Never Was a Tale of More Woe : Landaluce and Roving Boy, the Ill-Fated Juvenile Champions of 1982

This is a story of star-crossed lovers. Landaluce and Roving Boy were the class of the 1980 crop, champions at two whose potential was tragically never fulfilled. And the hearts broken were not their own, but those of their trainers. Such is the love we hold for special horses.

Landaluce on the track at Santa Anita

Landaluce is the more famous of the pair. Born at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky on April 11, 1980, she was a bay filly by Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew out of the Bold Bidder mare Strip Poker. Spendthrift sold her at the 1981 Keeneland yearling sale for $650,000 to Beal and French, who named her after a Basque hunting guide they had met in Spain the year before. Her new owners sent her to the barn of D. Wayne Lukas.

At age two Landaluce was undefeated, winning a maiden special weight by 7 lengths in early July, then jumping to graded stakes competition, taking down the Hollywood Lassie-G2, Del Mar Debutante-G2, Anoakia-G3, and Oak Leaf-G1 under the guidance of Laffit Pincay, Jr. She won those five races by a combined total of 46 ½ lengths. In the Lassie, she scored by 21 lengths in 1:08 flat, the fastest time ever for a 2-year-old filly at the distance. She won the Debutante by 6 ½, the Anoakia by 10, and the Oak Leaf by 2. Already nearly assured of the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly title, her next goal was the $500,000 added Hollywood Starlet, at the time the richest race ever for two-year-old fillies (this was two years before the Breeders’ Cup and it’s $1 million purses). A win in the Starlet would send her past Buckpasser’s record for earnings by a two-year-old and on to a possible showdown with the nation’s top colts in the $800,000 added Hollywood Futurity.

The Starlet would be run on Sunday, November 28, 1982 at Hollywood Park. A week before the race, all systems were go, but on Monday Landaluce spiked a fever of 103. A virus had been going around the barns at Santa Anita where she was stabled, affecting close to 30 horses. The champion filly was placed under round the clock vet care in hopes of getting her over it. By the middle of the week, her lungs had begun to fill with fluid, and by Friday she needed help to stand up and was only able to sit up by propping herself against the wall of her stall. The respiratory infection left her throat so inflamed that she could only eat liquids and wisps of hay. Instead of preparing for the biggest race of her career, the filly was fighting for her life. On Saturday, the day before the Starlet would be run, she perked up a little, raising hopes that she might survive the devastating illness even if she never raced again. As one of the first daughters of Seattle Slew, she had a bright future as a broodmare. Lukas, who had been by her side throughout the ordeal, left her for a few hours late Saturday night, returning around 3:00 am. He was with her when she lay down for the last time at 5:45 am. Twelve hours before post time for the Starlet, Landaluce lost her final race. I could not find confirmation, but at the time I remember hearing a rumor that she died with her head in Lukas’ lap. Steve Crist reported in the New York Times, “about the time she would have taken her usual morning nap … her body was dragged onto a van, covered with sacks of ice, and sent to a laboratory at the University of California in Davis for an autopsy ….” Instead of celebrating a superstar in the Starlet, Hollywood Park lowered its flags t0 half-staff. Although she died at Santa Anita, Landaluce was buried at Hollywood Park, the site of her scintillating 21 length win the Lassie, which would be renamed in her honor. When Hollywood Park was razed in 2014, her remains were disinterred and transferred to her birthplace, Spendthrift Farm. Landaluce was the only fatality of the viral breakout at Santa Anita that fall. She was posthumously voted Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1982.

Landaluce's grave marker in the infield at Hollywood Park

Had Landaluce won the Starlet and then gone on to the Hollywood Futurity, she would have faced another ill-fated two-year-old star, a colt named Roving Boy.

Roving Boy was born in Kentucky on February 9, 1980. A bay colt by Olden Times out of the Prince Royal II mare Black Eyed Lucy, he was owned and bred by Robert E. Hibbert. Sent to the California barn of Joe Manzi, he was not as precocious as Landaluce, taking three tries to break his maiden, but once he passed that barrier, the rest of his season was a winning one. Jumping into stakes company, he took down the Balboa Stakes, Del Mar Futurity-G2, and Norfolk Stakes-G1. Next up was the richest race ever for two-year-olds, the $800,000 added Hollywood Futurity. Supplemented to the race for $40,000, Roving Boy took the lead from Desert Wine in the stretch and won by a neck, with 3-2 favorite Copelan a badly beaten 5th. The win in the Futurity clinched the Eclipse Award for Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of 1982, especially since it pushed his earnings over $800,000, the most ever earned by a two-year-old. The bay colt was now also the winter book favorite for the 1983 Kentucky Derby.

Roving Boy and trainer Joe Manzi

Manzi gave the colt a rest after his two-year-old campaign, bringing him along slowly as he prepared for the Kentucky Derby. The plan was to run in the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby to prep for the big race. On January 30th, Roving Boy worked an easy 5 furlongs but took a few bad steps afterward. X-rays revealed a fracture in the left front cannon bone. Three pins were placed in the injured leg to set the break. The injury was not career ending, but it did knock him off the Derby trail. His jockey, Eddie Delahousssaye, picked up the mount on a chestnut colt bred in Canada named Sunny’s Halo and found the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. Roving Boy spent the spring recovering, hoping for a comeback in the fall.

He returned to the races in mid-October, running second in an allowance at Santa Anita. On November 2, he returned to stakes competition in the $60,000 Alibhai Handicap-G3 at 1 1/16 miles. The three screws that had held his cannon bone together as it healed were in his owner’s pocket. If all went well, the colt would venture outside California for the first time to run in the Meadowlands Cup later in the month, with the ultimate goal to participate in the top handicaps as a 4-year-old.

Roving Boy showed his winning spirit, taking the Alibhai by a nose but the celebration was short lived. Just a few strides past the wire, he collapsed, both hind legs shattered. Trainer Joe Manzi rushed onto the track in tears as his colt struggled to rise in front of the clubhouse. Roving Boy was loaded into the horse ambulance and rushed to the Santa Anita Equine Hospital on the backstretch. Both the ambulance and hospital were built with funds from the Oak Tree Racing Association, which ran the fall meeting at Santa Anita from 1969 until 2009. Four veterinarians examined the colt’s X-rays and found tibia fractures in both hind legs. One bone was so badly broken that according to Dr. Greg Ferraro, “we wouldn’t have had enough to work on.” The decision was made to put the champion down. Hibbert did not insure his horses, and the colt was worth at least $5 million as a stallion prospect. He was buried on the backstretch at Santa Anita, alongside champions Lamb Chop and Quicken Tree.

The final resting place of Roving Boy, Lamb Chop and Quicken Tree

Two champion two-year-olds who both met tragedy at Santa Anita Park and two trainers who experienced the lowest low that the sport can bring. I remember seeing a photo in the Los Angeles Times the day after the Alibhai, showing a grief-stricken Manzi turning away from the fallen Roving Boy. If ever anyone doubted that racehorse trainers love their charges, that photo would prove them wrong. The sheer magnitude of emotion on Manzi’s face proved beyond a doubt that he had lost a family member, not just a meal ticket. I never met Joe Manzi, but his assistant trainer at the time (and Roving Boy’s exercise rider) was Paco Gonzalez, who in the late 1990’s trained one of my all-time favorites, Free House. I was fortunate to meet Gonzalez and see him interact with the big grey colt; I have the feeling he learned much from Manzi, including how to keep his heart open in the face of the tragedies that are all too common in horse racing.

During the 1980’s and early 90’s, as he ran horse after horse in the Triple Crown and other graded stakes races, D. Wayne Lukas developed a reputation as a “numbers” guy, the sort of trainer who bought lots of horses and threw them into the fray, racking up high profile wins by dint of sheer numbers. I always felt as though the horses were just cogs in his winning machine, especially after Horse of the Year Lady’s Secret was sent to the gate long after she’d made it clear she was done with racing, simply to chase the earnings record for a female horse. And yet, there is that image of him sitting in Landaluce’s stall, holding her head in his lap as she breathed her last. I have always wondered if his indifferent facade was a result of a broken heart.

Horses come and horses go, but some touch us more than others. Losing them can be devastating, but without an open heart, we can never know the heights of glory this sport can reach.




Sources:

www.equibase.com

Christine, Bill. “Breeders’ Cup Won’t Return Soon.” Los Angeles Times. 17 Nov 1989 : http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-17/sports/sp-1602_1_breeders-cup-races/2

Hovdey, Jay. “Premier Pegasus latest reminder of just how fragile racehorses are.” Daily Racing Form, 8 Apr 2011 : http://www.drf.com/news/premier-pegasus-latest-reminder-just-how-fragile-racehorses-are

“Roving Boy wins but is destroyed.” Washington Post. 3 Nov 1983: http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1983/11/03/roving-boy-wins-but-is-destroyed-from-news-services/a0a4d073-3954-432c-97fd-93351ee32f01/

“Roving Boy wins Hollywood Futurity.” Ocala Star-Banner, 13 Dec 1982 : https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19821213&id=77JPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5AUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6448,4160152&hl=en

Crist, Steven. “Landaluce dies from virus.” New York Times, 29 Nov 1982. : http://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/29/sports/landaluce-dies-from-virus.html?pagewanted=all

Kudler, Adrian Glick. “They’re digging up all the dead racehorses at Hollywood Park”. Curbed LA, 10 Mar 2014 : http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/03/theyre_digging_up_all_the_dead_racehorses_at_hollywood_park.php

http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Graves/GraveMattersFarmNAM.html

“Roving Boy Out of Derby” : http://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/01/sports/roving-boy-out-of-derby.html

Christine, Bill. “Price Tags for Claimers Has Reached $100,000”. Los Angeles Times, 17 Jul 1986 : http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-17/sports/sp-21374_1_highest-claims

Steve Crist on Horse Racing, New York Times, 4 Nov 1983 : http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/04/sports/018345.html

Easy Goer : "The One" Who Got Away

I was only 3 years old when Secretariat won the Triple Crown, so to me he was as much a legend as Man O’ War.  I didn’t start following horse racing until 1981, so I missed the exploits of another pair of chestnuts, Affirmed and Alydar, who ran 1-2 in all three Triple Crown races in 1977.  Big red horses were the ideal of greatness, the bar against which to measure all other horses.

It was 1988, long before the Internet and social media, but even so, in the fall I became aware of the buzz around a red colt on the East Coast.  He was a son of Alydar, out of the Buckpasser mare Relaxing. His name was Easy Goer.

Alydar was a product of the storied Calumet Farm.  He is the only horse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races; if not for Affirmed, Alydar would have been the 10th Triple Crown winner. At two, Alydar won the Great American, Tremont, Sapling, and Champagne but it was not enough to wrest the two year old championship from his rival.  At three, Alydar took down the Flamingo, Florida Derby and Blue Grass before the Triple Crown.  In the second half of his three year old year, he won the Arlington Classic, Whitney, and Travers.  Again, this resume was not impressive enough to best that of Affirmed.  Alydar made 6 starts at age four; his only stakes win was the Nassau County Handicap-G3.

Alydar as a 3-year-old

Easy Goer’s dam, Relaxing, was the Champion Older Female of 1981.  Born in 1976, at age 4 she won the Firenze Handicap-G2 and Gallant Fox Handicap-G2.  At 5, she won the Assault Handicap, John B. Cambpell Handicap-G2, Delaware Handicap-G1, and Ruffian Handicap-G1.  That same year she placed in two G1 stakes against males, the Woodward Stakes (4th) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (3rd).  In three years of racing, she earned over $500,000.

Relaxing's win photo for the 1981 Ruffian Handicap

Relaxing was sired by the great Buckpasser.  Foaled in 1963, Buckpasser was the Champion Two Year Old Colt of 1965, Champion Three Year Old Colt of 1966, Champion Older Male of 1966 and 1967, and Horse of the Year in 1966.  His wins included the Sapling, Hopeful, Arlington-Washington Futurity, and Champagne at two; the Everglades, Flamingo, Arlington Classic Handicap, Brooklyn Handicap, American Derby, Travers, Woodward, Lawrence Realization, Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Malibu at three; and the San Fernando, Met Mile, and Suburban at four.  In 31 starts, Buckpasser posted 25 wins and earned almost $1.5 million.  His broodmare sire was Triple Crown winner War Admiral, a son of the immortal Man O’ War.

Buckpasser

Easy Goer was bred and owned by Ogden Phipps, a member of the famed Phipps family, whose cherry red and black silks had graced champions since Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps’ founded the Wheatley Stable in 1926.  The Phipps family was a blue-blooded as their Thoroughbreds. Henry Phipps founded the family fortune; as Andrew Carnegie’s accountant and business partner, he received approximately $50 million when Carnegie Steel was purchased by J.P. Morgan in 1901.  Phipps founded Bessemer Trust to manage his money; in 1974, Bessemer began accepting outside clients and is now worth almost $100 billion.  Forbes currently ranks the Phipps family as the 44th richest family in America with $6.6 billion in assets.  Easy Goer’s breeder, Ogden Phipps, chaired the Jockey Club for ten years; he was followed in the position by his son Odgen Mills “Dinny” Phipps.  

The famous Phipps family silks

After starting his career with a second place finish at Belmont, Easy Goer broke his maiden at Saratoga and followed up with wins in the Cowdin and Champagne Stakes.  He came into the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as the favorite, but ran into a wet track that he detested and finished second to the aptly named Is It True.  Despite this loss, he was voted 1988 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and became the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby.  People were already talking Triple Crown and comparing him to “Big Red” himself: Secretariat.

Easy Goer winning the 1989 Gotham Stakes

He started his road to the Kentucky Derby in Florida, winning the Swale Stakes before returning to New York to sweep the Gotham and Wood Memorial. In the Gotham, he ran the mile in near world record time, smashing Secretariat’s stakes record by a full second, stopping the clock in 1:32 ⅖ , just ⅕ of a second off Dr. Fager’s world record.  This was the stuff of legends, and many began to dream that maybe, just maybe, Easy Goer would be “The One.” He came into the Kentucky Derby as a strong favorite, but unfortunately the track came up wet again and the big red colt was not able to bring his A game.  Once again, he finished 2nd at Churchill Downs, this time to the spectacular Santa Anita Derby winner, Sunday Silence.  

Two weeks later, the two colts faced off again in the Preakness Stakes.  Easy Goer was still favored, since his loss in the Derby had come on an off track at Churchill Downs, just like his unexpected defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  As they turned into the homestretch, Easy Goer and Sunday Silence were neck and neck.  Easy Goer was on the rail and his jockey, Pat Day, had his head cocked to the right for some reason.  Many Easy Goer fans (myself included) believe that if the red colt had been able to stretch his neck out straight, his nose, and not Sunday Silence’s, would have hit the wire first.  

Easy Goer and Sunday Silence battle to the wire in the 1989 Preakness; notice how Easy Goer's head is turned

The bloom was fading from the Phipps’ colt’s rose.  Just like his sire, he appeared doomed to play second fiddle to a colt from the West.  Suddenly, it was Sunday Silence who was touted as the next Triple Crown winner and Easy Goer seemed to be just another overhyped two year old who had failed to live up to expectations.  Despite living on the West Coast, I was still a believer, however.  The Belmont Stakes was run in New York, Easy Goer’s home turf.  For the only time, I rooted against a Triple Crown sweep.  

For the first time, Easy Goer was not the post-time favorite.  The field broke well, and Sunday Silence tracked the pacesetter, with Easy Goer rating just behind him.  All down the backstretch, the black colt stayed in front and as they moved into the far turn, he made his move.  Once again, it seemed like Sunday Silence had gotten the jump on his rival.  Then, as they swung into the homestretch, Easy Goer ranged up beside Sunday Silence, raced next to him for a few strides and then blasted away to win by eight lengths.  It was the second fastest Belmont Stakes ever; the only horse who won the “Test of the Champion” in faster time was Secretariat.  Alydar’s son accomplished what he had been unable to do: deny a Triple Crown.

1989 Belmont Stakes

After the Triple Crown, the two rivals went their separate ways.  Easy Goer remained in New York, defeating older horses in the Whitney at Saratoga before taking the Travers Stakes.  He returned to Belmont where he beat older horses again in the Woodward and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.  At the time, the Jockey Club Gold Cup was still run at its traditional distance of 1 ½ miles.  Like a throwback to another time, Easy Goer was probably the last top class 1 ½ mile horse we would ever see.  

All he needed to wrest the Three-Year-Old Championship and Horse of the Year title from Sunday Silence was a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream in Florida.  Perhaps running in a 1 ½ mile race as his final prep left him a step too slow; perhaps Sunday Silence used his tactical speed to once again get the jump on the his rival.  For whatever reason, Easy Goer closed furiously but was unable to catch the black colt.  Both titles went to Sunday Silence.  

Easy Goer falls just short in the 1989 Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park

Easy Goer put together probably the finest campaign to not win a championship.  He won the Gotham in track record time, the second fastest Belmont of all time, defeated older horses all four times he faced them, and became the only three-year-old to win the Whitney, Woodward, and Jockey Club Gold Cup in the same year.  

At four, Easy Goer had an abbreviated season, winning the Suburban Handicap and finishing third in the Met Mile.  He retired due to injury and went to stud at Claiborne, the farm that had always boarded the Phipps’ mares and foals.  Like the royalty he was, Easy Goer was given the prime stall in the stallion barn: the one last occupied by Secretariat himself and his sire Bold Ruler before him.

Easy Goer was a good but not great sire.  He sired nine stakes winners, including Will’s Way, Furlough, and My Flag.  The latter was a chestnut filly out of Easy Goer’s former stablemate, the great Personal Ensign, who had won the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.  My Flag won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1995 and in turn produced the bay Storm Cat filly Storm Flag Flying, who won the Juvenile Fillies in 2002.  

Personal Ensign, My Flag, and Storm Flag Flying at Claiborne Farm

Tragically, Easy Goer died at the young age of eight, dropping dead one day from anaphylactic shock while being led into this paddock.  Sunday Silence, meanwhile, had not gotten the support from breeders that the son of Alydar had and eventually went to Japan where, ironically, he became one of the greatest sires that country has ever seen.

To me, Easy Goer symbolizes the dream all race fans share, the fantasy of “The One”: the super horse who defies all odds and brings us perfection.  As I (and all race fans) have learned over the years, perfection is rarely seen.  But sometimes, we are given a glimpse of it.  Easy Goer may not have completely delivered on his early promise, but his Gotham and Belmont wins were legendary and will always be remembered.  For a few brief shining moments, he parted the clouds and let us see the golden light of greatness that shines all too rarely from the flanks of the Big Red Horses who fill our imaginations.  

Sources:

“Easy Goer” : https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/easy-goer

“Relaxing” : http://www.aikenracinghalloffame.com/Relaxing.html

http://www.equibase.com/

Phipps family : http://www.forbes.com/profile/phipps/

Crist, Steven. “Horse Racing: Easy Goer Romps” : http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/09/sports/horse-racing-easy-goer-romps.html

“Horse Profile: Easy Goer” : http://helloracefans.com/horses/horse-profiles/easy-goer/

The California Wonder

image from Library of Congress collection (www.loc.gov)

Who is the greatest California-bred Thoroughbred of all time?  A good argument can be made for Ancient Title (1975 Hollywood Gold Cup, Whitney Handicap winner), Best Pal (1991 Pacific Classic winner), Decidedly (1962 Kentucky Derby winner), Flying Paster (runner up to Spectacular Bid in 4 1980 Stakes at Santa Anita), Hill Rise (1965 Santa Anita Handicap winner, 2nd to Northern Dancer in the 1964 Kentucky Derby), Native Diver (3 time Hollywood Gold Cup winner in the late 1960s), Swaps (1955 Kentucky Derby winner) and Tiznow (2 time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner).  But until Swaps thundered into Kentucky and took down the Kentucky Derby over the great Nashua in 1955, this question would almost certainly have been answered with the name Emperor of Norfolk.

You may not recognize the name, but if you have visited Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, CA you have walked past the Emperor’s grave.  Just inside the east general admission gate is a stone monument in the shape of a giant Maltese cross.  If you pause before hurrying to buy your program and find a good seat, you can read the bronze plaque naming the four American Derby winners buried here, including Emperor of Norfolk.  All four champions were owned by Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin, who originally owned the land on which Santa Anita Park sits.  During the last two decades of the 1800’s, the American Derby was more important than the Kentucky Derby.  Held at Old Washington Park in Chicago until 1905, the race is still held today at Arlington Park and is currently a Grade 3 turf stakes for 3 year olds.  Over the years it has been run at different distances on turf and dirt.  Past winners include Citation, Native Dancer, Swaps, Round Table, Buckpasser, and Damascus.

Emperor of Norfolk was born in 1885 at El Arroyo Stud, owned by Theodore Winters.  His sire was Norfolk, an undefeated son of the great Lexington; his dam, Marian, produced 9 stakes winners.  Baldwin bought the bay colt as a yearling for just over $2,500 and sent him back East to race.  His first start came on July 2, 1887 at Chicago.  Within a week, the colt had won three stakes races.  Shipped to Saratoga, he won four more stakes in a two week span.  Next he shipped to Monmouth, where he threw in a clunker, finishing 8th in the Select Stakes.  He rebounded quickly, taking the Autumn Stakes at Sheepshead Bay just 10 days later.  The “California Wonder” added two more stakes wins to his resume before the end of the year, finishing the season with earnings of $36,490 and a record of 12 wins (10 stakes), 2 second, and 3 thirds from 18 starts.

At three, the Emperor took down 9 wins from 11 starts (7 stakes), including the Brooklyn Derby and the American Derby, where he defeated Belmont winner Sir Dixon.  He was retired midway through his 3 year old season with a bowed tendon with a career record of 21 wins from 29 starts and earnings of $72,400.

image from www.saratoga150.com

Emperor of Norfolk was retired to stud at Baldwin’s Rancho Santa Anita, which stood just west of Santa Anita Park on the grounds of the current Los Angeles County Arboretum.  He sired several stakes winners, including Cruzados, a talented sprinter whose descendants carry on the sire line of the great Lexington to this day, and Americus. Raced in the U.S. as Rey del Carreres, Americus was renamed when he was sold and shipped to Great Britain.  His daughter, Americus Girl, was the dam of the famous “flying filly” Mumtaz Mahal, herself the ancestress of prominent stallions Mahmoud, Nasrullah, and Sunday Silence.  

Cruzados 

image from www.tbheritage.com

Americus

image from www.tbheritage.com

Emperor of Norfolk succumbed to old age on December 15, 1907 at the ripe age of 22, just 8 days after Baldwin’s dream of a racetrack in California came true: the old Santa Anita Park opened on December 7, 1907.  Baldwin was 80 years old and would live less than 2 more years.  His racetrack only operated for 2 years but was the inspiration for the storied track that would be built in 1934 on ground lying between the old Rancho and Baldwin’s track.

Sources:

Horse Racing Nation : www.horseracingnation.com

Forney, Mary. “Lucky Baldwin’s Maltese Cross” : http://maryforney.blogspot.com/2008/10/lucky-baldwins-maltese-cross.html

“Emperor of Norfolk” : https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/emperor-norfolk

Ginsburg, Deborah. “‘Lucky’ Baldwin : A Legend Larger Than Life” : http://archive.ctba.com/99magazine/apr99/aprnews1.htm

“Emperor of Norfolk” : http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/EmperorofNorfolk.html

Library of Congress : http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b50166/

The Look of Eagles

The "look of eagles" is a term used to describe the bright, fierce look in the eye of a truly great horse. Horse racing is a sport with a long and storied history, full of athletes who are truly deserving of the epitaph.  In this blog, I'd like to share the stories of some of these brilliant horses and the people behind them.  Some of them I've seen in person, others I've seen on television, and others I've only read about.  Some are household names and others are remembered by only a few.  All of them have stories that deserve to be told, and I'll do my best to tell them well.

"And away we go ..."