We'd be remiss if we didn't note that thoroughbred racing - across North America and elsewhere - has lost some of its great, both human and equine, in the last week.

With Approval: A winner of Canada's Triple Crown and that country's 1989 Horse of the Year, With Approval died June 21 in England. He was 24. The gray captured the triple of the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes as a 3-year-old and the following year was a multiple stakeswinner in America. He is a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Wake At Noon: Canada lost another champion when 2002 Horse of the Year Wake At Noon broke down while training at Woodbine on June 26 and had to be euthanized. The death is under investigation by Woodbine, as horses older than 10 who haven't won a race in a year or more aren't eligible to race or train at the track. Wake At Noon, 13, last raced in 2007, but had been returned to training because of fertility problems as a stallion. Officials aren't sure how he came to be on Woodbine grounds.

Black Tie Affair: The big gray, pensioned at the Old Friends thoroughbred retirement facility in Kentucky since July of last year, was euthanized on July 1 after a battle with laminitis. He was 24. Black Tie Affair was named Horse of the Year in 1991 when he won six consecutive graded stakes, culminating with the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Thunder Puddles: The stallion with the distinction of being the only New York-bred to sire a New York-bred millionaire died on June 29 at Highcliff Farm near Delanson at the ripe old age of 31. Thunder Puddles, a graded stakes winner who was multiple Grade I placed, was the New York champion turf male of 1983. His best known son, Thunder Rumble, won the 1992 Jim Dandy and Travers and returned to Saratoga to win the 1994 Saratoga Cup. Thunder Rumble is pensioned at Old Friends at Cabin Creek: The Bobby Frankel Division in Greenfield Center.

Singspiel: The globe-trotting runner and internationally-successful stallion developed laminitis after a long illness and was euthanized on Friday at Dalham Hall Stud in England. He was 18. Campaigned as a homebred for Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, Singspiel, the champion turf horse of 1996, earned Grade or Group I wins in England (the Juddmonte International and Vodafone Coronatio Cup), Japan (Japan Cup), Canada (Canadian International) and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai World Cup). He also finished second in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Turf. Singspiel sired Moon Ballad, a Dubai World Cup winner and UAE Horse of the Year; another UAE champion in Eastern Anthem; Eclipse champion Lahudood, winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf; English champions Dar Re Mi and Papineau; and German and Italian champion Lateral.

Johnny Sellers: The Hall of Fame jockey died July 2 at a nursing home in Arkansas. He was 72. Sellers rode 2,797 winners in a career that lasted from 1953 to 1977. He enjoyed his best season in 1961, leading the nation in winners and piloting Carry Back to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. The pair returned in 1962 to take the Whitney at Saratoga. Sellers took two of New York's other big prizes in 1965, partnering Hail To All to wins in the Belmont and Travers. Sellers was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs in 2007.