'Something's Wrong With My Brain': The Lurking Danger Of Concussions For Jockeys

When Gwen Jocson retired from racing in 1999, she had ridden 763 winners to earnings of over $7 million. In 1991, still an apprentice, she finished the year with 376 wins, which remains the single-season record for a female jockey and which placed her third by victories that year behind Pat Day and Russell Baze. Jocson remembers telling people at the time that she walked away because she had grown tired of riding, but the reality was that she knew something was wrong.

A Look Back At The FBI’s Most Wanted Race-Fixer, And The Trainer Who Tried To Catch Him

One night in 1998, longtime trainer George “Barney” Isaacs says he wore a wire and invited an armed felon into his apartment to help the FBI solve a horse racing mystery – and to get his hands on a $50,000 reward. Now, he wants his money.

‘An Angel On His Shoulder’: This Thoroughbred’s Fate Was Written In Ink

Fada was chatting with several other girls from the farm, and they mentioned that a new group of off-track Thoroughbreds had just arrived for Second Stride. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance-accredited group bases its training operation out of Moserwood, so boarders are used to OTTBs coming in and out. Fada asked about the new trainees, but the person she was speaking to couldn't remember most of their names, except one – Inked.

Fada said her heart stopped.

“That's my horse!” she blurted out.

A Decade In, How Are We Doing With Thoroughbred Aftercare?

Toughly ten years into the sport's most concentrated efforts to address the problem of aftercare, we at the Paulick Report wanted to know – how are we doing? What is working about the current industry approach to Thoroughbred aftercare, and what isn't? Which populations of Thoroughbreds are being best served by our current aftercare infrastructure, and which are still in need of help?

This three-part series, starting today, will attempt to answer those questions. In Part 1, we tackle the easiest question: What are we, as an industry, doing well in the realm of aftercare?

Women In Racing: Racing's Adventuress

It can never be said that Virginia Kraft Payson is a passive observer of sports she loves. Race fans know her as the owner of Payson Park in Indiantown, Fla., as well as breeder of G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Vindication and G1 Kentucky Oaks winner Farda Amiga; while her racing and breeding career is a source of endless pride for Payson, her name appears in sport history books in a few other places, too.