It’s not hard to fashion The Dream when you see the subtle pitch of a long, lush Kentucky bluegrass paddock rolling softly toward the background where the iconic view of grazing horses sets the frame. Champion… Sire.
It takes an imagination a bit more sturdy, perhaps even wild, for the same thought to strike the mind while climbing through the cut-valley terrain of Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, home of Blackstone Farm, the state’s leading Thoroughbred breeder and birthplace of Angel of Empire, a colt who finished third in the Kentucky Derby in May and will likely be one of the favorites in The Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Because every so often the Mid-Atlantic will produce a horse to rival the Kentucky bluebloods; not flashy or impeccably bred, just fast, competitive horses who were the beneficiaries of athletic gifts that cannot be guaranteed in the breeding shed: Pennsylvania’s Smarty Jones, New York’s Funny Cide.
But make no mistake, it is The Sport of Kings and the Kentucky Thoroughbred (continue reading)
