On Saturday, January 19, Ramon Dominguez won his third consecutive Outstanding Jockey Eclipse Award. He didn’t know it at the time, but the day before, he had ridden in his last race. While his friends and colleagues John Velazquez and Javier Castellano accepted the award on his behalf, Dominguez was in a New York hospital…
On the racing calendar, June represents something of a breather. The relentless push to the Triple Crown wraps up early in the month, and the summer racing season is still a few weeks away. While races continue across the country, the pressure of spring racing seems, at least, to have abated a little. Unless you’re…
High quality racing, customer service, and history were the subjects of a New York Racing Association media event June 24 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., at which the organization’s executives detailed plans for this summer’s race meet. While this summer’s meet will be the 145th in Saratoga, both the town and the track are celebrating the…
This year’s Royal Ascot meeting got off to rather a racy beginning when it opened on Tuesday afternoon at the renowned racecourse in Berkshire, England. Not racy in the sense of horses running on the track—racy in the NSFW way, if looking at equine erections is something frowned upon in your workplace. On opening day…
The New York Racing Association, as many had expected, on June 18 hired Chris Kay as its chief executive officer, effective July. The vote was unanimous during a late afternoon meeting. The CEO position has been vacant for about a year. NYRA board chair David Skorton called Kay a “dream candidate” and praised his high…
A public hearing held by the New York Racing Association at Belmont Park June 15 was intended to focus on racing, wagering, and marketing, but within minutes of its 9:30 a.m. EDT start, it turned into an acrimonious, impromptu union meeting. Dozens of NYRA employees and union representatives packed the small room in which the…
As Mid-Atlantic trainers reflected on Friday morning about Ramon Dominguez’s retirement, they talked about his talent as a rider and his commitment to horse racing. But their first reactions were about Dominguez the man, not Dominguez the jockey. “#1, he’s an exceptional person,” said Linda Gaudet. Read more at The Racing Biz…
On June 19 and 20, Belmont Park will host a certificate program for the Racing Officials Accreditation Program. Consisting of one day of general education and one day of job-specific modules, the event offers education and certification for seven racing official positions: clerk of scales, horse identifier, paddock judge, patrol judge, outrider, and starter/assistant starter.…
Talk to most of the jockeys around your local racetrack, and you’ll find that they’ve taken one of a few paths to get to where they are. They grew up around horses; they started riding at a young age; they attended a jockey academy. Talk to jockey Samantha Colvin, and you’ll get quite a different…
Charles “Chip” Reed and Mike Zanella first met on a gambling trip organized by a mutual friend. “He said to me, ‘I want you to meet my friend Chip. I think you’re really going to like this guy,’ ” recalled Zanella recently. “That’s how it started.” It was, as they say, the beginning of a…
Brooklyn Backstretch 