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Helen Pitts-Blasi
Helen Pitts (born May 23, 1974 in Monkton, Maryland) is an American trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. Early life Born on a farm, Helen Pitts' parents were both involved in steeplechase racing. She rode ponies and horses from the time she was a young girl, competing in such things as steeplechase racing, pony racing, and fox hunting. She is a graduate of Oldfields School, an all-girls boarding and day school, which produces exceptional riders. She graduated with a degree in business from Villa Julie College. Training career After finishing her education, Helen Pitts went to work for thoroughbred trainer Francis Campitelli where she stayed for several years before joining flat racing trainer, Kenneth McPeek. She eventually became McPeek's assistant-trainer and when he decided to leave the business for a time, she became head trainer on July 1, 2005. A resident of Louisville, Kentucky, she got her first win there three days later at Churchill Downs. In October, she won the Queen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Trainer
A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for events, which may include contests and other riding purposes. The level of education and the yearly salary they can earn for this profession may differ depending on where the person is employed. History Domestication of the horse, Horse domestication by the Botai culture in Kazakhstan dates to about 3500 BC. Written records of horse training as a pursuit has been documented as early as 1350 BC, by Kikkuli, the Hurrian "master horse trainer" of the Hittite Empire. Another source of early recorded history of horse training as a discipline comes from the Ancient Greece, Greek writer Xenophon, in his treatise On Horsemanship. Writing circa 350 BC, Xenophon addressed Horse training, starting young horses, selecting older animals, and proper Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steeplechase (horse Racing)
A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland (where it originated), the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia, and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside. Modern usage of the term "steeplechase" differs between countries. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, it refers only to races run over large, fixed obstacles, in contrast to "hurdle" races where the obstacles are much smaller. The collective term "jump racing" or "National Hunt racing" is used when referring to steeplechases and hurdle races collectively (although, properly speaking, National Hunt racing also includes some flat races). Elsewhere in the world, "steeplechase" is used to refer to any race that involves j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midnight Cry Stable
Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. Solar midnight is the time opposite to solar noon, when the Sun is closest to the nadir, and the night is equidistant from dusk and dawn. Due to the advent of time zones, which regularize time across a range of meridians, and daylight saving time, solar midnight rarely coincides with 12 midnight on the clock. Solar midnight depends on longitude and time of the year rather than on time zone. In ancient Roman timekeeping, midnight was halfway between sunset and sunrise (i.e., solar midnight), varying according to the seasons. In some Slavic languages, "midnight" has an additional geographic association with "north" (as " noon" does with "south"). Modern Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Serbian languages preserve this association ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Horse Of The Year
The American Award for Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to sanction the various awards, "Horse of the Year" is not an official national award. The Champion award is a designation given to a horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year was deemed the most outstanding. The list below is a Champion's history compilation beginning with the year 1887 published by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association's ''The Blood-Horse'' magazine (founded 1961), described by ESPN as "the Thoroughbred industry's most-respected trade publication". In 1936 a Horse of the Year award was created by a poll of the staff of '' The New York Morning Telegraph'' and its sister newspaper, the ''Daily Racing Form'' (DRF), a tabloid founded in 1894 that was focused on statistical information for bettors. At the same time a ri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commentator (horse)
Commentator (foaled March 27, 2001), is an American Thoroughbred race horse by the stallion Distorted Humor, sire of 2003 Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide. Like Funny Cide, Commentator is a New York-bred as well as a gelding. Distorted Humor also sired Hystericalady. Commentator's dam, Outsource, was a daughter of Storm Bird, at two a champion in both England and Ireland and a stamina-producing sire. Storm Bird, by Northern Dancer, also sired Storm Cat and Summer Squall. Outsource was born small and deformed so she never raced or was trained. Instead she was bred to Distorted Humor at only two years of age, and the result was Commentator, making Outsource one of the youngest mares ever to produce a Grade I winner. In 2002, Outsource was purchased in foal to Chief Seattle by Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones of Airdrie Stud near Midway, Kentucky for $25,000 at the Keeneland January mixed sale. She has a yearling full sister to Commentator, and delivered another Distorted Humo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keeneland
Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for its reference library. In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Keeneland was ranked #1 of the top ten tracks. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. History Keeneland originated as a nonprofit racing–auction entity on of farmland west of Lexington, which had been owned by the son of James R. Keene, Jack Keene, a driving force behind the building of the facility. It has used proceeds from races and its auctions to further the thoroughbred industry as well as to contribute to the surrounding community. Keeneland Race Course has conducted live race meets in April and October si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graded Stakes Race
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. In Canada, a similar grading system is maintained by the Jockey Club of Canada. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America. The grading system was designed in 1973 and first published in 1974. The original purpose of grading was to identify the most competitive races, which helps horsemen make comparisons of the relative quality of bloodstock for breeding and sales purposes. A high grading can also be used by racetracks to promote the race in question. When determining Eclipse Award winners, racing jour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first Kentucky Derby, a Thoroughbred sweepstakes and part of today's horse racing Triple Crown, and the first Kentucky Oaks were held in the same year. Churchill Downs has also hosted the renowned Breeders' Cup on nine occasions, most recently on November 2 and 3, 2018. The racetrack is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated. With the infield open for the Kentucky Derby, the capacity of Churchill Downs is roughly 170,000. In 2009 the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America, which ranked Churchill Downs number 5 on its list. In 2014, prior to the start of their spring meet, Churchill Downs announc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians. With nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which grew into a system across 13 states. Today, the city is known as the home of boxer Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the University of Louisville and its Cardinals, Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and three of Kentucky's six ''Fortune'' 500 companies: Humana, Kindred Healthcare, and Yum! Brands. Muhamm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth McPeek
Kenneth G. McPeek (born August 2, 1962 in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Life and career Kenneth G. "Kenny" McPeek was born August 2, 1962 in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. He graduated from Tates Creek High School and then the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. In 1985 McPeek received his Thoroughbred Trainer's License. McPeek serves on the Boards of the University of Kentucky College of Agricultural Equine Program Advisory Committee, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), and the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA). He is a member of the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and The Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine Equine Veterinary Medical Director Search Committee. Major horses McPeek has trained a number of racehorses. In 2002, he won the Belmont Stakes with Sarava. His horses won back-to-back Spinster Stakes' with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flat Racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity. Horse races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport. Variations include restricting races to particular breeds, running over obstacles, running over different distances, running on different track surfaces, and running in different gaits. In some races, horses are assigned different weights to carry to reflect differences in ability, a process known as handicapping. While horses are sometimes raced purely for sport, a major part of horse racing's interest and economic importance is in the gambling associated with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevenson University
Stevenson University is a private university in Baltimore County, Maryland with two campuses, one in Stevenson and one in Owings Mills. The university enrolls approximately 3,615 undergraduate and graduate students. Formerly known as Villa Julie College, the name was changed to Stevenson University in 2008. History Founding Stevenson University was founded in Maryland as Villa Julie College in 1947 by the Roman Catholic women's religious order Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as a one-year school training women to become medical secretaries. The college was named for Saint Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Stevenson's Greenspring Valley campus is in the Green Spring Valley area within northwestern portion of Baltimore County. It is located on the former estate of the George Carroll Jenkins family. The estate's name was "Seven Oaks", a reference to huge old oak trees planted on the property. They were thought to mark a traditional Lenni Lenape burial grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
