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After eight years of veterinary school, Ferrin Peterson would have been content enough to start up her career as a veterinarian. But Peterson has other ideas. Ferrin Peterson can't exactly tell you why she will at least temporarily put aside the eight years of study and sacrifice that earned her a veterinary degree from UC Davis, one of the top schools in the country, and a lucrative-and safe-career as a large-animal vet. Nor can she say why she's willing to let her acupuncture skills and certification lie dormant, for now....

There was no better place to be in American horse racing than Belmont Park Wednesday morning as the track prepared to reopen New York racing later in the day after months of being shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic. That's where Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey called in from as the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. In a wide-ranging discussion, McGaughey talked about the return of stable star Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), racing finally resuming at his...

William Knight has recently made the move from West Sussex to Rathmoy Stables in Newmarket. Here he tells us how the move went. William Knight is responsible for over 300 winners from Angmering Park in Sussex. Rathmoy Stables in Newmarket is a location already familiar to him and with the facility recently vacated by David Lanigan he took the plunge to move his operation to Newmarket. "At time when there isn't a lot of great news about, this is incredibly good news for my training operation," said Knight, who won...

Patience is a virtue in racing, and trainer Brendan Walsh showed it in spades over the winter with his first Grade I winner, Godolphin's Maxfield (Street Sense). A blowout victor of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity last fall, the homebred was slated to be one of the favorites in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but had to be scratched with an ankle injury and was slowly brought along by Walsh to a triumphant sophomore debut in the GIII Matt Winn S. Saturday, almost eight months after his last start. The...

In the edition of Keeneland 'Life's Work' Oral History Project, Chris McGrath speaks with John Williams, former general manager of Spendthrift Farm. Nobody, we keep telling ourselves, remembers a time quite like this. And that's true even of John Williams, who has seen just about everything in our business. But he did once experience something pretty similar—worse, if anything, strictly in terms of the springtime routines of a stallion farm. That was when Caro imported a wildly contagious venereal disease from France to Spendthrift, and the Department of Agriculture wanted...

As the racing world mostly returned to order last week with the reopening of Santa Anita and Churchill and dates for two-thirds of the rescheduled Triple Crown being locked in, eyes turned to the New York Racing Association. Located in the epicenter of the world's coronavirus pandemic, NYRA hasn't run a race card since Mar. 15 at Aqueduct, and has remained in limbo like much of the state as the virus peaked, then slowly-painfully slowly-retreated. But with Governor Andrew Cuomo's proclamation that racing could resume in New York beginning June...

On this week's episode of the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, the writers were joined by Oaklawn Park owner and president Louis Cella to discuss the challenges and logistics of running a race meet in the coronavirus era. Oaklawn, along with Gulfstream and Tampa, have led the way for major tracks continuing operations uninterrupted through the pandemic, and Cella, as the Green Group Guest of the Week, talked about the advice they can impart as other ones start to reopen. "Some of the details that we've shared with...

Founded in 2000, Racing Welfare was set up to help current and retired members of the racing workforce. Its services range from the provision of housing to careers guidance and counseling those with problems such as mental health issues or drug and alcohol dependency. The charity's head office is in the centre of Newmarket but it has a network of welfare officers in all regions of the country. "Racing Welfare is at the centre of welfare provision for the industry," says Waterhouse. "We look after stable staff, stud staff, people...

Fresh off a dominant weekend at Oaklawn Park in which he swept both divisions of the GI Arkansas Derby, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland this week for a wide-ranging video interview. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Baffert talked about plans for his undefeated trio of Charlatan (Speightstown), Nadal (Blame) and Authentic (Into Mischief), why it was important to support California backstretch workers at last week's protest, taking over the training of Maximum Security,...

During these tough times, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy has been able to provide food to hundreds of backstretch workers every week. It is thanks to the help and donations made by racing fans and industry leaders. Dozens of backstretch workers have been quarantined due to COVID-19 and the New York Race Track Chaplaincy has been working to provide food for all of them. It was only a few weeks ago that the needs of the New York Race Track Chaplaincy were made known to the racing industry. Since...

Does it seem lately like all of your friends are eating raw eggs? Horse racing social media has been flooded lately with videos of people downing the slimy food in a glass. But do you know the story behind it? Kelsey Riley reports. The Raw Egg Challenge is part of a fundraiser for a little boy in Ireland called Dan who is suffering from a rare disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Dan is a candidate for a treatment in the U.S. that could potentially save his life and people from...

Thoroughbred Idea Foundation executive director Pat Cummings joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Wednesday to discuss a wide-ranging assortment of macro issues the sport is facing, and how it can be more efficient post-pandemic. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Cummings was asked about last week's #FreeDataFriday white paper posted by the TIF, in which he focused on the shockingly small percentage of purse money that is derived from wagering dollars. "It's been happening like this for a very long time...