I have always been intrigued by horses that don’t fit neatly into the category of roan as described by the American Quarter Horse Association, The Jockey Club, or the Arabian Horse Registry of America. Often these horses are not related to roan horses, yet their coats are mixed with white hairs typically around the barrel, at the flanks, and/or at the base of the tail. Sometimes, as in the case of the legendary running champion Go Man Go (photo), they are registered as roans. Most often, as in the case of all-time leading cutting sire High Brow Cat, they are registered as a solid color horse.

“Roaning” is a common term for this coat pattern, although The Lyons Press Horseman’s Dictionary refers to it as “rabicano,” and defines it as “a coat color in which a few, scattered white hairs appear amid a darker-colored background, usually on the hindquarters and dock.”

Roan, as defined by AQHA, is a “more or less uniform mixture of white with (red, black or bay base color) hairs over a large portion of the body, but usually darker on the head and lower legs…”

The difference between rabicano and true roan is that in the true roan the color is evenly distributed over the entire body, often with the exception of the head and lower legs, while rabicano roaning varies in intensity, sometimes spreads with age, and is usually limited to barrel and hindquarters. Rabicanos also often have “skunk or coon” tails, while true roans do not.

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Here’s the draw for today’s $25,000-added Open finals in the Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.

1	THOMAS E HUGHES, 2003 (HIGH BROW CAT x SMART LETHA)
	Horse’s LTE: $334,468 Rider: AUSTIN SHEPARD Owner: KATHY BOONE
2	BOON TOO SUEN, 2005 (PEPTOBOONSMAL x MERADAS LITTLE SUE)
	Horse’s LTE: $126,506 Rider: KOBIE WOOD Owner: GARY ROSENBACH
3	FRECKLED LEO LENA, 2004 (SMART LITTLE LENA x FRECKLED LEO GIRL)
	Horse’s LTE: $73,825 Rider: JAMES DAVISON Owner: FRECKLED LEO LENA
4	JUST PLAYIN SMART, 2000 (FRECKLES PLAYBOY x SMART LITTLE PET)
	Horse’s LTE: $240,450 Rider: MATT GAINES Owner: RALPH GRAY
5	MOCHA CAPPUCCINO, 2003 (ZACK T WOOD x CAPPUCCINO AND PASTA)
	Horse’s LTE: $212,418 Rider: MIKE COLEMAN Owner: LAZY M CATTLE COMPANY
6	I BEN THINKING, 2003 (SOULA JULE STAR x FANCY HANDLE)
	Horse’s LTE: $96,233 Rider: NEIL ROGER Owner: JIMMY KEMP JR
7	CETAS AHOY MATE, 2003 (SMART MATE x CETAS LADY)
	Horse’s LTE: $76,350 Rider: EDDIE BRAXTON Owner: KIRKLAND GRUBER
8	CD APRIL FOOL, 2000 (CD OLENA x ATTRACTIONS FIRST)
	Horse’s LTE: $81,114 Rider: JEREMY BARWICK Owner: FLYING A RANCH
9	GABREYELLA, 2004 (DUAL REY x A PLAYBOYS DESIRE)
	Horse’s LTE: $46,608 Rider: GARY FIELDS Owner: LK CAPITAL ENTERPRISES
10	WOOD YA WANNA, 2000 (ZACK T WOOD x CURLY GRAY HAIR)
	Horse’s LTE: $285,511 Rider: R L CHARTIER Owner: WRIGLEY RANCHES
11	DUAL REY ME, 1999 (DUAL PEP x MISS SMART REY JAY)
	Horse’s LTE: $786,514 Rider: RUSS CARROLL Owner: JEREMY BARWICK
12	WILD HICKORY BOB, 2004 (BOBS HICKORY RIO x PLAYBOYS HONEYGIRL)
	Horse’s LTE: $125,453 Rider: JON WHITE Owner: JUSTIN WHITE
13	VELVETS BEST SHOT, 2003 (PLAYGUN x ENTERPRISE VELVET)
	Horse’s LTE: $24,908 Rider: JAMES PAYNE Owner: MIKE HANCOCK
14	MS PEPPY CAT, 2002 (HIGH BROW CAT x MS PEPPY DOC)
	Horse’s LTE: $183,321 Rider: PETE BRANCH Owner: EL CID LAND & CATTLE
15	SCOOTIN BOON, 2003 (SMART LIL SCOOT x SUSIES BLUE BOON)
	Horse’s LTE: $83,939 Rider: ROY CARTER Owner: S&S FARMS
16	FAITH IN MY CAT, 2003 (HIGH BROW CAT x FAITH IN YOUR MATE)
	Horse’s LTE: $239,804 Rider: TOM LYONS Owner: TOM LYONS

John Shirreffs, the trainer of the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta, says he will send out another one of his star females to challenge a field made up mostly of boys in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Shirreffs will send the 5-year-old mare Life is Sweet to Dubai for one-and-a-quarter-mile event, the world’s richest race March 27.

Life is Sweet won the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic the day before her stablemate Zenyatta improved to 14-0 with a win over the boys in the $5 million BC Classic on Nov. 7.

 

Ahmed Zayat was the nation’s leading thoroughbred owner two years ago, and many of his 200-plus horses frequently visit the winner’s circle in the nation’s biggest races. In fact, one of his colts, Eskendereya, is the early favorite to win the Kentucky Derby after running away with the $250,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes in Florida last Saturday.

Benoit Photo/Associated Press

Ahmed Zayat, with last year’s Santa Anita Derby winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up, Pioneerof the Nile, has become entangled in legal and financial troubles.

Gulfstream Park/Associated Press

Eskendereya, owned by Ahmed Zayat, is an early Kentucky Derby favorite after winning the Fountain of Youth last week.

But even as his horses have excelled on the track, Zayat has struggled to keep his empire afloat, becoming entangled in legal and financial troubles. He perhaps has also run afoul of racing officials because of a relationship with convicted bookmakers.

In a lawsuit filed in December, Fifth Third Bank asserted that Zayat had defaulted on $34 million in loans. Zayat countersued, saying that Fifth Third’s officers employed “misleading, deceptive, and predatory practices.”

This month, he filed for bankruptcy protection for his Zayat Stables.

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So here we are after a late Saturday in February, trying to divine what may happen on the first one in May when the best 3-year-olds in the nation line up for the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby.

The horses may change, but there are some familiar faces among Triple Crown-minded trainers. Todd Pletcher is once again loaded. He won three of the four major prep races over the weekend and, in Eskendereya, his Fountain of Youth winner, he could have his best chance yet to break his 0-for-24 record in the Derby.

• Read the rest of the New York Times article here.

See my baby here.