older, and no wiser, I do try nowadays not to get so cross about things. If I think people are breeding to the wrong horses, that's their prerogative. It's a difficult game; a still harder business. The Thoroughbred is reliable only as a vehicle of humility. We're all wrong far more often than we're right. And the beauty is that we have a proving ground out there, with a wooden post at the end. If you really are right, and I'm wrong, that's...