I have until now managed to avoid the dreaded Derby pick. My TBA colleagues are handicapping in depth, Alan quite traditionally; others, not so much. The Quinella Queen goes the bibliographical route, Railbird goes by the numbers, and Dana hits the romantic angle. Sue, like me, is still in search of the horse that we…
Congratulations to Dana at Green but Game and Superterrific Stables for winning our version of the Take Ten! Derby fantasy game. Full standings are not up, but Dana leads our group, finishing 27th overall. Dana thus gets to choose the equine charity to which I’ll donate $150 in her name. I pledged an original $50,…
As a racing fan, I am filled anticipation as we approach the Kentucky Derby, this country’s most anticipated horse race. As a racing fan, I am dismayed that so much Derby attention is being focused on trainers with, shall we say, less than savory reputations. Richard Dutrow, trainer of the acclaimed Big Brown, has racked…
My parents owned harness horses when I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, my family moved to Saratoga. Until I was about 23, I was around racing pretty regularly and even though I didn’t follow the sport that closely, I went to the track a few times a year and considered myself…
It took me more than five hours on Sunday afternoon/evening to get from Delaware Park to my abode in Brooklyn, usually a two-hour trip. My whirlwind tour of three mid-Atlantic racetracks (Atlantic City Race Court, Pimlico, and Delaware Park) provided enough pleasure to make every single moment of travel time worth it, but the ROI…
I was already feeling guilty about not supporting one of my home tracks on its closing weekend; now that the Withers has become something of an end-of-season embarrassment, I am even more chagrined about my defection to points south instead of being at Aqueduct today. This storied race, first run in 1874, drew a field…
I’ve just discovered (thanks, Ernie) that the photos uploaded of ACRC aren’t appearing in the blog…the html code for them is showing, but the original photos are on a computer at home, so I can’t do any triage at this point. I’ll fix it later…and thanks for the info! Grumble, grumble…
I learned three things on my sojourn Thursday to Atlantic City Race Course: –Do not rely on Mapquest for directions to the track (Mapquest didn’t provide an exit number, and the state highway route number was wrong).–Do not, under any circumstances, miss the exit off the Atlantic City Expressway (you have to go an additional…
It’s hard for me believe that we’re coming up to the last weekend of the Aqueduct meet; I’ve always been fond of the track, and having spent more time there this meet than any other time, it is truly with some regret that I will bid it farewell until October. OK, so the racing’s not…
I’m in the middle of reading T.D. Thornton’s Not By A Long Shot (better late than never), and shortly after reading last week’s report that the Jockeys’ Guild recommended a 50% cut in the fees that jockeys pay their valets, I came across this paragraph: Aside from laying out the equipment for three or four…
