#RunningForJake
Stephen Panus, president of The Jockey Club’s media ventures and America’s Best Racing, endured every parent’s nightmare when his 16-year-old son Jake was killed in a car accident on Block Island in Rhode Island last summer.
Horse Farm
Life on a horse farm. Life and death on a horse farm. That’s the way it feels every day, just trying to keep horses, goat and cats alive. Annie takes the brunt of it, making the decisions, all the decisions. The feed chart, the blanket plan, the turn-out routine…so many decisions. Most work. Some matter. … Read more
Goodbye Amateur
Monday morning brought the brutal news that amateur jockey Lorna Brooke had died from a fall at Taunton. But for the grace of God go I… A 36-year-old mainstay in the amateur ranks, Brooke drove the box, groomed the horse, rode the horse, cooled the horse out, drove the horse home and poulticed the horse, … Read more
Gears
Chris Gracie pulled his tack off Include It after finishing second in the maiden timber at Piedmont in April. “You know, Sean, he’s got gears,” Gracie said after riding the 6-year-old Maryland-bred for trainer Todd Wyatt and Riverdee. A maiden on the flat track for Fitzhugh and Mike Trombetta, a maiden in training flat races … Read more
Friday Night Lights
Racing Weekend. Feels good to print out the form, find the NSA hang tag, the horseman buttons, the binoculars, polish the boots, check the weather forecast, gas up the car and fire up Waze. Limited attendance and definitely a different vibe, but it’s a start, a restart of our lives. Our racing lives. Grand National … Read more
Talking Business with Chris
My friend Chris Burkhard – who owns the Placers, a workforce/staffing/consutling company in Delaware – talks to me about business, frequently. He’s got ideas, opinions, thoughts (really good thoughts) and perspective. I listen, sometimes follow his suggestions and always soak in everything even if some little voice tries to tell me that none of it applies to me. Of course, I’m wrong there. Advice from someone like Chris always applies, even to someone like me.
Anyway, he talked me into being a guest on his business podcast, which typically features a serial entrepreneur, somebody who scaled their company, hired a bunch of employees, became a mentor, and all those other things I haven’t done. I have to great insight or wisdom, but my did manage to start a company with my brother that has gone from a part-time lark in a basement – with a third-hand Gordon’s (I think it was Gordon’s) gin bottle lamp jammed into the ceiling for light – to a full-time small business now in its 28th year.
He asked me how we got here, what it took, if I had any advice for people. It felt like all the other conversations we’ve had – two guys who lived (he moved away) in the same neighborhood and who sent their kids to the same school talking shop. I’m not sure if I said this on the podcast, but if there’s one certainty in business, it’s that nothing ever stays the same. Adapt, work hard, find something you like, do the best you can under whatever circumstances you’re dealing with, create something people enjoy and you’ll be served well – no matter the field.
Listen to the podcast on Chris’ company website. or on Google Podcasts.
You can also sign up for his email newsletter because he really does know what he’s talking about.
Building Permit
Hammers hammer. Diggers dig. Truckers truck. House renovation. The ultimate personality shaker, relationship tester, is underway. Today we talked about amps to and from the generator, brush strokes in the fireplace mortar, plastic-sheet walls, gas-line ditches, code and against code, junction box to the switch box to the fuse box. To name a few topics…issues, … Read more
Jabbed
Sorry, lost a few days. Just gone. Poof. Waded into the rest of Loudoun County Sunday for our vaccine. Past an indoor skydiving venue, a two-tiered driving range, past condos and apartments made out of ticky-tacky and organic, farm-raised, free-range sustainable grocery stores, a brewery or four, through roundabouts and past exit ramps, past the … Read more
Rachael does it Again
Rachael Blackmore, you are as good as I’ve ever seen. On the back of an imperious Cheltenham Festival, the 31-year-old Irish jump jockey won today’s Grand National aboard Minella Times. Tactically brilliant and stylishly strong, Blackmore has it all. She has earned her accolades, attaining the most coveted attribute of a hard-nosed sport, the respect … Read more
Around the Block
It’s my birthday. I’m going for a run. An afternoon, forget-your-problems run around the 5-mile block. For more from The Inside Rail, check out the blog’s main page.
