After weeks in the mostly sunny south, I looked forward to my return to springtime in New York. All week, I heard about how beautiful the weekend weather would be: perfect for both Easter and the Wood Memorial. Saturday dawned cool and beautiful and abunduntly sunny in Brooklyn. Aqueduct experience told me that it would be…
Thanks for the comments on the re-design and the site, and the remarks on the size of the print are duly noted. I’m working on making it a little bigger. As someone who’s become a full-time wearer of reading glasses in the last year, I’m an ally of big type! And thanks to Carol Cusano,…
See? I wasn’t making up all that stuff about a site renovation. If you hate it, blame me; if you like it, all credit goes to the designer, who has spent uncountable hours on the revision. I can’t thank her enough, and if she lets me, I’ll thank her by name. Back home in Brooklyn…
With three preps this weekend, we’ll space out the analysis, starting today with Brian’s look at the Wood Memorial. Don’t forget that you can check out Brian’s handicapping for NYRA races at horseplayernow.com. He’ll also be participating in “Countdown to the Crown” live chats every Friday at 2 pm, accessible from the main page of…
A quick Tuesday check-in from the girl who cried wolf about the website renovation…it’s in progress, and one of these days, if the technology gods are on our side, Brooklyn Backstretch will have a brand new look. Until then, on we forge… This week’s Road to the Roses charity league standings are below. And a…
If you’re reading this before noon, don’t forget to active your power horses in your Road to the Roses stable! And we’re going to give this update thing another try this weekend, so it’s possible that the site will be down beginning Saturday afternoon for a couple of days. Good luck and safe trips to…
Fair Grounds closes with a bang this weekend, offering up a contentious renewal of the Louisiana Derby, which is positioned five weeks out from the Kentucky Derby this year. All told, an overflow field of 13 is scheduled to meet the starter, including a pair of contenders from Todd Pletcher’s powerhouse barn. While they crawled…
That first race on Sunday at Aqueduct was slated to be a good one: an allowance optional claiming affair, horses trained by, among others, Rick Violette, Kiaran McLaughlin, and Bruce Levine, running for a $50,000 tag and a $44,000 purse. Of all the Sunday first races at Aqueduct in 2010, this one was arguably the…
Travel, technology, and logistics have delayed the renovation of the site, along with reactions to East Coast racing news over the last few days. Lovely as Florida is, it seems that I picked a lousy week to be away from New York, given the racing news emanating from my home state. On Sunday, NYRA horsemen…
It takes exactly 13 hours to drive from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina to Gulfstream Park. In case you were wondering. It’s 3:00 on Friday afternoon and I rejoice at my luck. Spring break has begun; I am in my car; and I’m going to beat rush hour traffic. I am disappointed that the new date…
Brooklyn Backstretch 