I have never met - or indeed directly corresponded - with the blogger I am about to mention. Nevertheless, by far the best US racing blog would have to be the one penned by Jessica Chapel who runs the Railbird site. Railbird was actually the first thoroughbred-related blog I stumbled across some months after I established Athlone's. Many blogs have added themselves to that list since then but Jessica has managed to keep hers going for 18 months with barely a day's break. Athlone's blog is only 8 week's younger than Jessica's and I well appreciate the time and discipline involved with daily research and written updates over such an extended period of time (particularly when we do it for the love of it not the money). As I have been heard to remark to more than one person: "you think marriage is difficult? Try keeping a blog up to date and see where you are after 12 months!"

I spoke of podcasting the other week and I note that Jessica has also mentioned it in a post on the subject. She goes on to mention an interesting marketing initiative attached to the sale of Ashado (a perfect example of highly targeted customer segmentation) and she also mentions an excellent thoroughbred site that speaks to the heart of what makes blogging so successful as well - the personal insights.

If you have an interest in US racing - Railbird is a site well worth bookmarking.