Peaks and Valleys

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for Sunday running at Chukyo Racecourse: 5th-CKO, ¥10,480,000, Maiden, 3yo, 1600mT DOUBLE JOKE (c, 3, Practical Joke--Double Date, by Rahy) is out of an unraced half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year, champion 3-year-old colt and dual Grade I winner Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore)...

MSW Alternate (Seattle Slew--Strike a Balance, by Green Dancer), dam of MGSW and Grade I-producing sire Alternation (Distorted Humor), died Oct. 15th at her lifetime home, Pin Oak Stud. She was 23 years old. She will be buried at her birthplace. The Pin Oak homebred won six races and placed another 11 times, seven in stakes, including the GII Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks, GIII Delaware Oaks, GIII Bewitch S. and the GIII Glens Falls H. She was trained by Graham Motion and earned over $550,000. The dam of nine winners...

Lifelong horsewoman Josephine Abercrombie died peacefully at her home on Pin Oak Stud in Woodford County, Kentucky Jan. 5. She was 95. Abercrombie is survived by two sons, George Anderson Robinson IV and Jamie Abercrombie Robinson, as well as grandchildren George Anderson Robinson V and Blair Abercrombie Robinson. Abercrombie, the only child of Texas oilman and Cameron Iron Works founder J. S. "Mr. Jim" Abercrombie and Lillie Frank Abercrombie, was born Jan. 15, 1926, in Kingston, Jamaica. Growing up in Texas, her love of horses begun at a young age,...