Blogs - Coree Reuter

When a light suddenly goes out, it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. When Alfred Patrick “Paddy” Smithwick passed away on Nov. 14, 1973, at the tender age of 46, the steeplechasing world lost one of its brightest stars.

Born in 1927, Smithwick began his career as an amateur in 1945 at the age of 19. He quickly climbed into the professional ranks in 1946, and by 1947 he finished 10th in the National Steeplechase and Hunt standings after winning seven races that year.

The dictionary defines versatile as: capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc. Bold Minstrel was the poster boy of versatile.

Born in 1952 in Camargo, Ohio, Bold Minstrel was by Thoroughbred stallion Bold And Bad out of Wallise Simpson, who was the result of a test breeding of an unknown mare to a young Royal Minstrel. William “Billy” Haggard III purchased Bold Minstrel as a 5-year-old.

A lot has changed since 1937 at the Chronicle. We’ve moved buildings, switched from typewriters to computers, film to digital cameras, black and white to color, and even dropped some disciplines from our coverage and added new ones. Advertising, despite its own changes in trend and style, has remained an integral part of our magazine since the beginning.

You can’t deny that there’s something a bit magical about a merry-go-round.

Sure, now that I’ve grown up it’s not as fun to ride one of the dancing horses that seem to plunge and leap as the carousel spins around to outdated organ music, but when I was a kid? Oh man. I always wanted to ride the prettiest horse I could find, preferably on the outside so I could grab the ring as I went flying by and throw it at the opening a few feet further down the track.