Twenty horses are set to go in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and Shug McGaughey’s colt, Orb, very well may be the Derby favorite come post time Saturday. Coming off a four-race win streak, the bay colt is taking to the track well with a strong workout on Monday that has many talking. 

Orb is bred to handle the 10-furlong trip. A grandson of A.P. Indy and Unbridled, he is undefeated around two turns. In both the Fountain of Youth Stakes and the Florida Derby, Orb ran his opposition down in the final furlong and won going away. He prefers to sit near the back of the pack and close in the stretch. But he has also shown that he’s able to sit closer to the leaders if there is a slow pace.

Orb has plenty of experience backing him up. He is owned by Stuart S. Janney III and the Phipps Stable, who have been among the bluest of the blue-bloods of American racing for almost a century. Mrs. Henry Carnegie Phipps raced Bold Ruler under the purple and gold colors of Wheatley Stable in the 1950s. Her son, Ogden Phipps, owned and raced Buckpasser during the following decade. Janney’s parents raced the great filly Ruffian.

For 28 years, the Phipps horses have been trained by Hall of Fame member, Shug McGaughey III.  He is no stranger to preparing some of racing’s superstars for big races, including Easy Goer and Personal Ensign. However neither McGaughey or the colt’s owners has ever won the Derby. Orb would be just the second Derby starter for McGaughey since he saddled Easy Goer to a runner-up finish behind Sunday Silence in 1989. His other horse, Awe Inspiring, finished third that year.

Orb is also impressing other trainers around the track.Bob Baffert, himself a Hall of Fame trainer and a three-time Derby winner, said, “I love the way Orb moves over the ground. He just floats. He looks the part.”

Orb will be ridden by Joel Rosario, 28. This is his fourth Derby mount, with his best finish being fourth on long shot Make Music for Me in 2010.

PSU Krymsun In Blue was the high seller at the Penn State Quarter Horse sale on April 27. 
 
Emily Smetanick Fennell bought the 2-year-old gelding for $5,500.  “We are so excited about him! We certainly weren’t planning on being high bidder, but he’s definitely worth it —  what a sweet guy!” said Fennell, who also said the showring would be in the gelding’s future.

The 15.3 hand sorrel gelding is by PSU Dynamic Krymsun and by MLF Rhapsody In Blue, a daughter of Sky’s Blue Boy. Last year, Rhapsody In Blue’s 2010 foal, PSU Shaded in Blue, by Image of Shadow, sold for $3,600.

Andrew Nicholson’s incredible eventer Quimbo is more than an incredible athlete, he’s a stunning gelding. The 10-year-old Spanish-bred is by far one of the best looking horses on course at Rolex. With big, kind eyes, a wide forehead, neat ears and a tapered nose, he immediately stands out during the inspection.

When Nicholson first rode Quimbo he said he thought his future may lie in show jumping, but the black gelding was quick to prove he is talented in all three eventing disciplines.Quimbo has been rising through the ranks in New Zealand where they have high hopes for the young gelding.

Six-time Olympian Andrew Nicholson of New Zealand is sitting in the top two spots at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event going into the final phase Sunday, April 28. He’s in first place on Quimbo (38.0 penalties) and in second place on Calico Joe (40.8).

Nicholson will have a one-rail margin of error Sunday over third place rider Buck Davidson (Florida) on Ballynoe Castle. 

If Nicholson wins in Kentucky on Sunday, the victory would put him two-thirds of the way to the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing. He won Burghley (England) last September. He would need to win at Badminton (England) next weekend to become the second rider to claim the prize.

Quimbo is considered to be a particularly good showjumper, so he may be in good shape to take a victory in Lexington on Sunday.

If you can’t attend the Penn State Quarter Horse Sale on Saturday, April 27, you can watch it live online. If you’d like to bid over the phone, contact Brian Egan to set up a bidder number at 814-863-0569.

Doors open at Snider arena at 8:30 a.m. with the sale horse demonstration at 10. Farm tours will be given at noon and the bidding begins at 2 p.m. A used tack and clothing sale will be held starting at 8:30 a.m.

Eleven 2-year-olds and five yearlings will be sold at the sale. View the catalog of sale horses including videos.    The reserve on 2-year-olds will be set at $1,500. Last year’s sale average was $3,300.

The Penn State breeding program features the AQHA stallion Dynamic Krymsun, who placed at the 2012 Congress (7th, Green Western Riding; 5th Limited, 6th Open Performance Halter Stallions) He has earned his Performance ROM with points in Western Pleasure and Western Riding and was the recipient of the 2011 PQHA Breeder Award and the Joyce Armstrong Memorial QIP Stallion Award. Point Earning producer in first foal crop including a finalist at the 2012 Quarter Horse Congress. See his Congress Western Riding run at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHigccd81y0.

The 15.2 hand bay stallion is by One Hot Krymsun and out of the Dynamic Deluxe mare, Dynamic Zippo. He was bred by Penn State with a donated breeding from One Hot Krymsun. Offspring in the sale by Dynamic Krymsun include:

• Lot No. 1: Krymsun in Blue: 15.3 hand 2011 sorrel gelding out of  MLF Rhapsody In Blue (Sky’s Blue Boy)
• Lot. No. 2: PSU Willy Be Krymsun: 15.2 hand 2011 red roan gelding by Willy Invite Her.
• Lot No. 7: Coby Zipped in Black: 14 hand yearling bay gelding, out of Zipped To A Te

The sale also includes several horses by the university’s reining-bred quarter horses. Willie Be Nimble, a 1994 chestnut stallion by The Jac Be Nimble, is the sire of Lot No. 11: PSU Smart N Nimble, a yearling gelding. Willie B Nimble was donated to the Penn State program after the university’s reining stallion, Kuel Minnick (Minnick Minder) died. Kuel Minnick is the sire of  four of the sale’s 2-year-olds.
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Also in the sale are offspring of Image of Shadow, Time to Score, Suddenly Secret and Genetically Loaded.

PSU Solid Investment

Lot No. 3: PSU Solid Investment is by reserve world champion Potential Investment out of Dynamic Krymsun’s dam, Dynamic Zippo.

PSU Shadows Bonita, a 7 year old AQHA mare, gave birth Saturday, April 20, to twin bay foals at Penn State. This was her second pregnancy. The foals, a colt and a filly, are by the university’s stallion PSU Dynamic Krymsun (One Hot Krymsun). Both are healthy and doing well.

While some view allowing twins to be born as poor breeding management, Brian Egan, an instructor in Equine Science and Penn State Horse Farm coordinator, said “PSU has been breeding Quarter Horses for over 50 years and have had two sets of twins during that time while foaling between 15 and 20 mares per year. What needs to be considered is the work that our farm management staff put into the last 6 weeks since the mare started to act like she was going into early labor. During this time, the mare was maintained in foal and now she has delivered two live, healthy foals just 7 days short of her due date.”

Penn State is holding its annual quarter horse sale Saturday, April 27, at the university’s Snider Ag Arena. Bidding begins at 2 p.m. Eleven 2-year-olds and five yearlings will be sold.

The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event first horse inspection appears to the equestrian fashion show portion of the event. (I love Buck Davidson’s red socks!) But after seeing the outfits that ranged from colorful to classic, I was taken aback by the footwear many of the women choose to wear as they ran down the drive next their equine partners fit to perfection.

The ladies turned to colorful scarfs and pants to standout against their horses. (Trust me, if women are involved, the clothes will suddenly be anything but simple.) But it was the open dress shoes that made my toes curl with the imaginings of shod hooves stamping down upon them. Horsemanship sticklers had to be cringing where ever they were that the elite athletes of equestrian sports were snubbing their noses at the basics of equestrian attire. Forget the helmet police that I have seen shame riders on even the quietest of old school horses that they should be wearing protection on their noggins, where are the shoe police enforcing proper attire during a competition as huge as the Rolex Three-Day Event?

And that wasn’t even the most surprising. Two of the women wore heels! I would be ass over teacups days before I ever set foot on the cross-country course if I tried such a trick.These aren’t exactly western pleasure horses jogging in front of the judges. While these animals are gorgeous, I’m left impressed by these ladies’ ability to gallop down the road next to them wearing these:

Moving away from the shoes, color and classics dominated the field. Some things never go out of style, and in the end, it’s the horse that mattered.

Good luck to all the competitors as dressage gets underway tomorrow, Thursday, April 25. Everyone be safe and get home as sound as you were today in the inspection.

The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day event is this weekend in Lexington, Ky., with 46 horses expected to compete. The event begins on Thursday, April 25, and runs through Sunday, April 28.

See photos of all of the horses presented Wednesday at the first horse inspection at http://useventing.com/news/2013-rolex-kentucky-first-horse-inspection

The event will be televised as the Rolex Equestrian Championships, presented by Land Rover, on NBC on Sunday, April 28, from 4:00-5:00 p.m. EDT.  Leading up to the NBC telecast, USEFNetwork.com is offering live, wall-to-wall coverage of the dressage, cross-country, and show jumping phases.
 
The full broadcast schedule is listed below and is available under the Live Broadcast Schedule tab at USEFNetwork.com. Times are subject to change.

• April 25: LIVE Dressage on USEFNetwork.com, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT
• April 26: LIVE Dressage on USEFNetwork.com, 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT
• April 27: LIVE Cross-Country on USEFNetwork.com, 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT
• April 28: LIVE Show Jumping on USEFNetwork.com, 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. EDT
• Awards Ceremony on USEFNetwork.com, 3:00 p.m. ET
• Rolex Equestrian Championships presented by Land Rover on NBC, 4:00 to 5 p.m. EDT

For more information about the event, visit www.rk3de.org.

Storm Cat was euthanized Wednesday, April 24, due to complications from old age (possibly cancer) at Overbrook Farm in Lexington, Ky.

The Pennsylvania-bred stallion had produced at least 160 stakes winners who combined to top $127 million. Among his offspring were 91 yearlings that sold for more than $1 million. When Storm Cat retired from racing in 1987, his stud fee was $30,000, Overbrook Farm said in a news release. During his 20-year stud career, his fee at one point rose to $500,000, the farm said.