Tribute: Rough Sailing had such promise
Rough Sailing had the heart of a winner. And proved as much just months before sustaining a life-ending injury at the Breeder’s Cup last weekend. On Aug. 8, the two-year-old left the gate at Arlington Park Race Track, and was quickly stuck in the back. It didn’t look good. When he started to make his move, a wall of horses blocked him at the 3/16th pole. “He was completely shut off,” says trainer Michael Stidham, adding, “He was a little green.” Undeterred, the horse and jockey Michael Baze swung out by six horse-lengths, and barreled up the stretch to victory. […]
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‘We have to save as many horses as we can’
John Hettinger used to say he never met a horse he didn’t like. And that it was “much more than he could say about people.” That affection touched all facets of his racehorse breeding business, which managed to factor horse welfare into the bottom line, and galvanized him to become a leading anti-slaughter advocate. So determined was Hettinger to keep his racehorses safe from slaughter that he wouldn’t sell one of his Thoroughbreds without including a clause in the bill of sale guaranteeing that when their usefulness on the track was over, they could come home to him. He guaranteed […]
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Alex Brown: Barbaro book is done, off to printer!
Before Alex Brown’s name became synonymous with Barbaro’s, he was just a guy who galloped horses in the morning and taught an Internet marketing course in the afternoon. Then Barbaro broke down at the Preakness. And a crusade took hold. Fueled by his twin passions (horses and Internet) Brown blogged near constantly about the horse, updating readers two or three times a day, as the animal struggled to survive after shattering a leg in the 2006 Preakness. Brown’s audience grew. Then on Jan. 29, 2007, eight months after the accident, Barbaro was euthanized and Brown’s site visitors swelled to 70,000 […]
