His best horse may have been gray, but for the most part there was no gray area when it came to people’s feelings about trainer Grover Greer “Bud” Delp. The Maryland native was outspoken, irreverent, and controversial. He had a personality that divided people into two separate camps: those who loved him and those who had no use for him. The common ground, though, was respect for his ability as a trainer.
Tag: Legends
The Sport’s Great Rivalries: Affirmed and Alydar
There are millions of words that can be used to describe the intense emotions rolled into a classic rivalry. Yet there’s just one word, with only three letters, that stamps certain athletic battles as those rare confrontations that can withstand the test of time and grow even more legendary with each passing generation. And. It’s that simple. Whenever you cannot name one participant without the reflexive action of adding that “and” for the second one, you know you have something truly special. Yankees and Red Sox. Celtics and Lakers.
Triple Crown Turning Point: How Sharpening Focus Worked Wonders for Whirlaway
Belair Stud had dominated the sport of horse racing in the 1930s, the distinctive white with red spots a fixture in the winner’s circles of the Triple Crown races in multiple years. By the 1940s, though, the tide was turning toward a different set of silks, the immortal Devil red and blue of Calumet Farm.
Holy Bull: An Enduring Legacy of Brilliance
Holy Bull was that rare horse who could win one-turn races like the Hutcheson Stakes and the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile as though sprinting were his life’s calling, and also capture a grueling 1 ¼-mile race like the prestigious Travers Stakes, holding off no less than the eventual winner of that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. He was owned and trained by top New Jersey-based horseman Warren A. “Jimmy” Croll. And how he came to own Holy Bull is a story in itself.
