The Real Rider Cup offers two legs of competition, the first leg at Mereworth Farm in Lexington, KY, on Jul. 8 and the second durin the Fair Hill Thoroughbred Show in Elkton, MD, on Sep. 15. Riders will compete both individually and as part of a team formed to represent a particular farm, stable, organization or branch of the industry. All riders pledge to raise a minimum of $1,000, either through donations or sponsorships. Participation will be capped at 30 riders per event.

Each rider will navigate a 2'6″ jumps course at either location, or they can choose to compete at both. The leading riders from each leg will compete head-to-head in a virtual event with online voting to determine the Real Rider Cup Champion. Awards will also be given for top teams and top fund raisers at each leg.

“We are incredibly grateful to all the participants, volunteers and those that have donated and sponsored over the last five years,” Real Rider Cup founder Anita Motion said. “After our record-breaking Real Rider Cup in 2022, we're looking forward to another year of fun competition and fund raising for Thoroughbred aftercare.”

For more information or to register, visit the Real Rider Cup website.

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“We will miss Da Hoss greatly. He was a fan favorite as he proved that spirit can triumph over adversity,” said Nicole Rivera, Interim Deputy Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Park. “I would like to extend a special thank you to Rob Willis and the Hall of Champions staff for the great care and affection they showed Da Hoss during his time here at the park.”

Foaled on Jan. 18, 1992, Wall Street Racing Da Hoss as a Keeneland September yearling for $6,000.  After racing as a 2-year-old for trainer Kevin Eikleberry and Wall Street Racing, an 85% interest in Da Hoss was sold to Prestonwood Farm. He was shipped to Fair Hill training center to start training with Michael Dickinson and Joan Wakefield.

Only one five horses to win the Breeders' Cup Mile twice, and the only horse to win twice in non-consecutive years, Da Hoss annexed the turf test in 1996 and 1998, the second after returning from an injury. His inspiring finish in the 1998 Mile produced one of Tom Durkin's most memorable race calls, as he exclaimed: “The greatest comeback since Lazarus!”

Added trainer Michael Dickinson of Tapeta Farm, “We all loved him. He was our horse of a lifetime. He brought us so many highs, even with his problems, we knew he would never let us down. He gave his all and loved to win.  He was spoiled but deserved to be. He loved going out in one of his grass fields with his best friend Boomer for two or three hours every day.  He knew he was special. It was comforting to know he was always well looked after by everyone at the Kentucky Horse Park where he enjoyed a wonderful retirement.”

Da Hoss shared the Kentucky Horse Park Hall of Champions with other Champion horses, including Thoroughbreds Go For Gin, Funny Cide and Point Given, Standardbred pacers Western Dreamer and Won the West, and Standardbred trotter Mr. Muscleman.

Da Hoss will be buried in the Memorial Walk of Champions.

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“We appear to have lost everything, but fortunately no horses or people were involved,” Anderson told Paulick Report. “There was a lot of diagnostic equipment: X-rays, ultrasound, the pharmacy, plus medical records.”

Also suffering a barn fire over the holiday weekend was Glencrest Farm. The farm's stallion barn was completely destroyed Christmas morning, according to Paulick Report. While the farm no longer stands stallions, the barn was home to three show horses who perished in the fire.

“Nothing survived,” John Greathouse, Jr. told Paulick Report. “The barn is gone and sadly the horses.”

The barn was leased by Lorna Matthews and Melanie Fransen. Andrea Greathouse established a GoFundMe page to collect donations for the mother and daughter.

“We are asking for help in raising funds towards everything that was lost,” Andrea Greathouse tweeted. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the three incredible horses that lost their lives and to Lorna and Melanie who have lost so much.”

The cause of both fires is still under investigation.

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The barn known as Parlo II West, which housed an outpatient veterinary clinic operated by Dr. Kathleen Anderson and is used for much of the year by trainer Michael Matz, was fully engulfed in flames at about 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday, according to a witness. The fire was under control within 90 minutes, but the damage had been done with little besides the concrete block walls remaining.

Matz, a former Olympic equestrian best known in racing as the trainer of  2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, had moved his stable to Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida for the winter. Anderson was out of town for the Christmas holiday when the fire broke out and she said the clinic closed at around 4 p.m. because of the holiday. The fire did not spread to any other barns.

Anderson said the barn was built in 2005 and had a fire alarm system, fire wall and sprinkler system. The cause of the fire, she said, was not known.

“We appear to have lost everything, but fortunately no horses or people were involved,” said Anderson. “There was a lot of diagnostic equipment: X-rays, ultrasound, the pharmacy, plus medical records.”

A former president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Anderson lost her home to a fire in 1997.

“This is the second time around for me,” she said. “The 1997 fire was not pleasant, and this is more tolerable because it's strictly material possessions and we can deal with that. Dealing with the loss of horses or people is far worse.”

Nevertheless, Anderson said, both she and Matz – whom she spoke to by telephone – are “distraught” over the loss.

This is also the second fire at Fair Hill, which had a 40-stall barn destroyed in a 2005 blaze that left 24 horses dead.

Denise Bennett, who is stabled at an adjacent barn, submitted the following video of the fire.

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Horses stabled in Fair Hill, in Elkton, Md., who register an official start during the Aqueduct spring meet, from April 1 through April 18, or during the Belmont spring/summer meet [from April 22 through July 11] will see their owners credited with an $800 shipping stipend, excluding stakes races.

A first-time starter must have their previous three workouts at Fair Hill to be eligible. NYRA reserves the right to determine eligibility for qualified starters, with each prospective horse needing to demonstrate a pattern of works at Fair Hill in order to ensure eligibility.

The Fair Hill incentive is complemented by “Ship & Win” programs for horses based at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark.

Horses that made their previous start at Oaklawn may be able to take advantage of a “Ship & Win” program, which includes a 30 percent purse bonus for their first start for horses who last ran at Oaklawn in 2021 before shipping to New York. NYRA will also provide a $1,500 stipend for a start during either the Aqueduct spring or Belmont spring/summer meets, excluding stakes races, for eligible horses.

First-time starters do not qualify for the Oaklawn Park program. NYRA reserves the right to determine eligibility of qualified starters.

For more information, please contact the racing office at 718-659-4241.

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Owners of horses stabled at Fair Hill, in Elkton, Maryland who register an official start during the Aqueduct spring meet (Apr. 1 through Apr. 18), or during the Belmont spring/summer meet (Apr. 22 through July 11), will be credited with an $800 shipping stipend, excluding stakes races. First-time starters must have their three prior works at Fair Hill, and NYRA reserves the right to determine eligibility, with horses needing to demonstrate a pattern of Fair Hill works to qualify.

Horses who made their prior start at Oaklawn before racing at the same NYRA meets will race for a 30% purse bonus in their first qualifying start and will also be eligible for a $1500 stipend (excluding stakes horses). First-time starters shipping from Oaklawn do not qualify for the program.

For more information, contact the NYRA racing office at 718-659-4241.

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It takes a special kind of relationship for a couple to successfully run a business together, but anyone that’s trying should take notes from the Delacours. In just over a decade, they’ve taken hundreds of trips to the winner’s circle and made several Grade I headlines. But if anyone asks, they will say they owe much of their success to a Frenchman and an Englishman who took the time to develop them into the horsemen they have become.

Arnaud grew up on a farm in Normandy and quickly realized his dream of one day becoming a successful trainer. He started out at Chantilly, becoming the assistant trainer to Alain de Royer Dupré. After testing the waters in France, England and Argentina, he eventually ended up in the States with fellow Frenchman Christophe Clement.

“Christophe was a very good teacher,” Arnaud said. “He’s very intense in the way he trains, but I guess that’s the French way so it doesn’t really bother me. He’s really hands on, is there every day and really puts young people on the right path.”

At the same time, Leigh was learning the tricks of the trade from British-born Graham Motion.

“I started out by loving horses as a child, and that took me to Graham Motion’s barn at Laurel,” she recalled. “Working with Graham was the epitome of horse racing childhood. It was the Harvard education of racing.”

Leigh said that while she worked with Motion for over 10 years, the top-class trainer pushed her to graduate from college and take other opportunities in the industry, including a stint working under Barclay Tagg and with several other trainers.

While working with Graham and Anita Motion, she was introduced to Clement’s assistant trainer at the time–Arnaud Delacour.

“Graham and Anita set us up on our first date,” Leigh said with a grin. “In fact, I give more of the credit to Anita. She’s the one that said, ‘That’s the one you want. You should go there.’ Graham would never say anything like that. He’s too proper.”

It was a match perhaps made by the racing gods, because while they were compatible on a personal level, their racing ideology aligned as well.

“When we compared notes and talked about how we wanted to train, we looked at our playbooks and laid them on top of each other and realized they were nearly identical,” Leigh said.

When the duo went out on their own in 2007, they decided to base their operation at the picturesque Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland.

“We chose Fair Hill because we thought it was a wonderful place,” Arnaud said. “There’s a lot of opportunity as far as horse placement. We’re in the middle of a lot of racetracks, so it was a little easier to be less stuck and try to place horses well to win races.”

Another major plus for planting roots at Fair Hill was the proximity to their matchmaking neighbors and close friends, Graham and Anita Motion.

“That was no small part of our decision to be here–my experience with them and wishing to emulate something like what they have,” Leigh said.

Both Arnaud and Leigh say they strongly believe that the lessons they learned from Motion and Clement were essential in getting their stable on its feet.

“Everything we do on a daily basis came from the methodology and thorough horsemanship that Arnaud and I learned from Graham and Clement,” Leigh said. “Their methods and ethics were something that we wanted to make sure we were ambassadors of going forward, hoping to be the next generation of what they were able to do.”

“When I first started with Clement I was at Payson Park, where it was the same kind of setup [as Fair Hill] with paddocks and round pens,” Arnaud said. “So a lot of the things we do are in more of a farm setting than a racetrack. I got used to Christophe’s methods and the way he does things, and Graham is really similar to Christophe.”

Leigh continued, “We would do anything for them. They went out of their way to get us started and we’re the competition. Of course, we weren’t when we began. We weren’t at that level then. But we still look up to them now.”

Since first starting out, the Delacours have collected dozens of stakes win and developed several graded stakes winners–most notably A.P. Indian (Indian Charlie), who went on a six-race stakes-winning streak in 2016, raking in four graded stakes titles including two Grade I wins at Saratoga.

“Any win is important,” Arnaud said. “But when A.P. Indian won the GI Forego S. that was pretty special. Actually, no, even when he won the GI Vanderbilt H., because winning a Grade I at Saratoga is great, but winning two in three weeks is even better.”

The Arnaud family enjoys the tranquil setting of Fair Hill | Anita Motion

A.P. Indian was reminiscent of many of the Delacour’s trainees in that he raced at 11 different tracks over his six-year career.

Other top horses include GIII Lexington S. winner and 2015 Preakness S. third-place finisher Divining Rod (Tapit), three-time MGSW Hawksmoor (Ire) {Amamour (Ire)} and near-millionaire earner and Breeders’ Cup runner-up Chalon (Dialed In).

Most recently, their sophomore filly Magic Attitude (GB) {Galileo (Ire)} made her Stateside debut a winning one with a late effort in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. this September. In her next start, she ran in the money in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland.

When Arnaud and Leigh are not busy tending to Grade I performers, they can be found entertaining their three young son.

“They’re all healthy and smart and funny,” Leigh said. “With the pandemic, we’re also homeschooling right now. Our goals are to raise our sons and enjoy horse racing, wherever and however that meshes together.”

Leigh cites Fair Hill as the perfect setting for introducing their children to the horse world.

“It’s kind of nice to stop by at night with the kids in their pajamas and walk down the shed row to give everyone peppermints. When we go home the kids smell like the barn and usually have dirty hands, but that’s okay.”

Both Arnaud and Leigh stress the essentiality of their unwavering teamwork.

“It’s a partnership,” Arnaud explained. “She keeps me on the right path. We decide everything together pretty much. She’s really good at what she does. So I think it’s a great partnership that works really well.”

“Arnaud and I working together has never been a problem,” Leigh said. “I think Anita chose well for me. He seeks my opinion on a lot of things pertaining to the racehorses and I seek his about the children and the finance side of the barn. There’s a joke with the staff that if we ever divorce, some of the guys are going to work for me and some are going to work for Arnaud. They’ve already chosen sides. But it’s easy for us to work together and I realize it’s not for some people, but the way our relationship works is very mellow.”

For Leigh, she says that her greatest achievement has been helping Arnaud fulfill the dream he had as a young boy on a small farm in France.

“Arnaud’s dream from childhood was to be a horse trainer,” she said. “Every winner is rewarding for us, for the mentality of our barn employees and for all the time, money and energy that each of the owners invests in their horses and in us. We try to do our best every day and it’s a privilege for us to get to come out every morning and do that.”

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The 3-year-old filly by Bernardini out of 2007 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) winner Panty Raid convinced her connections early on that she requires special accommodations to lessen her claustrophobia, and she has thanked them by earning $445,978 with four wins, including the Sept. 10 Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs.

Micheline and her companion horse, Colonel, arrived at Keeneland early Thursday morning from trainer Mike Stidham's base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland with some unusual baggage: a portable stall. The housing of four wood-lined farm gates and fitted gray tarp for a ceiling soon was assembled outside the Stidham barn, and Micheline took up residence inside with Colonel in the main barn.

“Whenever she ships to another track, that stall goes with her,” Stidham said.

During her early training in Florida, Micheline was so claustrophobic that she was turned out in a paddock instead of residing in a stall. Before she relocated to Fair Hill, an outdoor stall was built.

“She lived there for the summer and then last winter when we went to Tampa Bay Downs, Godolphin bought her a portable stall so she could live just outside the barn,” Stidham said.

While Micheline's situation is unusual, horsemen routinely conjure up clever methods to manage racehorses' individual behaviors. Some horses relax with a goat, small pony or donkey as a companion. Others enjoy a window in the stall between themselves and their next-door neighbor. Inquisitive types like to see plenty of activity, while introverts are more comfortable in a quiet section of the barn.

Micheline has excelled with her special treatment. Third in her career debut last year, she next won the Sorority at Monmouth Park. She opened 2020 with a runner-up effort in the Feb. 1 Sweetest Chant (G3) at Gulfstream Park, and she won Gulfstream's Honey Ryder on May 2. Overall, she has a 4-1-1 record from 11 starts.

“She has been at Fair Hill since her last race and has been training well,” Stidham said. “We are happy that we were invited to the Queen Elizabeth II.”

Florent Geroux will ride Micheline in Saturday's race. Stidham and Geroux won the 2015 QE II with Her Emmynency.

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Working in company with Godolphin 2-year-old Tate, an eye-catching debut winner Aug. 26 at Delaware Park, Mystic Guide went four furlongs in 48.60 seconds over the main track at Fair Hill Training Center, ranking second of 35 horses.

“[Tate] broke his maiden by seven, so he was a good workmate this morning,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “Mystic Guide sat just off of him breaking from the half-mile pole and he came to him in the stretch and they finished together, which was the planned work. Then he had a real solid gallop out … in 1:01 and 1. It was just what we were looking for and we're very pleased with where we're at with him right now.”

The work was the first for Mystic Guide since coming from off the pace for a three-quarter-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy. The sophomore son of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper has two wins, a second and two thirds from five career starts, all this year, including a third in the Peter Pan (G3) July 16, also at Saratoga.

“He came out of his last race in good order. He's galloped up until today,” Stidham said. “He's been training very well and this morning's half-mile work went just as we planned. We have the Preakness as a consideration. We're not 100 percent committed at this time, but we are looking at it. He'll have another work next weekend in preparation if we do run in the Preakness.”

The 1 3/16-mile Preakness would be the longest race to date for Mystic Guide, out of the A.P. Indy mare Music Note, who has steadily stretched out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles to the 1 1/8 miles of his last two starts. The Jim Dandy marked the first time he raced in blinkers.

“He's bred to run a mile and a quarter and further than that,” Stidham said. “As he ran last time going a mile and an eighth when we added the blinkers he was plenty ready for the added distance, and further distance is going to even help more.”

Based the past four summers at Fair Hill, Stidham has never started a horse in the Preakness. This year's race is being run for the first time as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown as well as a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“He was a horse that was a little bit behind as a 2-year-old. He had some maturity issues with just some minor, niggling things that slowed him down,” Stidham said. “We didn't get him until he was close to being a 3-year-old so he made his first start at the Fair Grounds. He ran in a sprint race which we knew was more or less just an educational race.

“He ran well that day and when we ran him back two turns he was very impressive, drew off impressively in that race,” he added. “He was a little bit of a late developer, then when COVID hit and they changed the dates for all these races in the Triple Crown, it gave us a chance and gave us an opportunity to a part of it. We're happy to be in consideration for the Preakness.”

The Preakness is the centerpiece of a blockbuster weekend of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purses Oct. 1-3 at Pimlico that includes the 96th running of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), one of the country's most prestigious races for 3-year-old fillies, this year on the Preakness undercard.

Stidham said he is also considering 4-year-old filly Peaceful for the $100,000 The Very One for females 3 and up sprinting five furlongs on the turf Oct. 1, and undefeated Princess Grace for the $100,000 Hilltop for 3-year-old fillies going one mile on the grass.

“She won both of her starts on the grass, both going two turns, so we think she's ready for the step up into stakes company and we're hoping for a good effort there,” Stidham said. “[Peaceful] was second in her last start, the first time in a black-type race. She ran well. That was an off-the-turf race where we kept her in on the dirt, and this would be going back to the turf so we think she's going to be in a good spot there being back on the grass.”

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