On January 1st, 2026, John Pentland received a phone call, while on vacation, saying that the first of his charges had just tested positive for equine strangles, a highly contagious upper respiratory disease that had been first discovered at the training centre he was stabled at a month or so earlier. Over the next five months as many as 10 more Pentland horses tested positive, and between two different quarantine barns, and multiple efforts to keep his previously unexposed horses healthy, John had horses stabled in as many as eight different locations. During these months of utter chaos, worry, and long days and nights, Pentland never could have seen what lay ahead: the best year of his career - by far! By Dan Fisher.