As I wrote here last week following my post on the Triple Tiara, the information that NYRA provided about this racing series didn’t quite match up. The website page about the Mother Goose indicated that the original configuration of the race (Acorn, Mother Goose, Coaching Club American Oaks) had been changed in 2003, with the…
It’s tempting this morning, the day of the Dwyer Stakes for three-year-olds at Belmont, to hearken back to the epic 1920 running of the race, in which John P. Grier challenged Man O’ War for the lead, headed him at the eighth pole, and eventually gave way in what the New York Times then called…
“My lady prioress, and by your leave, So that I knew I should in no way grieve, I would opine that tell a tale you should, The one that follows next if you but would. Now will you please vouchsafe it, lady dear?” “Gladly,” said she, and spoke as you shall hear. (Chaucer’s The Prioress’s…
Happy Fourth of July! Across the country, we will spend today grilling; watching baseball; drinking beer; going to the beach; sitting in traffic; watching fireworks. Some of us will be working; some might make it to the racetrack. We’ll see friends and family. If you live in New York, you’ll enjoy the blissful emptiness and…
Sometimes, being third feels like winning the Kentucky Derby. Or so it seemed to me, as I watched the connections of Above All Odds exult when he crossed the wire a nose in front of Crafty CJ, six lengths behind the winner. The people around us (all twelve of them, at Belmont on a Wednesday…
No, that’s not a description of how I’m feeling these days (though this upcoming long weekend is a welcome prospect). No, Lucky To Cope is a six-year-old Florida-bred gelding whose “acquaintance” I made on March 3rd, 2007, courtesy of simulcasting at the Meadowlands. My sister-in-law was throwing a surprise party for my brother there that…
Especially in the aftermath of the Belmont bathroom debacle, NYRA has gotten a lot of criticism about its customer service. Now I recognize that an answered e-mail is not quite the same as a flushing toilet, but I commend the organization for its responsiveness. For the third time, an e-mail that I sent with a…
Brooklyn Backstretch 