Panel #3: Trainers Participants: Todd Pletcher, Nick Zito, Mark Casse, Dale Romans Each participant began by talking about his experience training on synthetic surfaces. Casse, who is based at Woodbine, obviously had the most, and he is an unequivocal fan of synthetics, particularly because he can keep his horses in training without regard to the…
I first began to pay significant attention to synthetic surfaces two years ago in Saratoga, when I attended a panel at the National Museum of Racing at which several participants expressed concern about the possible respiratory effects of prolonged exposure to artificial racing surfaces. Before that, when I heard about synthetics, I thought that anything…
I’m here at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion at the all-day forum on synthetic surfaces. The first two panels were track execs and vets; the first was informative, interesting, and at times lively; the second less so, which disappointed me, as vets are the ones who can go beyond anecdotal information to provide real data about…
Rain. More rain. Torrents. Lightning. Thunder. Flooding. Biblical in magnitude. In line early Saturday morning to grab a picnic table: the security guard tells us that the gates will open a little after 7:00, because horses are on the path to the track. A chorus from those waiting: “Can’t you hold up the horses so…
In discussing Sunday’s feature at Saratoga, Geno at Equispace wondered about the origin of the Jim Dandy, the stakes race run for the 45th time this weekend. Anyone who happened to be holding a ticket on the colt in the 1930 Travers would likely regale listeners with the story of one of the biggest upsets…
A contrarian might find reasons to be disgruntled about Saturday at Saratoga: Bustin Stones scratched from the Vanderbilt; there was a little too much adolescent behavior in the backyard; yet again, there were periodic deluges that soaked anyone not under cover (and clearly we are not going to be permitted to go more than forty-eight…
The Travers might be the biggest race of the Saratoga meet, but today is billed as the biggest day, with three Grade I’s and a Grade II on the card: the Diana, Whitney, Go for Wand, and Vanderbilt, respectively. All four are “Win and You’re In” races, with the victor in each gaining a berth…
Yesterday’s running of the Sanford Stakes may well not go down in history; scratches reduced to the field to four, and while there was plenty to like in Desert Party’s victory, I’m not sure that many of us are stretching towards his Derby bandwagon, and who knows if we’ll even remember his name a year…
A laudably cheerful race fan commented about opening day and my photos on yesterday’s post: Nice dry photos !! We went to the track (drip) and signed up for NYRA Nation.What the heck (drip) played a few races (drip) and all set for the late posttime tomorrow at 1:35p.m. (drip). Saw the Thorofans and decided…
The first Thoroughbred meet in Saratoga took place in August of 1863, on the site of the old trotting course, across Union Avenue from the current track. Known as Horse Haven, just south of the Oklahoma, portions of the old track still exist (pictured below), though parts of it have been paved over and it’s…
