all in Legends

If there’s one thing that’s even more certain than a 1-20 shot at a racetrack, it’s the inevitability of death.

It comes to all of mankind, and animals as well.

Yet it remains immensely difficult to accept, especially when it comes far too early in someone’s life, such as it did for one of the greatest 2-year-old fillies of the 20th century.

Landaluce seemed invincible on the racetrack.

She won her five starts in dominant fashion, by a combined margin of 46 ½ lengths, including her first graded stakes victory, in which she romped home by 21 lengths.

Throughout the long history of horse racing in the United States, California has produced an abundance of locally bred stars.

Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg passed away on Dec. 27, 2017, at age 81. The Kentucky Derby-winning trainer who ranks fourth all-time in career wins in North America was profiled by America’s Best Racing correspondent Tom Pedulla in 2014. Van Berg reflected on the influence of his father, Marion, on his superstar horse from the 1980s, Alysheba, and on his enduring passion for the sport.

Todd Pletcher has won more than 5,850 races in his extraordinary training career. One stands out above the rest.

That would be the 2007 Belmont Stakes, when big-hearted Rags to Riches became only the third filly to win the famed “Test of the Champion” and the first since Tanya in 1905.

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