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Tom Law 
Faithful readers know that we hinted there would be more stories from the world of steeplechasing – the tip coming plainly in our Christmas Day post – and the sixth most read story of the year is our recap of one of the game’s most interesting and historic races.
The racing world is filled with stories of horses and humans overcoming the odds, bouncing back from injury and even staring death in the face and somehow coming through alive.
Now that the presents have been opened, the eggnog polished off and in-laws sent on their merry way it’s time to get back to the serious business of the season. The end of the Christmas holiday means the start of racing for the winter and spring at Santa Anita Park and we’ve got that and other top tier action covered in the annual Boxing Day Special presented by Pin Oak Stud.
We rolled out a new feature in 2016 and it proved plenty popular with readers. Born from conversations with each other and during the annual ST Publishing “Summit” in January, the feature wanted to get into the minds of the game’s players to find out who the one horse was that made all the difference. And thus, the Horse Who Changed Everything was born.
A little more than two years ago when he penned a touching letter to his colleagues, fresh from surgery to remove one of his kidneys and still dealing with the diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer, Bill Mooney wasn’t about to let the circumstances get him down.
The Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup continues to gain popularity and recognition here in the U.S. but it’s always been a big deal in the eastern Caribbean island and the heart of Jude Feld.
As amazing as it seems we are down to the final 10 days of the year, so what better way to reflect back than with a review of the most popular stories of 2016 from the “pages” of This Is Horse Racing.
Three-star event rider Maya Simmons spent her Thanksgiving like mothers all over the country – welcoming family into her Southern Pines, N.C., home to splurge on turkey and stuffing while reminiscing on the past year’s blessings. While most mothers returned to their desk jobs Monday morning, Simmons traded her apron for a helmet, heading to Half Pond Farm to ride her two upper level Thoroughbred geldings Ill Conceived and Archie Rocks.
The holiday season is in full swing, 2016 is coming to a close soon and racing rolls on, the seemingly never-ending game for all four seasons.
Grade 1 stakes in Southern California, Louisiana Champions Day in New Orleans, juvenile stakes in South Florida and a stakes-packed card at Laurel Park provide a sweet alternative to Christmas shopping as the first full week of December comes to a close. This week’s Saturday Special presented by Pin Oak Stud, home of Alternation, Broken Vow and Cowboy Cal, previews all that and more.
