The 2007 Eclipse Awards were handed out last week; so were the Media Eclipse Awards, and the “Audio and Multi-Media Internet” honors went to heraldleaderphoto.com for their Kentucky Derby coverage  http://www.heraldleaderpho07. to.com/derby/2007. This is the website belonging to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the second-largest newspaper in Kentucky. The New York Times website at nytimes.com received an honorable mention for their coverage of the 133rd Run for the Roses.

The strength of these websites is their depth of coverage compared to other media. There are only so many pages in a newspaper or minutes in a television program, while a website can hold vast stores of information at relatively little cost. “We covered the small-time trainers right to the Queen of England,” producer David Stephenson told NTRA.com about the heraldleaderphoto.com Derby site.

Top horseplayers couldn’t be happier. The more that media coverage saturates thoroughbred racing, the more money there is to be made by those who pay proper attention.

As long as there have been horses there has been the racing of them. In fact it is one of the world’s most ancient sports dating back to the nomadic tribesmen of the Central Asian steppe. Genghis Khan, and later, the Russian Cossack warriors would not have been as successful in their empire spreading had it not been for the horse.
As early as 1140, the first of a long line of King Henrys tried to improve Hobby horses–pony-sized Irish horses–by importing Arab stallions to give them more speed and power. Henry’s Hobbys, as they were called, raced against horses owned by other nobility, lending the word “hobby” to mean a “costly pastime indulged in by the idle rich.”
Hundreds of years later, once the Americas had been conquered- with the aid of horses, and after the American Revolutionary War, more and more immigrants ventured into the Kentucky Territory where horse racing quickly became an institution.
At the 1775 Transylvania Convention, Daniel Boone introduced the first bill “to improve the breed of horses in the Kentucky territory.” Many Kentucky settlements–with the notable exception of Louisville which already had a race track–featured a Race Street, a straight stretch located just off the main thoroughfare and named after what went on there.
Back in England the Epsom Derby would start it’s famous history in 1780.
The War of 1812 took a heavy toll on horses. Afterwards, racing was slow to recover in the South and reformers shut it down entirely in the North and East.
On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Kentucky Derby, run at 1.5 miles, the same distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris.

The 134th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place on May 3rd. There are numerous horses that are earning advance press attention as contenders for the biggest race of the year. Undefeated War Pass looks like he refuses to lose, and will likely bring his four-race win streak to the Wood Memorial in New York for his final prep before the Derby.

El Gato Malo is coming off of three consecutive wins, the most recent being a record-setting-run at the $150,000 San Rafael Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park. Court Vision has established himself as one of the frontrunners with a win at the Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.

Cowboy Cal is coming off of three victories and hasn’t been challenged since his 7th-place finish at the Maiden Special Weight – Saratoga. There is also Anak Nakal who has had two victories and one place in three races.

2009 may be the year for the Chinese when it comes to horse race betting. The announcement is seen as the beginning of horse race gambling on the Chinese mainland and would be a milestone since the Communist Party came into power in 1949.

The races would be held at the Orient Lucy City Racecourse in Wuhan in September of this year, according to a senior manager with the Orient Lucky Horse Group Cooperation. However, betting on the races would not be introduced on a trial basis until 2009.

“Initially about 250 horses from different jockey clubs around the country will participate in the races,” said the manager, “but betting can only be officially launched when the races draw at least 2,000 horses.”

An expert in the study of horserace betting, Qin Zunwen, said the business, once fully operational nationwide, could end up creating close to 3 million jobs a year.

Hubei Academy of Social Sciences revealed conducted a survey that 83.3% of Wuhan residents believed that the introduction of betting would have a positive social impact. 51% of those surveyed also said they were “interested” or “very interested” in gambling on the races.

The new “Super Dirt” track is being used in its first big race this week at the Golden Gate Fields in Berkley California. The new surface is one of three artificial tracks that are competing to become the dirt track of choice. The artificial surface is made up of the same silica that’s used in computer chips, then covered with a polymer coating. This provides a cushioning effect for the horses and jockeys, which will prevent countless injuries that occur every year on natural track surfaces.

It’s not required to spray down the tracks in dry conditions, which is estimated to save 30 million gallons of water per year. It’s able to filter water and never gets muddy. There are some issues with keeping it clean because certain organic materials will not break down in it. Besides that, it looks like it will be the surface of choice into the future.

There something powerful in the image of three crowns. It appears on several coats of arms, most notably the Tre Kronor of Sweden. So it follows that just about every sport has its Triple Crown of achievements. The rare champions who reach these lofty heights – Ted Williams, Manchester United, Jean-Claude Killy – become legends.

Thoroughbred racing has been waiting since 1978 for a horse to sweep its famous North American version of the Triple Crown. That’s the year Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont with jockey Steve Cauthen at the reins. Parity has taken over since then; for one horse to stand out from the expanding and talented crowd is increasingly difficult.

Only 11 horses have pulled off the Triple Crown since the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875. Seven of those winners came between 1930 and 1948; Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed won the Triple Crown in a five-year span. Those were the days.