I have ridden a lot of Derby horses on the gallops and in their trials at home, the jockey said, but to do it in a big one means a lot. This was by some distance Heffernan s biggest triumph, and by some distance the most emphatic victory by a middle-distance three-year-old this term. With injury having scuppered that notion, Bolger will now reflect on the day, some two years ago, when the Coolmore boys came calling to inspect his homebred stock. Seemingly able to converse with them in...

Villyard's wife and training assistant, Sue Villyard, said her 65-year-old husband heard Robert Geller's trackside call of the race by telephone at Swedish, where he has spent the past three weeks being treated for leukemia and pneumonia. Hospitalized trainer Villyard hears race call via telephone. But midway through the backstretch, Wild Cycle moved into contention and then took the lead for good coming out of the turn for home. Along the way he has continued to prove that size doesn't matter.

But the low uptake in Auckland, home to one-third of all 3- and 4-year-olds, has led critics to accuse Labour of promising a thoroughbred but delivering a donkey. Ministry of Education figures showed nationally 62 per cent of 2745 centres had joined the scheme, which began yesterday and provides for 20 hours of free early childhood education to 3- and 4-year-olds. Thousands of Auckland pre-schoolers will miss out on free funding for early childhood education after only half of the city's...

The thoroughbred wagering business has fractured, leaving horseplayers bewildered and furious that they cannot place all of their bets at a single outlet. Companies that offered phone or Internet betting paid similarly low rates, but now the operators of most major tracks believe that the sport's pricing structure is out of whack. A track such as Belmont Park or Santa Anita incurs huge expenses in putting on a top-classic product, but an Internet betting operation with minimal overhead can...

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Magnier and Nagle, I strongly suspect, would rather keep themselves and their horse in better company and a damn sight closer to home. If Magnier's interview on the BBC is anything to go by, the young bloods are bullying the old boys, and the thought of that nursing home is making it difficult for Magnier to lay down the law. When the Magniers name their children, they obviously bear in mind that one can waste a lot of time signing one's signature in life. Magnier's dilemma is that the...

How would you like a delicious horse sandwich? The French have their specialist butchers called boucheries chevalines and the Italians their salame di cavallo sausages, but for some reason horse meat is taboo in the English-speaking world. The same goes for horse milk - yet across much of the world, mare's milk is regarded with no more suspicion that goat's or sheep's. In the early 20th century it was so popular in Germany that it was delivered door to door. Mare's milk is not a new fad,...

In a major strategy shift, the Walt Disney co. said it will stop making direct-to-DVD sequels of such classic animated films as Cinderella, a move that reflects the growing influence of former Pixar Animation executives John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, who once called the films "embarrassing. In a major strategy shift, the Walt Disney co. said it will stop making direct-to-DVD sequels of such classic animated films as Cinderella, a move that reflects the growing influence of former Pixar...