Difference Makers

Stacie Clark-Rogers started thinking about second careers for Thoroughbreds in the mid-1990s when she was a jockey at Fort Erie in Canada. “I started to wonder, ‘Hmmm, where do these horses go from here?’” she said. A decade later, after she retired from race riding and had worked as a simulcast host at Woodbine, she […]

“Do something each day to make the world a better place.” That’s been Rob Whiteley’s mantra for as long as I’ve known him, from his days as general manager of Carl Icahn’s Foxfield breeding operation to running his own Liberation Farm, and now living in semi-retirement on his New Jersey farm. That phrase is a […]

Shannon Kelly always felt at home on the backside of racetracks and considered the people in that community to be family. As the granddaughter of Hall of Fame trainer Thomas “T.J.” Kelly, she grew up spending her summers in the barn area at Saratoga. Her uncle, Pat Kelly, and father, Tim, also trained horses. The […]

“I’m retired but I’m not invisible.” Rick Schosberg ended an accomplished 35-year career as a trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit last December at the age of 61, giving him more time to devote to important causes like Thoroughbred aftercare. In fact, before the term was part of the industry’s lexicon, Schosberg was […]

Mike Joyce is that cigar-smoking, selfie-taking guy on FanDuel TV with a seemingly endless string of wisecracks. He’s a Southern Californian by way of Chicago and Wyoming whose irreverence on social media has prompted some high-brow horseplayers to go screaming not so gentle into that good night. Sans mutton chops and a deerstalker hat, Joyce […]

Nancy Messineo was one of those Thoroughbred owners who always looked after her horses once they left the racetrack. And now, thanks to an extraordinary gift made public only after her passing on June 8, countless other horses will be taken care of, too. Messineo was a residential real estate agent in the Los Angeles […]

There are very few words that get the adrenaline pumping and heart pounding like “Riders up!” That’s when all eyes are on the trainer, giving a leg up to the jockey, putting the hopes and dreams of trainers, owners, handicappers, and horse racing fans everywhere on the shoulders of the demure, colorful shoulders sitting aboard […]