Opening weekend at Saratoga brought many reasons to smile, not the least of which were two terrific stakes races in the Diana and the Coaching Club American Oaks. The blanket, competitive finish in the Diana contrasted with Songbird’s romp in the CCAO, each stirring the racing fan’s heart in its own way. Pleasing, too, is…
How about that Diana? Will admit that I was rooting for Recepta (how could I not, after writing about her trainer?), and she sure seemed to run too good to lose…but Dacita got there by that tiny nose. What a way to kick off opening weekend. And how lucky are we not only to see…
Two years ago, on the advice of bloodstock agent Tom McGreevy, Fox Hill Farm’s Rick Porter entered the bidding fray in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion at the Fasig-Tipton yearling sale in Saratoga, trying to add a dark bay Medaglia d’Oro filly to his already prodigious list of stakes-winning fillies and mares. Four-hundred thousand dollars…
Jimmy Toner might keep a low profile, but his horses are easy to spot, especially in the morning. Just look for those bright orange bandages. Long before trainers began equipping their exercise riders with distinctive vests for easy identification during morning training, Toner was wrapping his horses’ legs in those bandages, mirroring the orange “JJT”…
Though it lacked a representative from the New York Racing Association for the first time in recent memory, the annual preview of the Saratoga Race Course meet at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame the evening of July 20 drew a near-capacity crowd of participants that peppered panelists with questions on everything from…
It’s approximately 150 degrees Fahrenheit in Brooklyn, and though my ETA in Saratoga is later this afternoon (that might be a little optimistic at this point), the relative cool of the Adirondacks seems as far away and unlikely as a team-building retreat between the national HBPA and The Jockey Club. But post time on opening…
At the Steven Kasher Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea, the exhibitAmerican Thoroughbred features some of this country’s most famous racehorses: last year’s Triple Crown winner American Pharoah; 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra; 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta. The horse that inspired the exhibit boasts a far more modest résumé. Several years ago, photographer…
On Monday, June 27, I was driving through the mountains of West Virginia on I-79, en route from Brooklyn to Lexington, KY. The sky was dark and rain had begun, radio weather reports issuing travel advice with more urgency than usual. When alerts blared simultaneously from the radio and my phone, warning of flash floods…
Brooklyn Backstretch 