Tom Thornbury

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...

Tom Thornbury: One of the best has left us. Dr. Peter Hall died quietly in his sleep earlier this week. He was a real race-tracker; a track vet in New Joisy in the summer, and Florida in the winter. He had his hands on some of the greats, and as I recall, Holy Bull was the best in his memory. Wherever we stopped in Ocala, he knew someone there from his years on the track. With his flawless recall for directions to any farm he had previously visited, we referred...

HANNAH MATHIESEN, OAKMONT HORSE CLUB Favorite: My favorite racehorse of all time is definitely American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile). He was running when I was first getting involved in racing, and I followed him closely since he ran early in his career at my home track, Del Mar. One day, a family friend who writes for the local newspaper said she was going to interview Bob Baffert, and asked if I wanted to come along to be her photographer. Having only been to the backside a handful of times and...