On the Friday of Breeders’ Cup weekend, Sophie Doyle was enjoying a rare recreational day at the racetrack. She’d been out in the morning as usual to work horses at Keeneland, then traded her riding clothes for a dress and heels to watch her brother James ride Birchwood in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for…
A jewel of hospitality nestled in the heart of Kentucky’s bluegrass, the center of the Thoroughbred industry in the United States, Keeneland Racecourse would seem to be the perfect spot for one of the sport’s premier events, the annual Breeders’ Cup, created by some of the people who own the breeding farms that surround the…
In some ways, Breeders’ Cup is just another racing weekend for Curtis Linnell. Like many observers of Thoroughbred racing, he’ll be watching the races, from home or in his office in Fair Hill, Maryland. He’ll have multiple screens and feeds around him, as will his colleague Laura Horah. But unlike those observers, Linnell will be…
On the day that an extension of his contract was announced, Christopher Kay, president and chief executive officer of the New York Racing Association, presented a report to the organization’s board of directors that highlighted the financial and customer service successes implemented since he was appointed in July 2013. This year’s Saratoga Race Course meet…
When Rodney Jenkins’ Phlash Phelps got headed in the stretch of the Maryland Million Turf by veteran Roadhog, the trainer said to himself, having watched his horse get discouraged in previous races, “Let’s see what he’s made of.” The four-year-old gelding had sat comfortably behind pace-setting longshot Jo Way Java before sprinting to the lead…
Saturday’s Maryland Million Turf boasts no shortage of experience among the 11 horses entered; Bullheaded Boy is the lone 3-year-old in the field, and a quartet of 8-year-olds will attempt to put the other relative youngsters to shame and grab the winner’s share of the $125,000 purse. But even if one of those veterans—Roadhog, Havelock,…
Late on Thursday afternoon, Dark Hollow Farm’s David Hayden got a call from an unknown number, a call he nearly didn’t pick up. “It was the gas and electric company,” he said with amused incredulity. “They were telling me to be prepared for a huge storm.” The storm that initiated the unprecedented preemptive warning is…
Brooklyn Backstretch 