Racing fans that pulled the Kentucky Derby/Preakness infield double were treated on both days to stupendously beautiful weather, a range of high- and low-end hospitality offerings (and behavior), and terrific racing. Preakness infield denizens were treated to concerts by Lorde and a handful of other musical acts, but if the Churchill Downs infield crowd didn’t…
Kentucky Derby 140 is in the books, and now the talk of the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 begins. But before we move on to Baltimore to see if California Chrome can head to Belmont Park on June 7 to make racing history, let’s wrap up Kentucky Derby weekend. The story of California Chrome has…
In a scenario that I’d have thought less likely than my hitting the Kentucky Derby superfecta, NPR’s Only A Game asked me to talk about…Derby Fashion. “For a select not-so-few, the Kentucky Derby is about bringing to the starting gate a horse that, however temporarily, will be a candidate for racing’s Triple Crown. “For the not-so-select many,…
So began a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or more tracks in his life, but this Louisville…
We’re a little more than 24 hours away from the big race, and while John Perotti has accumulated a daunting number of points at the top of our charity league leaderboard, the 525 points on the line at Churchill mean that an awful lot of of players still have a chance win the league and the $1800 charity…
When Danza crossed the finish line first in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 12, he had plenty of people cheering him on at Oaklawn Park. He also had a serious, albeit smaller, cheering section at Henry Clay’s in Lexington, Kentucky, where Pam Robinson was having dinner with Ressa Harris, one of the clients…
We’re less than 48 hours out from the Kentucky Derby, but the final field may still not be set. Trainer Bob Baffert announced this morning that Hoppertunity, considered a contender by many, would be scratched due to a foot injury, making room for Pablo Del Monte to draw in off the also-eligible list. Trainer Wesley…
Listening to Rodney Paine talk about why he emigrated from Australia to the United States, you might be forgiven for at first regarding him as just a touch naïve. “The Kentucky Derby always intrigued me,” he said, sitting in the jockeys’ room at Aqueduct last weekend. “I thought it would be neat to take a…
By tomorrow, the 20 horses expected to start in the Kentucky Derby this Saturday will be on the grounds, as will the hopeful few on the also-eligible list, who will make it into the starting gate in the event of any defections later in the week. Late scratches are not uncommon: In 2009, 2010, and…
Monday morning, April 19th: It’s been quiet for a little while, but at about 8:25, the stirrings begin. The clockers resume their places: binoculars are raised, stopwatches poised. After a morning of commonplace workouts—oh, except for that bullet that Rachel Alexandra fired at 6:30—the Churchill Downs track is about to become something of a private playground. Under…
Brooklyn Backstretch 