On May 7, Alfred Vanderbilt III was in Ireland, honoring the memory of his grandfather, a man he never knew, on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, in which Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt perished, saving the lives of his fellow passengers. Exactly three months later, he will attend a happier event in Saratoga…
Customers at Saratoga Race Course this summer will find the signature of its current leadership boldly on the historic track’s 147th race meet, which begins July 24. At a press conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on June 22, New York Racing Association executives previewed this year’s meet, with an emphasis on hospitality and big-event racing.…
Within minutes of his Triple Crown victory Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park, horse racing fans began to ask the inevitable question: will American Pharoah race again? It is one of the paradoxes of thoroughbred racing that the very achievements that the sport most trumpets and that fans most want to see – victories in Triple…
Beginning riders, even the most intrepid ones, generally get their start on quiet horses, the barn veterans, the ones used to inexperienced equestrians and who sometimes need encouragement to undertake anything more ambitious than a leisurely amble. Beginning riders don’t generally break their riding maidens on the backs of recently retired Thoroughbreds, but don’t tell…
As American Pharoah has made his way to one of horse racing’s biggest stages – Belmont Park with a Triple Crown on the line – the human stars of his show have been his owner, trainer, and jockey. And while they have rightly commanded the media spotlight, the three-year-old colt also has a supporting cast,…
Belmont Park: The Grade I, $1.5 million Belmont at 1 ½ miles #1 Mubtaahij (IRE) (10-1): De Kock runner gives some international flavor to the proceedings as he made a name for himself in Dubai this winter, culminating in a visually impressive score in Meydan’s GII UAE Derby. And while that form didn’t translate to…
On June 13, 1953, Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. watched his homebred Native Dancer win the Belmont Stakes, eking out a nose victory to complete the third leg of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown. He’d won three weeks earlier, too, at Pimlico, but had lost the Kentucky Derby. One might have forgiven Vanderbilt for a bittersweet sadness…
When Smarty Jones ran for the Triple Crown in 2004, spectators at Belmont Park faced long lines for betting, bathrooms, and concessions; they waited hours for Long Island Rail Road trains after the races were over. When Big Brown ran for the Triple Crown in 2008, spectators sat in extreme heat and humidity and the…
When horses break from the gate for the 147th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, they will do so directly in front of tens of thousands of people, on their feet on the crowded apron and in the clubhouse and grandstand. They will circle the enormous Belmont oval, the only one of its kind in the United…
If you follow me on Twitter, you’re going to get – in addition to tweets about New York City, politics, feminism, and the New York Rangers – lots of tweets about cats. And cat rescue. And the treatment of animals in factory farms. And cruelty-free products of various sorts. You’re also going to get a…
Brooklyn Backstretch 