A slight cat-astrophe delayed my arrival at the Big A on Monday, and when I got off the train at Aqueduct, I was fairly surprised to see it snowing. I didn’t recall seeing anything in the forecast about snow today, and I soon realized that I wasn’t alone: I don’t think many of us expected…
Searching wins the Correction Handicap of 1956 ©Keeneland-Morgan, credit to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Yesterday I wrote about the Hirsch Jacobs family, U.S. racing royalty. Though the Jacobs family frequently bred horses, one of their best stories is a filly purchased from Ogden Phipps in 1955. Searching (War Admiral –…
Following, a collection of random thoughts, all of which has at least some tangential relation to horse racing, even if it is not immediately apparent. On a menu in Lexington, listed under imported beers: Sam Adams. The Garden District, New Orleans: doesn’t every neighborhood need one of these? That old hockey and horse racing connection:…
In response to the mild, followed by apocalyptic, followed by mild forecasts for Saturday’s weather, the New York Racing Association sped up post times to insure that all nine races could be run before the “storm” hit. Nine races run in approximately three hours and forty-six minutes—barely time to check the paddock, bet, get to…
A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us bloggers “[fell] over each other…trying to solve the great marketing problems of racing,” in the Twittering words of o_crunk. That wave having passed, the topic de la semaine seems to be the world of racing writing: I wrote about it on Monday; Claire Novak’s on it…
Last August, Jessica Chapel of Railbird and I were invited by Seth Merrow of Equidaily to appear on his show on Capital OTB to discuss how the Internet is affecting the relationship between racing and its fans. Among the questions he asked: “Do you consider yourself a journalist?” The answer, of course, is no. Journalists…
Back in Brooklyn, after an excellent nine-day road trip, and how good of NYRA to be running the Ruthless on my re-entry day, the Ruthless, named after the excellent nineteenth century filly who won both the Travers and the Belmont in 1867. Ruthless was by Eclipse out of Barbarity, and she and her four full…
A few random thoughts from New Orleans: While in Lexington, I stopped at Keeneland, open for the winter for simulcasting, to watch the Gravesend on Saturday. It’s quite a busy place in the winter; in addition to simulcasting, at least two major life events were taking place: Congratulations to all of those involved, and especially…
…from Brooklyn Backstretch. “Racing this Christmas Greeting to you!” by Karin Vollkommer
A mix of the global and the local, in no particular order, and with an explicit belief in Christmas miracles… …for the glory of the old races—the Suburban, the Brooklyn, the Triple Tiara—to somehow return. …for Saratoga Russell to come back at four, and to be as fast and electric as he was before he…
Brooklyn Backstretch 