I grew up riding horses with my father and grandfather on our family farm in North Alabama. And although I still bear the scars from my first pony, to this day I have a deep, spiritual love for these majestic, beautiful, powerful creatures.

An excerpt about Eight Belles from “The Last Lap,” Time Magazine, (May 19, 2008), Page 13, by David von Drehle:

…”But it’s only fair to point out that breeders aren’t a solitary priesthood. They flip horses the way real estate speculators once flipped condos. With dollar signs in their eyes, they savor 2- and 3-year-old horses, exactly the way the fashion industry looks at long-stemmed 14-year-old girls, exactly the way the celebrity culture gazes on Britney and Lindsay and Miley, exactly the way shoe-company reps scrutinize boys on basketball courts. Horses, fashion models, teen stars–they’re all produced for maximum profit.

Every market needs buyers as well as sellers, and that’s where the rest of us come in. If horse breeders have stopped raising animals that are sound for the long run, it’s because the audience for mature racehorses–like the audience for maturity in general–has vanished. Seabiscuit, over his 89-race career, drew huge crowds season after season. By contrast, this year’s Derby winner, Big Brown, will command the public eye for two months at best, retiring after the Belmont Stakes in June. Provided he lives that long.”