Equine Chronicle photo via Mike Fester

The arena is dark and empty at the Red Bud Spectacular in Oklahoma City this weekend after the Oklahoma State Fairground was closed because of the tornadoes that hit the Oklahoma City area Friday night, shutting down the AQHA Red Bud Spectacular horse show. The show was to continue through June 9.

During the storm, about 200 people hunkered down in the concrete-reinforced ramp going into the main show arena as the tornadoes passed nearby. No one was hurt at the showgrounds and the site received no damage. However, power is out at the facility and some power lines were downed by the storm. The area also received 6 inches of rain.

 Kate Upton has become a familiar face to many after graving the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition this year. But in the horse industry, she’s been a familiar face for a long time as a top competitor on the paint horse circuit.

The 2012 magazine cover is her second time appearing in the annual SI issue that’s the equivalent of the Super Bowl for models. Last year, when Irina Shayk was on the cover, Upton was chosen as rookie of the year.

A 12-year-old Kate was first “discovered” by Trump Model Management in and airport when she was on her way home from the Memorial Day Classic horse show. Her parents decided against allowing her to pursue modeling at that young an age. At 15 she signed with Elite Model Management in Miami.

“I started showing in 4-H when I was eight years old and took my first lessons from Katherine Kope in Melbourne, Florida,” Upton said in the Equine Chronicle in 2010. “A year later I started showing at APHA shows with Cedar Stone Acres and my horse A Tad of Scotch. That’s when we got my second horse, Too Shiny Forya, aka Roanie.”

As an APHA youth exhibitor, Upton and Too Shiny Forya, aka “Roanie,” won three Reserve World Championships (in 13 and under Western Riding, 13 and Under Horsemanship and 14-18 Western Riding). In 2006, she was also named the 13 and Under Reserve All-Around Champion at the APHA World Show. In 2009, Upton and “Zipped From the Heart” won the 14-18 Western Riding. 

Her older sister, Laura Upton still shows on the APHA circuit in the Amateur events and was a recent member of the Georgia Bulldogs equestrian team before graduating. 

Great AQHA show horse, Conclusives Bar Cody, died Wednesday, May 8 from complications due to colic. The 23-year-old brown gelding, “Milton,” had over 3,400 points, 16 superiors, and multiple AQHA World and Reserve World Championships including titles in hunter under saddle, horsemanship (twice), equitation, and western riding.

“I remember one year at the Congress where he won the Western Riding, Hunter Under Saddle Maturity, Hunter Hack, and Horsemanship all in one year,” Charlie Cole remembers. “He was 17 hands but he could spin a hole in the ground and lay down a perfect horsemanship pattern. He made you work for everything. You had to prepare him correctly or he would be too fresh but if we did our job — he did his.”

Conclusives Bar Cody was by Conclusives Dare (Conclusive) and out of a daughter of Ole Bartender (The Ole Man). Pedigree here.

May 8-11 at the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Va., is reserved for the Bonnie Blue National Horse Show, now in it’s 27th year. The United States Equestrian Federation “A” rated horse show features a variety of classes for Saddlebreds, Hackneys and Friesian.

This years show will be judged by Brent Day of Versailles, Ky; James Hale of Columbiana, Ala.; and Micheal Beasom of Borne, Texas.

PDF of Prize List

Sloppy track at Churchhill Downs on Kentucky Derby will no longer carry bad memories for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. Orb took home the roses Saturday, May 5, easily defeating a field of 19 in the 139th Kentucky Derby.

Easy Goer tries to catch Sunday Silence in the stretch of the 1989 Kentucky Derby.

There will be four special guests on Millionaire’s Row at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday to cheer on 12-1 Normandy Invasion as he takes on 18 other 3-year-olds in the 2013 run for the roses.

“We name a lot of horses after patriotic things. And when I went to Normandy in 1994, which was the 50th anniversary, we spent three days there. I was blown away by everything, and they were memories I’ll never forget,” said owner Rick Porter.
 
Porter, who is a veteran of the Korean War, invited four D-Day veterans to watch his bay Tapit colt. They are:

• Ray Woods, who was a was a Navy chief radar man on the U.S.S. O’Brien, which Woods said shelled the beach defenses, including after the beach landings to assist in the protection and evacuation of the wounded.
• Bill Wilch, 89, who was a private in the Army when he hit the beach in the Fox Green sector of Omaha Beach.
• J.J. Witmeyer Jr., 92, who was an infantry officer. “My job was to lead them ashore. I was in charge of a company of infantry men, Utah Beach,” he said. 
• Alan Reeves, 91, who in 1944, Reeves was involved in civil affairs with the Army and worked in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Supreme Command. 

Normandy Invasion was fifth in the Grade II Risen Star but followed that with an impressive second to Verrazano in the Wood Memorial. He prefers to run hard late in the race and catch the leaders in the stretch. Jockey Javier Castellano chose to ride Normandy Invasion over Louisiana Derby winner Revolutionary Road.

Normandy Invasion’s training leading up to the Derby has been focused on making the colt a bit quicker earlier in the race. On Thursday, he ran off during training and had an unexpected fast workout just two days before the biggest race of his life. Whether that misstep and his inexperience (he’s only run twice this year with no wins) will hurt his chances is anyone’s guess. For those looking for a price, his 12-1 odds are favorable, but his great backstory is likely to garner him more fans and his price may not be as high by post time.

From left, Ray Woods, Rick Porter  (owner of Normandy Invasion) Ray Woods, Alan Reeves, J. J. Witmeyer, and Chad Brown, trainer of Normandy Invasion stand with the colt at Churchhill Downs on Friday.

New photos of Penn State’s twin quarter horse foals were recently released showing the two bays romping in a field around their dam, PSU Shadows Bonita.

Penn State reports that so far the mare is producing enough milk for both babies and they are growing well.

The smaller of the two foals is a colt and the larger is a filly.

For more photos of their romp outside, see below.

All photos courtesy Penn State.

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.