Two weeks from today…I head back to Brooklyn for opening of school meetings. How can the meet have progressed this far already? At the end of week three, Ramon Dominguez has ridden 39 winners, nearly double that of the man in second place, Jose Lezcano with 21. Among trainers, Todd Pletcher has 20 victories; Chad…
A two-year-old owned by a prominent member of the racing community wins a bevy of stakes races. A physical setback keeps him away from the track, and though he returns to the races, he never quite regains his earlier form, and he is retired to stud at the end of his four-year-old season. At six,…
Friday morning, Thoroughbred racing celebrated the best the sport has to offer when this year’s Racing Hall of Fame class was inducted in front of a packed house at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. Scheduled keynote speaker Steven Crist had to cancel due to the death of his mother, film critic Judith Crist, but the presenters…
The New York State Racing and Wagering Board announced today the security measures that will be in place for this year’s Travers Stakes on August 25. Those measures are: Horses participating in the Travers Stakes must be on the grounds at Saratoga on August 22. Horses will have out-of-competition blood testing taken on August 22.…
Dark day #3 dawned gorgeous and clear, a perfect Saratoga morning. Ramon Dominguez still sits atop the jockey leaderboard with 26 wins; Javier Castellano is behind him with 17. Making an impressive return following an injury, John Velazquez has already won 12 races, despite not riding full-time at the beginning of the meet. Todd Pletcher…
In March at Gulfstream Park, Allen Jerkens introduced a new filly in his barn. “Emma,” he said. “Emma’s Encore.” She had arrived over the winter, winless after three starts and not terribly promising. In her first start for Jerkens on February 2 in a maiden claiming race, she finished third by three lengths. She broke…
Ten days down, thirty to go. I already feel as though there’s too much in Saratoga I won’t get to; the to-do list is getting longer, not shorter. Ramon Dominguez carries his lead in the jockey standings through week two; he’s got 21 wins with José Lezcano in second with 11. Anthony Dutrow led the…
Later today, Zagora will attempt to become the seventh horse to win the Diana two years in a row. Miss Grillo did it first, in 1946 and 1947; she was joined by Tempted (1959, 60); Shuvee (1970, 1971); Hush Dear (1982, 1983); Glowing Honor (1988, 89); and Forever Together (2008, 2009). Tempted was bred by…
It’s happened to all of us: we watch a promising 2-year-old, we get excited…then he gets hurt and disappears, and often, we have no idea where he goes. In her young adult novel Raja: Story of a Racehorse, Anne Hambleton tells the story of what might happen to a horse who can’t race any longer.…
In today’s second race at Saratoga, the youngest horse is four years old; the oldest is seven. Among them, they’ve made 124 starts. The race is called the Spooky Mulder, and I suspect that its namesake would approve. During his racing career, Spooky ran in 85 races, winning 34 of them. He finished second 17…
Brooklyn Backstretch 