Dear Murray, you were the best OTTB muse
California-based cartoonist and graphic designer Jody Livak Werner recently won first place in the Equestrian Social Media Awards for her advice column Dear Murray. The humor column, which swept onto the Facebook scene and attracted 20,000 fans in a few short months, offered a horse’s perspective on all those silly humans who ride them. Via a clever collaboration with her beloved off-track Thoroughbred Murray, Werner used humor to get at the nub of life with horses. In the Dear Murray column, frustrated horses would “write” to the all-knowing ex-racehorse, whose Jockey Club name was Phantom Writer, asking for advice on […]
Share this:
The birthright of a powerful Dad—deep integrity
Years after her father’s death, Ann Banks was reading the five-term Congressman’s political speeches when she found, scribbled in the margins, words that for her resonate as well today as they did for her father when he wrote them. It was in the 1950’s that longtime New Jersey Rep. and State Supreme Court Judge Steven B. Derounian, while investigating the famous Quiz Show scandal of that time, scrawled a message to himself, which read, “Courage to oppose, foresight to propose.” Described by the New York Times as a “champion of personal and public integrity,” Derounian had earned a Purple Heart […]
Share this:
Ray Paulick on racing’s future, unwanted horses
Sprinting from a Cubs game at Wrigley Field back in 1978, Ray Paulick could think of only one thing: Affirmed and Alydar. The legendary Thoroughbreds were about to make history in the famous Belmont duel as Paulick burst into a Chicago bar searching for a television set. Suddenly, the Belmont Park gate sprang open and Paulick was on his feet, shouting at the small black-and-white television set, rooting for Affirmed with a passion that could only be matched by a die-hard Cubs fan. That’s when Paulick realized he was destined to be caught up in the Sport of Kings. By […]
