A double for the Pollock family at Taree

Bred by Mike O'Donnell at Fairhill Farm, Mulbring, three-year-old Bright Legend added a new winner to the sire record of Coolmore Stud's Irish bred shuttler Churchill (by Galileo) and was ridden by Scone-based Billy Cray.

Cray also partnered Pollock's other winner Fill A Promise, a four-year-old daughter of the now Western Australian-based Shooting To Win (by Northern Meteor), to her third successive victory.

While neither had winners, I found two veteran conditioners on track with long successful records of their own - Ross Stitt and Margaret de Gonneville. Local identity Stitt has prepared almost 1200 winners. Among his best are stakes winners Youthful Jack (earned $1.1 million), Precise Timing, and Heavenly Glow.

Preparing many winners that lend its names to "gold", de Gonneville originally made her name in the industry as a female jockey, and was among early pioneers of the lady-riding ranks about 50 years ago, before changing lanes and now runs a small stable at Port Macquarie.

For the sixth successive year, there were three different winners of the US Triple Crown three-year-old series following a surprise victory of Dornoch in the third-leg the Belmont Stakes-G1 in late May.

Mystik Dan, by Goldencents, won the Kentucky Derby-G1 and Seize The Grey, by Arrogate, won the second-leg, the Preakness Stakes-G1.

Due to major rebuilding works at Belmont Park, this year's Belmont Stakes was run at up-state New York at Saratoga Springs over a shortened course of 2000 metres - the same as the Kentucky Derby.

Dornoch belongs to the first crop of foals by emerging young US sire Good Magic, a son of US Horse Of The Year Curlin, which is a grandson of the great Mr Prospector.

Dornoch was produced by Puca, a daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown, a horse which John Singleton arranged to shuttle to Vinery Stud, Scone, for four seasons from 2010.

Puca has become an elite broodmare and produced two US classic winners, as Dornoch's one-year-older full-brother Mage won the Kentucky Derby-G1 last year.

Talking of the US Triple Crown, I recently read a book which highlighted the great American racer Citation, which claimed the racing honour in 1948.

By influential and five-time leading US sire Bull Lea, Citation ran 45 times for 32 wins, 10 seconds and two thirds, and as a six-year-old became the first horse to become a millionaire of track earnings.

Citation and Bull Lea are documented in a fascinating read In The Winner's Circle: the Jones Boys of Calumet Farm by Joe Hirsch and Gene Plowden.

It includes an introduction by champion US hoop, Eddie Arcaro - the jockey who partnered Citation as well as Whirlaway to win the US Triple Crown.

The book details the progress of trainers Ben Jones and his son Jimmy Jones from their early years in the US mid-west in the mid-1920s to their appointment as managers of Calumet Farm and the development of its home-bred youngsters into champion racehorses from the late 1930s.

Calumet, in Lexington, Kentucky was owned by Warren Wright - whose father of the same name founded Chicago's Calumet Baking Power company - with its horses becoming a powerhouse of US racing and producing numerous champion racehorses.

The book details celebrated horses including Whirlaway, Bewitch, Twilight Tear, Armed, Two Lea, Ponder, Pensive, Fervent, Citation and Coaltown, the latter two being paddock-pals in their young lives. Then there was Tim Tam, the older Bardstown, and the temperament troublesome Hill Gail, which partnered with champion hoop Bill Hartack who had joined the Calumet stable for a time.

After 25 years of the Jones' training, Jimmy (after his Dad had earlier retired) relinquished his training position from Calumet in 1964.

The hard-covered book is illustrated with several photographs including one fabulous close-up photo of champions Citation and Coaltown with Jimmy Jones.