Soviet Problem

Don Valpredo. a longtime breeder and owner based in California, passed away Oct. 31 while on vacation overseas. He was 85. At one time or another, Valpredo was on the board of virtually every horse racing and breeding organization in California. From Bakersfield, California, he served as the chairman of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association from 2014 to 2016 and served three consecutive one-year terms from 1986 to 1988 and remained on the board of that organization at the time of his passing. Valpredo was inducted into the California Thoroughbred...

GOLDEN GATE FIELDS, CA -- On bright June mornings at the end of training when a cool breeze is skimmed from the top of San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Fields suspends in midair. The remaining horses gallop by almost silently, save for a sound like the ripple of a kite tugging at a string. Behind them, the infield water fountains shiver and hiss while above, western gulls turn and wheel on invisible wires. It's a world contained--its shoulder braced against the whirring cogs of time, straining against the pull. Then...