Sometimes, timing is everything; in response to Railbird’s post about Breeders’ Cup pre-entries, I posted a comment about the mysterious missing Sargent Seattle, who raced so well at Saratoga this summer. From the same owner/trainer combo who brought us Discreet Cat two summers ago, rumors abounded after Sargent Seattle’s late scratch from the Saratoga Special…
Welcome to NY Showcase Day! Ten races for NY breds, a celebration of NY products; what a shame that this New Yorker will be wending her way home from points south and missing the whole day. Race 3: The Sleepy Hollow Stakes. Many of today’s races follow the longstanding tradition of naming races after regions…
Maddening! I’m away from home at a conference with limited time for writing and all of a sudden there’s TONS to write about. Maddening! First, a little equine history. Friday afternoon at Belmont is the ungraded Storm Flag Flying…and what a pleasure it is write about this amazing mare. By Storm Cat out of My…
We are all waiting, it seems, waiting for Wednesday’s list of Breeders’ Cup pre-entries to come up…others, most notably Railbird , have written tantalizingly about the maybes and the probablys and the definitely nots, but finally, on Wednesday morning, the pre-entries will be published. Late Tuesday, the order of BC races was released. In other…
Congratulations to the Bridgmohan brothers, Shaun and Jermaine. On Saturday at about 2:00 at Belmont, apprentice Jermaine brought home Giant Deputy at $25.40; a little more than an hour later at Keeneland, Shaun rode Platinee to victory at $45.40, topping a $184.60 exacta. Today, Jermaine went one better than yesterday’s performance; in the fourth, David’s…
“Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,And like enough thou know’st thy estimate,The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing…” (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 87) Really… you had to know that this English teacher wouldn’t let the retirement of Shakespeare go by without throwing in a little poetry. The various Breeders’ Cup defections are covered…
A commenter on Steven Crist’s blog today noted the change in format since the end of Saratoga, to which Crist replied, “I began the Belmont meet noting the similarities to Saratoga — 30+ days, a dozen or so Grade 1’s etc. — but pretty quickly saw it just doesn’t have the same feeling. Part of…
I (and thousands of other people, likely) received this message from the Hennegan brothers this week, regarding their terrific film First Saturday in May, which follows the fortunes of six horses and trainers on the 2006 Derby trail: “Our film needs your help to continue building an audience. Word of mouth can make or break…
A friend and I made a mammoth weekend road trip to Lexington in April: We drove all day Friday; did horse things all day Saturday; and drove home on Sunday. We spent a few hours at the Kentucky Horse Park in between the morning workouts and the races at Keeneland. It felt pretty special to…
On a rare day of Monday racing at Belmont, there are many good stories to be told. They’re not about major stakes winners, or huge money earners, or even big prices…and fortunately they’re not about breakdowns, either. A look at a few of the more interesting races over the last few days: Sunday, October 7th:…
Brooklyn Backstretch 