Picks and Ponderings: Voting for 2017’s Illinois Champions

It’s that time of the year again — time to look back over the year that was, and to recognise … More

Picks and Ponderings: Rethinking Illinois Champion Categories

I voted in the Illinois Champions poll last week…but, the more I thought about it, the more I think Illinois … More

This week, I had the honour to cast my ballot in the ITBOF’s poll, to determine 2016’s champion Illinois-bred racehorses. … More

Last week, I hit upon the doom and gloom from this year’s Illinois foal report, but I promised some better … More

Enough with the foal report-related doom and gloom, at least for the moment. The foal report abounds with hope, as … More

One of my favourite moments of the year happens when the Illinois Department of Agriculture posts the latest year’s foal … More

As many of you know from things I have posted here or on Twitter, I have been volunteering for CANTER … More

Thoroughbred racing in Illinois gets back underway in less than two weeks. With that on the horizon, and two-year-old races … More

News broke Wednesday that Hawthorne will probably cut stakes races from their spring schedule. I have spent the last two … More

I am proud to have cast a ballot in the Illinois Champions vote for the second year in a row. … More

The list of Triple Crown nominees came out today. Sure, everyone is talking about obvious types like Mohaymen and Nyquist … More

Entering the Past the Grandstand blog contest two years ago was one of the major catalysts that led to me … More

Every so often, someone googles Blinkers Off with interesting enough search terms that a post ensues. Within the last week, … More

If there are two things that hit Blinkers Off square in the wheelhouse, they are Curlin babies and Illinois-breds. Rarely … More

Based on the 2015 Illinois Department of Agriculture foal report, there were 173 Illinois Conceived and Foaled Thoroughbreds last year, … More