I don’t really care about the Triple Crown. Except for every once in a while, when some horse I really like makes it through his two-year-old season and manages to stay sound and competitive until early May, I don’t really care who wins the Kentucky Derby. I care less about who wins the Preakness, though…
Late last week, Patrick, writer of Handride and leader of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance, invited the TBA bloggers to post our picks for Saturday’s stakes races. I am always reluctant to do such things; many of my days at the races result in my cashing not a single ticket, and my father calls me the…
As soon as Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby, I started to worry. He was so dominant, and the rest of the three-year-olds didn’t seem quite so sharp, and there seemed to be a pretty good chance that he’d win the Preakness, and that I’d head to this year’s Belmont, for the second time in…
Photo credit to ESPN So much to say about today at Belmont: the heat, the crowd, the winners, the losers, the plumbing. It’s a day of stories. But tonight, congratulations to Da’ Tara, the colt called a rank outsider, the longest shot on the board; and to Nick Zito, called a fool for entering not…
I am shortly heading out to beautiful Belmont Park to spend a day that may well rival last summer’s Travers on the unpleasant scale. I’m not a big fan of crowds or excessive heat, and both will be in abundance in a few short hours. So as I get myself into the spirit of this…
So reads a New York Times headline in July of 1963, as the author recalled the first running of the Brooklyn Handicap, at Gravesend Race Track in 1887. The article tells us that, “There’s little doubt that the Brooklyn Handicap captivated the interest of many. In the early 1900’s, there wasn’t a self-respecting saloon in…
For anyone who was paying attention, Belmont 2007 was unforgettable. For me, it was not your typical day at the races, and not only because of Rags to Riches’ victory. The night before, I contracted some horrible bug and spent most of the evening throwing up; undeterred the next morning, I determinedly marched myself out…
I loved Belmont Day 2006. The weather was terrific (sunny, cool, breezy); the place was alive but not too crowded; and another horse I loved was in the Belmont. We all know it had been a rough three weeks in racing; Barbaro’s breakdown was on everyone’s mind, and I think that many of us felt…
Following yesterday’s little trip back to the 2004 Belmont, here’s what I recall about Belmont 2005. I hit an early, well-paying (as I recall) exacta in the White Carnation when Judy Soda was DQ’d to second and Madonna Lily got the win. And then the rest of the card is pretty much of a blur…
Brooklyn Backstretch is going a little random as the school year comes to a close. In an example of bad timing, I head out of town this morning for four days of community service with our senior class—fun and rewarding, a great way to end the year, but not the best way to stay on…
Brooklyn Backstretch 