New York Showcase Day at Belmont Park is as big a racing day for me as the Gold Cup, as the Travers, as the Wood. When the stakes schedule comes out, I mark my calendar: Showcase Day is a non-negotiable day at the races. As usual, NYRA’s got a slate of activities planned: handicappers can…
With New York-bred Showcase Day on tap for Saturday we’ll bypass the Pick4 handicapping and instead give a brief preview of the card, which came up, as always, balanced and competitive on a great day that helps support New York-bred racing. Race 1: LIVING FOR THIS just missed at this level in his last and…
Every Saturday, Jennifer Montfort goes to the track. She gets there early, heading to the backstretch and making her rounds, checking in with her “regulars”: the trainers that she sees every week, with whom she works to place horses whose life on the track is nearing its end. Jennifer is a CANTER NE (Communication Alliance…
Back in August, when Commentator’s retirement was announced, I wrote a column for the Saratogian expressing my wish for an upstate New York home for retired Thoroughbreds. Through various channels I hear that perhaps such a home is in the works, but for now, the two biggest retirement farms are located in the Bluegrass: the…
With the scheduled Grade III Athenia getting cancelled on Thursday due to the heavy rains in the forecast, there’s a good chance that all of Saturday’s action will be washed off the turf. With that in mind, we’ll take a condensed look at the late Pk4 in terms of the main-track-only. Race 7: $16,000 claimer…
The story begins at Belmont, at the 2004 Belmont Stakes. Lois Engel and her husband, Paul Raymond, were there with 120,137 other racing fans, wondering whether Smarty Jones would become the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown. It was their first trip to the Belmont. Racing history aside, Paul was looking…
I think it’s awfully nice when school holidays coincide with Keeneland racing; it’s even better when it happens in October, when part of the journey involves wending through the West Virginia and Maryland mountains as fall foliage explodes in color. So at the end of yet another Backstretch road trip (24 hours in the car,…
Saturday, November 24th, 2007, was a pretty good day for trainer Bill Mott. He swept the two-year-old stakes that day at Aqueduct when Court Vision overcame an inquiry to win the Grade II Remsen; a race earlier, his Mushka had rallied from last to win the Grade II Demoiselle. Yesterday, one might have wondered whether…
Familial and travel commitments mean that Brian’s Pick 4 preview is on hiatus this week, but fortunately for us, we’ve got his preview of the two-year-old stakes at Belmont. The Grade I, $440,000 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies at 1-mile.1. Annie’s Melody: Enters off just a 5 ½-furlong maiden win at Monmouth over seven weeks ago,…
Noah built the ark when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, and thus Lent, a time of sacrifice, is 40 days. In the Bible, 40 days symbolizes deprivation, meditation, transformation. But for those who worship at the altar of racing, 40 days is now nothing…
Brooklyn Backstretch 