News

Jessica Gay Bell, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, born August 20, 1922 in Lexington, Kentucky, passed away on March 14 in Naples, Florida, after a brief illness.

The hammer dropped at $1.8-million for a Smart Strike colt late in the afternoon Wednesday in Ocala and somewhere in the great beyond, the horseman in Ned Evans was probably quite proud.

Tick, tick, tick…the alarm clock is about to go on the American steeplechase season. And you can tell by the action on the farms and tracks of the Mid-Atlantic.

Gregg Morris thought about it a minute, but knew the answer.

“But one discarded dreams and got dressed, and made what one could of the day.”

– Dick Francis, Whip Hand

Mark Johnson calls races at Churchill Downs in the spring and fall, Cheltenham in March, Aintree in April. Now, that’s a gig. This Is Horse Racing caught up with Johnson, days before the Cheltenham Festival.

Fort Larned wasn’t the only Thoroughbred superstar running around loose Saturday evening. The Breeders’ Cup Classic winner (who lost jockey Brian Hernandez after a stumble at the gate in the Gulfstream Park Handicap) had company, way up in Maryland.

The comment lines for Clawback’s first two races are not “wiped out at the start” or “hooked serious classics contender,” but they easily could be. Just as easily as the next two could be “relatively smooth sailing” and “smooth sailing” for the Put It Back colt who goes in Saturday’s Fred “Cappy” Capossela Stakes at Aqueduct.

The inter-track wagering facility on the grounds of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co., always a fairly lively spot that 99% of the year is frequented by the typical simulcast crowd, will be rocking this weekend.