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You know it’s Oaks Day when you arrive and there are squatters in the your HRRN radio tent facing the three-quarter pole of Churchill Downs. Kids and parents, wrapped up in blankets, resting from the stress of getting to the track at 5 to find a rail spot. It’s the Day Before the Derby.

“Oh, is this your tent?”

Ben Nevis IICh. g. 1969, Casmiri-Ben Trumiss, Hop Bridge. Bred in England by A.S. Pattenden Ltd.Owner: Redmond Stewart. Trainer: Charlie Fenwick Jr. Jockey: Charlie Fenwick Jr. 1976Won maiden timber at My Lady’s Manor. by 5. Wire to wire.Won allowance timber at Grand National. by 20. wire to wire.Won allowance timber at Fair Hill. by 4 … Read more

Birthdate: Oct. 4, 1948. Home: Kirkwood, Pa. Champion Trainer (Races Won): 1991.  Champion Trainer (Money Won): 1998, 1991. Third on the National Steeplechase Association’s all-time training list with more than $7.5 million in lifetime earnings in a career that is now in its fourth decade. Trained Flat Top, who won championships in 1998 and 2002 … Read more

Steeplechase trainer Janet Elliot and two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner Ben Nevis II are among the 2009 class to be inducted into Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame this summer in Saratoga Springs.

Robbie Walsh stole a busy minute from a busy day while playing father to 10-month-old daughter Laura and 3-year-old son Kevin. The Irishman summed up the past eight years since coming to the United States in 2001; he had 50 seconds left over.

Jonathan Sheppard arrived at Aiken with a multiple Grade I-winner and an unknown quantity. An earner of $457,730 and a horse that hadn’t met the starter since July. One with eight lifetime jump victories and one that hadn’t won a race in 19 months.

CAMDEN, S.C. – Willie Dowling and Good Night Shirt walked in a circle awaiting the official results of the Carolina First Carolina Cup. Both breathed heavily from the physical effort, but one had an extra reason to sweat.

Stoneybrook has the NSA stage to itself this weekend (following the recent cancellation of the Palm Beach meet) and the Tarheel State steeplechase serves up a sunny 70-degree forecsat, four hurdle races, a pair of training flats and $60,000 in purses.

“I’ll see you when I’m lucky.” For the better part of 15 years, my day at the races ended when I heard that statement from John Thigpen. I can’t even be sure where we met, but the relationship stayed fairly constant in Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, wherever the circuit took … Read more

Good Night Shirt, two-time Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s leading steeplechaser, was named 2008 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, as well as champion steeplechaser, in the annual poll conducted by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association.