Opinion

A world without bad news, is a world without truth. I borrowed that little pearl of wisdom from an excellent recent Independent Newspapers advertisement. The fact is that horseracing doesn’t need more ‘sunshine journalism.’ The industry can surely only benefit from a few more rottweillers that growl when something is amiss and attack when there is clear and present danger. If the pussycats aren’t trespassing they have nothing to fear. Just stop ignoring the warning signs.

‘In the end, no matter how astonishing their numbers, great horses were remembered for something more …. It was a feeling that they gave you, a belief in something bigger than yourself. They were a reminder – if only for an instant – that some bright, wordless magic still existed in the world’ – Jane Schwartz / Ruffian

‘It’s always been and always will be the same in the world: The horse does the work and the coachman is tipped’.

Sarah Whitelaw’s take on the thoroughbred world

Primum non nocere / First Do No Harm. This phrase is commonly quoted as part of the Hippocratic oath, although it is more likely to have been derived from the Hippocratic Corpus which states that “The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future – must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm.”

The Emerald Cup is shaping up into an intriguing showdown. The interest and debate around Africa’s richest race on sand proves again that there is nothing quite like needle and a good horse or two to add a touch of fire and an injection of life into proceedings.

It was a cold, dark night, in Barn 17A on Meadow Farm, Virginia when 18 YO Somethingroyal went into labour with her 14th foal. At exactly 10 minutes past midnight, she was joined on the straw by a large chestnut colt with 3 white socks and a star running into a narrow blaze. The date was 30 March 1970 and the colt was Secretariat.
Robyn Louw on the making of a legend.

Well done is better than well said. Or in other words, actions speak louder than words. Benjamin Franklin’s words held true over two hundred years ago but none more so, than today.
Lance Benson on Whining Rituals.

Robyn Louw on the apparent absence of critical thinking

Lance Benson on the Open Bet