Today’s post is a series of public service announcements of one form or another, catching up with racing charities and other news.

Still waiting to hear from Bourbon Bliss Barn, the winner of the 2010 Road to the Roses Brooklyn Backstretch charity league.  It’s been a week, so Bourbon Bliss, unless I hear from you in 24 hours, we’ll go to the next highest finisher.

Oh, WAIT!  That would be ME!  In a greater upset than Backtalk winning the Derby would have been, I managed to finish in third place in our league.  But as it would be rather unseemly for the league organizer to be the league winner, we’ll move on…

…to Green but Game Stable.  GbG, start thinking about where you’d like to donate the prize money—I’ve got $215, with one more check expected.

The Belmont Child Care Association is already working hard on its summer benefit, on August 25 in Saratoga.  This year’s honorees are D. Wayne Lukas and Leona and John Velazquez, for their service to and support of the BCCA.  You can contribute in many ways:  by volunteering at the event; by donating an item or service to the live or silent auction; by attending and buying an item or service; or by purchasing an ad in the benefit program.

Ads begin at $75 for a name listing and go up to $2,000 for the outside back cover.  A business card-sized ad is $100; a quarter page is $250.  You can advertise your website or your company, while sending good wishes to Lukas and the Velazquezes.  For more information, please contact me or the BCCA directly.

This year’s Belmont Bash will take place on Thursday, June 3^rd at the Garden City Hotel, and it will benefit equine research and Backstretch Employee Services Team (B.E.S.T.). It’s a pricy party at $300 per person, but with proceeds going to Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and B.E.S.T., you know that your money’s going to two great organizations.  The Bash will feature cocktails, dinner, a live and silent auction, and musical entertainment.

Are you reading Hello Race Fans!?  The site, to which I contribute, offers wagering advice, race previews, and recaps, and features, all with the goal of educating the racing fan.  I’ve got an article this week up on the New York years in Preakness history.

Also up and running is BelmontStakes.com; this year, Jenny Kellner, Ernie Munick, Andy Serling, and I are blogging, while the NYRA press office is posting video of trainers, jockeys, and contenders; historical features on Belmont and the big race; and information for those planning to attend on June 5^th.  I recently wrote there on the discovery of the eighth pole at which John P. Grier headed Man o’War in the 1920 Dwyer, at the old Aqueduct, an amazing piece of New York racing history.

Finally, I am pleased and proud to announce that just before the Kentucky Derby, I received word that I’d been elected to the National Turf Writers’ Association.  When I started this site in September of 2007, I could hardly have imagined the paths on which it would take me and the opportunities with which I would be presented.  As always, thanks for reading and for commenting, for making suggestions and for challenging me.  Here in Brooklyn and elsewhere, it’s great to know how many people out there still care about racing.