[intlink id="12" type="category"]More Horses and Horse Racing[/intlink]

Remember [intlink id="721" type="category"]Exceller? Follow his descendants[/intlink]

Incredible job of race-training by Aidan O'Brien, helping Yeats to a 4th (and unprecedented in all of horse racing) Gold Cup win at Ascot.

Yeats threw in a clunker last time out, and the "black cloud" types were quick to gather around, wanting to be the first to declare that he was "finished." Just as you can't award a championship to a horse who performs once in a stellar fashion, you cannot write off a classy horse for one bad performance. Yeats is an 8 year old "horse," meaning he's entire--not a gelding.

The Gold Cup is run on an uphill course at 2 1/2 miles. . . A distance that is nonexistent here in the U.S., unless you're talking about a race over hurdles. (for comparison, the Kentucky Derby, which has become a test of 3-year-old stamina her in the 'States is run at 1 1/4 miles).

Much has been written about the surprising success of the "yanks" at Ascot this year. Maybe racing in the U.S. can take a few lessons from this year's Ascot meet. . .

Lessons such as:

U.S. trainer Wesley Ward, when asked if his success at this year's Ascot meet would "open the door" to more Americans and American horses, replied that he hoped so, and he added a very important detail to that:

• his horses are sound. (Bute is banned at the meet)
• They're not bleeders (Lasix is banned at the meet)

Maybe the tides are turning. Lets see what happens if we continue to breed and train the types of horses that don't bleed from their lungs. . .horses that don't require a lot of pain meds to compete. . .

And you can call me an optimist, but wouldn't it be great if we crossed our brilliant sprinters with durable and classy stallions like Yeats?

N.B. The above photo shows a happy Yeats taking a "roll" in the sand. . . although the angle might suggest he's hurt, that's not the case. . . it's what horses do when given the chance. . .  he's enjoying himself.