Big Zeb stuns Master Minded in the Queen Mother Champion Chase as favourites continue to be toppled at Cheltenham.
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The first book I’m trying to find the name of involved a thoroughbred racehorse by the name of Flyby…great book but cannot remember the name or the author. The other book, which also involved horse racing, involved a farm which I believe was called three aces. If you know the titles of these or any other romance novels involving horses or horse racing please let me know. Thanks
This is not from a childrens series. It was an adult novel. Something tells me it may have been by Nora Roberts but I can’t seem to find it.

Try the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. It has horse racing in it - Arabian and Thoroughbred.

Big Buck’s retains his World Hurdle crown with a tremendous performance for the Paul Nicholls-Ruby Walsh pairing.
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Trainer Paul Nicholls says he has not ruled out running Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Denman again this season.
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Dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star was lucky to survive his fall during Friday’s race, owner Clive Smith tells BBC Sport.
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I will like have information on horse racing in France as to increase my chances of winning

http://www.france-galop.com/fr/index.asp

http://www.paris-turf.com/

The British Horseracing Authority is to investigate after former champion jockey Kieren Fallon was assaulted at Lingfield racecourse.
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Hot favourite Big Buck’s wins his second successive World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
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Kauto Star aims to beat stablemate Denman to lift the Cheltenham Gold Cup for a third time on a heady afternoon at Prestbury Park.
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Go Native will face 11 rivals in Tuesday’s Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham as he chases a £1m bonus.
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I hate horse racing, like the ones around the really long tracks, i think it is a cruel sport people put there horses through to just get some money and more horses to race. So, just wondering, how many horses die per year during a race? And i don’t care if the horse was trained, i still think it’s cruel. And I HATE it when they use their whips.

This depends to a large extent on the track and on where it’s located, Jessica. There are other mitigating factors too, such as the weather conditions during races, the type of racing surface ( eg, dirt, Polytrack, turf, artificial turf, or a mixed surface of dirt and sand) the number of horses entered in a given race or card of races, the AGES of those horses ( younger horses are FAR MORE likely to break down and suffer catastrophic injuries than older horses are) and their genetic makeup. All of these things play their own roles in determing how many horses actually die from or during races each year. Some tracks have a lot of fatalities, others have almost none, so it’s really hard to give an accurate estimate of how many horses actually die in a given year.

As for the whip use- the whip is perhaps the LEAST offensive thing in the sport, if you ask me. I’ve been following racing since I was a little girl- I watched Ruffian’s ill fated match race when I was just 11 years old- and I can tell you that the whip is something which has never really bothered me. There are WAY TOO MANY other things about the sport which are much more abusive than the whips. I have long been an advocate for a TOTAL BAN on 2 year old racing, because I consider that to be inhumane and cruel to the horses involved. A 2 year old horse is equivalent in its bone development to a 6 year old HUMAN CHILD. We, as a society, would NEVER ASK a 6 year old kid to run distances of up to a mile, sometimes more, with a one hundred pound lead weight strapped to his or her back, because it would KILL THE KID, and the public outcry would be so great that anyone who did this would end up in jail in short order. But we have NO QUALMS whatsoever when it comes to demanding that a young horse do this- and horses CAN’T SAY NO, and they can’t talk back or argue with us. The average racehorse is started under saddle and in training at the age of 15 months, which is LONG BEFORE horses of other breeds and in other sports start their careers. Most of the performance or sport horse industry outside of racing actually HEARTILY CONDEMNS racing because of this practice, in fact, because they are aware that it is cruel and can lead to permanent, lifelong problems. I agree with their viewpoint, because I know they are right. I’ve worked with horses that have come off the track- and they inevitably have all kinds of health and behavior issues which have to be dealt with if the animals are to ever have any chance of starting a different career.

And there’s another issue which bugs me about racing, namely that FAR TOO MANY of today’s horses are being bred for speed and looks instead of soundness or long term health. The advent of Polytrack has only ADDED to this problem and made it worse, because breeders now have an INCENTIVE TO KEEP BREEDING for speed and looks. Polytrack isn’t God’s gift to racehorses, not by a long shot. It drains poorly when it’s wet, and it’s subject to freezing in cold weather. And when it’s frozen, it’s VERY unforgiving to a horse’s legs and joints- witness what happened in January of 2009 at Santa Anita when the main track’s surface froze during an unexpected cold snap. Over the course of a two week period, there were 7 horses that DIED in racing accidents because they ran on the frozen track and broke their legs. That was probably the worst record for a given racetrack during the entire year which followed. Santa Anita has already had massive drainage problems THIS winter- they’ve canceled racing at least 3 seperate times in the last month alone. The fact that this is an El Nino year with lots of rain hasn’t helped either, because it means there are likely to be more cancellations. Santa Anita is owned by Magnum Entertainment, a company which also owns Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore and Laurel in Laurel, Maryland- and which filed for Chapter 11 more than a year ago. Given all the problems, it’s no surprise why. They need to get rid of the Polytrack at SA, and rehab Pimlico and Laurel- but there’s no money for any of that right now with the economy in the sewer. An outright ban on 2 year old racing would solve a LOT of problems- and I think it would eventually bring an end to some of these horrendous tragedies we keep seeing in racing. These accidents are ALL totally preventable- but because the powers that be which run the sport still refuse to see the connection between the accidents and the ages of the horses which break down, we are going to keep seeing more of them in the future. Some lessons have to be repeated MANY, MANY times before they finally sink in, and this appears to be one of them. Like you, I too have wondered what it will take to finally get the racing world to wake up and smell the coffee where the issue of safety is concerned. Perhaps a 9/11 style accident in which not just horses, but PEOPLE DIE- that’s one thought I’ve had. The Kentucky Derby is already one of the most crowded races in existence, and I am just waiting for the inevitable day when there is an accident during that race which so severe that NO ONE can ignore it.

Such a wreck would definitely involve human as well as equine deaths, and because it would be shown on national TV and the internet, the public outcry against racing will be HUGE. It’s at that point that I think we would finally start to see some REAL REFORMS in the sport of racing, reforms which are LONG OVERDUE. The sport would become less of a Little Boys’ Club, I think. We’d probably also see the end of 2 year old racing, and possibly, the end of 3 year old racing as well. There’d be demands to raise the racing ages of the horses, and demands to reform the way these horses are bred and raised. Jockeys would start to be treated as the professionals they are, instead of being treated as cannon fodder, the way they often are now. Trainers would be REQUIRED to show that their horses were healthy and provide proof that the horses were mature enough to race- and this would mean that every horse would have to have his or her own set of X-rays taken at different times prior to being entered in ANY RACE, no matter how long or short it was. Breeders would need to prove that they understood genetics and the science of reproduction, and they would need to be licensed. The practice of match races would be stopped for good in a perfect world, so as to ensure that tragedies like the one we saw with Ruffian thirty years ago would never happen again. Match races are inherently unfair and cruel to the animals involved, no matter how much people pretend otherwise. Finally, there would be limits imposed on the number of races a given horse could be entered in per year, so as to prevent horses from becoming injured because of exhaustion. Tired horses are just like tired PEOPLE, Jessica. They make mistakes- and sometimes, the mistakes are potentially fatal. I think the day when all of this will happen isn’t far off. Time will tell..

National Hunt’s showpiece meeting starting on Tuesday is among the most eagerly awaited in history.
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Qaspal puts his connections in line for a boost at next week’s Cheltenham Festival after an impressive win in the Imperial Cup at Sandown.
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Jockey Sam Thomas is a doubt for Cheltenham after being airlifted to hospital following an accident on the gallops at Paul Nicholls’ yard.
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Leading Flat jockey Kieren Fallon makes a late decision to pull out of an intended ride at the Cheltenham Festival.
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Real sports like football, rugby and cricket don’t rely on gambling money so why not just admit that horse racing isn’t a real sport?

And you don’t think that people gamble on other sports? Get real.

I don’t care what you think about horse racing. It is a wonderful sport. Horses are beautiful animals and they run their hearts out on the racetrack because they want to prove that they’re the best horse on the track. Certainly the racetracks need the gambling money in order to keep the purses at a respectable price. And gambling brings more people into the sport because they get to put their money where their mouth is. But are you really trying to say that because there’s gambling, horse racing can’t be called a real sport?

But of course I understand why you categorize horse racing as not a real sport…after all, the beauty and grace of a thoroughbred on the racetrack certainly can’t compare to a bunch of guys beating each other up in your "real" sports.

Trainer Nicky Henderson’s leading Cheltenham Festival hope Punchestowns suffers an injury scare 12 days before his run for the RSA Chase.
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Chief Oscar dies after winning the Ulster Grand National at Downpatrick.

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Mille Chief, ante-post favourite for Cheltenham’s Triumph Hurdle, is pulled out of the race by his trainer Alan King with an injured front leg.
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the sam houston race park i am looking for is the one located in houston texas. i don’t want to know what time the lounge or anything like that opens, i am only looking for the LIVE HORSE RACING open time. thanks!

AQHA< it’s a quarter horse track– really just go on AQHA.org. yes, the Alamo and all is important, just check out that site , it ties the historical with the contemporary.

Free admission will be offered at eight meetings in one week in April as part of an effort to broaden horse racing’s appeal.
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