I got my first quarter horse yearling when I was 12. I spent the summer breaking him, following the steps in a booklet the King Ranch used to mail out for free to anyone who asked.
If you’ve ever reached forward to slip the bridle off your cutting horse out in a pasture of cattle – just for the fun of it – this’ll bring smile to your face.
And it’ll make you miss your quarter horse.

Zenyatta and Blame battle for the wire.
Also recommended: Goldikova’s three-peat and next years’ leading Kentucky Derby prospect Uncle Mo, in the Juvenile.

And a hockey game broke out. The first day of the Breeders Cup begins with jockey fistfight after the first race. Game on!
(Webcast at the link, cable coverage on TSN and ESPN.)
By request, the Calvin Borel fight video.

“Sometimes you just get lucky at the racetrack.”

Zenyatta. This Saturday she goes for #20 at Churchill Downs.
The full Breeders Cup race schedule is here. (More photos at The Shed Row.)

The final portrait. In colour.

“And still they ride on through history, George Woolf and Seabiscuit, in a run to immortality.”

Ruffian: April 17, 1972 – July 7, 1975

Still perfect.

On a sadly coincidental note, the legendary 13-for-13 mare Personal Ensign died today at 26.

Thirty years ago today, in a world record time that still stands.

1997 – 2010
(Shorter version)