Author Archives: Richard R. Gross

It was 2015 and a digital photograph that became the cover of the June 15 issue of Sports Illustrated announced that the Internet Era had arrived to all sports by...

Kentucky Derby hopeful Maxfield underwent successful orthopedic surgery by Dr. Larry Bramlage at the Lexington, KY Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital on Wednesday to repair a non-displaced fracture of his...

Godolphin’s Kentucky Derby hopeful Maxfield suffered a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture of his right front leg during a half-mile workout at Keeneland, KY  this morning. The three-year-old colt is presently...

2016 Eclipse Award Champion Three-Year-Old Male Arrogate was euthanized Tuesday morning at seven years of age following week-long unsuccessful treatment for an unspecified neurological illness. A post-mortem is being performed. The...

Budding (4-0-0) superstar colt Nadal was retired from racing today following surgery to repair a condylar fracture. The injury occurred during a morning workout at Santa Anita Park where the...

path·find·er/ˈpaTHˌfīndər/ noun: a person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way. In racing, “finding a path” refers to jockeys’ ability to guide a headstrong animal...

Ok, so the kids might like a break from horses. (Missed Part 1? Check it out here.) Let’s unsaddle for a while and take a look at some films and...

With the kids out of school and shuttered inside with the (ugh!) parents for weeks now, this is the perfect time to fill some of those increasingly empty hours with...

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) confirmed Monday it is withholding all purse monies from the $20 million Feb. 29 inaugural running of The Saudi Cup. Winner Maximum Security...

"Winning isn’t everything; it's the only thing."  Henry Russell Sanders, UCLA Bruins Coach 1950 “Do your best” Ganbatte (Japanese) Ever since Commodore Perry’s “black ships”—so-called because they belched black smoke...

Sporting events have long served as a comfort in difficult times and racing is no exception. It was 1945. The Allies were still in the midst of World War II...

How We Got Here It seemed as 2020 began, 2019 would be remembered not-so-fondly as Thoroughbred racing’s most challenging year. The 2019 winter meet at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia,...

The oldest Thoroughbred breed-shaping sire is gone. A.P. Indy passed away peacefully at age 31 at his Lane’s End Farm home in Versailles, KY Feb. 21. Speaking for the Farm,...

January 2020 was a monster month for Irad Ortiz Jr. On Jan. 21, he jumped off his assignment on Spun to Run in the Jan. 25 $3 million Pegasus World...

When Horse Network's resident race reporter Richard R. Gross pitched an article on the changing whip rules in Thoroughbred racing, we suggested that he speak with a seasoned show jumping...

A scant two weeks into 2020, merrymakers and numerologists were not the only ones to gladly sweep out the old year and welcome in a new decade. For racing industry...

The 2019 Eclipse Award nominees were announced on Jan. 4. Winners are determined solely by first place votes by the 254 combined eligible members of the National Thoroughbred Writers and...

Haras Barlovento, a leading 68-year-old Peruvian stud farm owned by Boris Schwartzman, will disperse its remaining stock and shutter its stalls following the Dec. 22 criminal armed raid in which...

A week of controversy regarding the future welfare of multiple graded stakes winner and two-time Breeders’ Cup (G1T) Champion Stormy Liberal was resolved Wednesday when new sole owner David Bernsen...

A bad year for horseracing may just be getting worse…or better, if racing fans have any influence. In a statement early Tuesday, trainer Peter Miller, who saddled seven-year-old gelding Stormy...