I was remiss in not welcoming back Brian to Brooklyn Backstretch when I posted his Lecomte analysis last week, so here’s a belated but no less hearty welcome to the man who’s been checking out the Derby preps for Brooklyn Backstretch since 2009. Brian handicaps regularly at Horseplayer Now and appears on Capital OTB TV in…
She was a last-second impulse purchase, and her owner called her “a gift from God.” She lost only once in her first 12 races, and in 1999, she was the 3-year-old filly champion. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, she earned more than $3 million and she ran like her name. She’s Silverbulletday.…
Fair Grounds: The Grade III, $200,000 Lecomte at 1 mile and 70 yards #1 Roman Unbridled: Delta invader ran off with the Big Drama Stakes last time by 8 ½ lengths at 7F’s, but it’s worth noting that is a two-turn race, which gives him a leg up on most in here. Tactical sort wired…
Depending on the outcome of Saturday’s fifth race at Santa Anita Park, Blackhawks’ coach Joel Quenneville might get a chance to dream about adding a Kentucky Derby trophy to his collection of Stanley Cup rings. Midnight Hawk, a three-year-old colt, will make his second start tomorrow in the Grade 3 Sham. He’s owned by Quenneville…
Frigid in New York. Balmy in Florida. Warm, cold, rain, shine, north, south, Aqueduct, Gulfstream. On the first weekend of 2014, racing interests with Mid-Atlantic connections were kind of like the U.S. Postal Service: nothing kept them from their appointed rounds, and several kicked off the new year with a trip to the winner’s…
On a Sunday afternoon in October, Steuart Pittman stood on the track at Pimlico, surrounded by jumps and horses. A microphone in his hand, he spoke to hundreds of people sitting in the stands as Thoroughbreds trotted, cantered, and jumped around him. The track was his pulpit, the audience his congregation, and the message of…
A year ago, Gary Stevens hadn’t ridden in a horse race since 2005. Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997, the jockey had retired at age 42, going on to train horses briefly before becoming a broadcaster for NBC’s and HRTV’s racing programs. On January 3 of this year, he announced that, at age…
Earlier this year, Paul Roberts and Isabelle Taylor published Racecourse Architecture, highlighting the world’s most beautiful and luxurious racecourses, among them Happy Valley in Hong Kong, Ascot in England, and Meydan in Dubai. In the book and in Roberts’ presentations on the subject, he suggests that as pressure for gambling dollars become more intense, the quality…
The holiday season can bring out the best in us, and racetracks are no exception. Though philanthropic initiatives proliferate throughout the year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, racing people, both front side and back, make extra efforts to help those less fortunate. The holiday work of the Central Pennsylvania Racetrack Chaplaincy of America (RTCA) Council and…
He’s among the quieter riders out there, seldom seeking the spotlight, but as 2013 comes to a close, jockey Javier Castellano may well be on the verge of winning his first Eclipse Award. On December 13, the Venezuela native broke the single season earnings record set in 2012 by Ramon Dominguez, forced to retire earlier…
Brooklyn Backstretch 