Sharkey Time carries on grand horse tradition
MacKenzie Ferguson’s grandmother never could confine herself to what was expected of a lady in the 1950s. Far from card games in chintz-filled rooms, Liz Ferguson was crouched, unladylike in the irons, piloting a Thoroughbred over Minnesota racetracks at a time in history when this type of behavior by a woman just wasn’t done. And even when she’d grown older, her spirited personality never failed to elicit a flash of spunk when summer came, and it was time to dive from the heat, straight into the cool depths of a nearby pond. “She was still doing front handsprings off the […]
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Young fan given son of Smarty Jones
Ten-year-old Madison Scott was playing in the backyard of her Texas home when her father yelled for her to hurry and come inside; history was in the making. The television in the Scott family’s living room was tuned to The Belmont Stakes, the third and final race of the legendary Triple Crown. And on that June day in 2004, sports fans like her father, who didn’t usually follow horse racing, paused to watch chestnut colt Smarty Jones make a flying bid at winning what hadn’t been won in decades. “My dad called me in to watch. He said a horse was going […]
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At 79 he quit riding OTTBs, but love endures
He climbed into the saddle with an agility surprising in a man his age. Easing his two bum knees around the sides of his darkly handsome ex-racehorse, Harlan Abbey settled for a moment, and then suddenly, the steed spun on his heels, and bolted. Almost immediately, Abbey lost hold of the runaway horse, and was flung rudely to the earth. But as he caught his breath and regained his bearings, the senior equestrian just had to smile. What a great ride it had been. No, not the one that dumped the 79-year-old father of three—who was mere weeks away from […]
