KYC Contributor Archive
Blinkers Off
Don’t Listen to Wise Guys (Unless They’re Right)
We now have reached the point — as we do at each Kentucky Derby — when like the groundhog, the wise guys emerge from hibernation to tout a horse they have chosen as their own.
Last of the Cajun Jockeys
It is hard to believe that on Saturday when they go to the post for America’s signature race, the Kentucky Derby, there only will be two Cajun riders in the irons.
From Seabiscuit to Blind Vanity
Derby fever gets its name from what is clearly America’s horse race, but it doesn’t just live within the borders of Churchill Downs.
Thundering Home
Gary Stevens was alone in Hong Kong and an ocean away; all the jocks he knew were thinking about their Derby horses.
The Bittersweet Derby Dreams of Sunny’s Halo
It is a magnificent story of courage and perseverance. Would that its post script could be as happy.
Agua Caliente and the First Derby Future Book
Churchill didn’t get into the futures business until 1999, more than four decades after the greatest innovator of them all showed the way.
All Those Carry Backs
If Jack Price hadn’t worked for himself, we never would have had a colt like Carry Back.
Canonero II: He Came from Caracas
This Saturday, we will honor the 40th anniversary of a Kentucky Derby moment so rare, so bizarre you couldn’t make it up if you tried.
Lost and Found: The Life and Death of Isaac Murphy
Here was a jock who rode with his hands and his heels and his heart; the soft crooning of his voice was a siren’s song to the mounts beneath him.
Great Redeemer, the Knife at the Gunfight
When Grover “Buddy” Delp, who trained Spectacular Bid, heard the details unfolding, he said “Well, there are 999 ways to lose the Derby. Maybe we just found another.”
Working from Churchill Downs undercover, Blinkers Off is a legendary, award-winning sports writer spinning tall tales from Derbies past.