The Ogden Phipps Handicap – Grade I — $300,000 – 1 1/16 miles – Fillies and mares –by Brian NadeauFormerly known as the Hempstead Handicap, the Phipps has for years been one of the most important stops on the calendar for the best females in training. Run at a one-turn 1 1/16-mile distance, it often…
The last few weeks have been pretty good ones for Anna House, with a steady stream of visitors stopping by to visit the children and to see in action the good work of the Belmont Child Care Association. A few weeks ago, Kiaran McLaughlin stopped by to have lunch with the children. McLaughlin and Edgar…
Some of my favorite moments from Belmont ’09, in pictures… The fabulous Fabulous Strike in the post parade… …and winning… …in this time, over a “good” track…which became “fast” moments after this race was official…. Diamondrella… …followed by Forever Together, which made my exacta pay much better than the other way around… Munnings is flying,…
“Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…” Thus began the Saturday evening press conference with the connections of Belmont winner Summer Bird, as jockey Kent Desormeaux entered, serenading trainer Tim Ice. Desormeaux’s high spirits were understandable: after five unsuccessful attempts at a Belmont win, including two aboard Triple Crown contenders, he had finally broken through…
It’s hard not to consider New York’s premier day of racing an unqualified success. Handle was unimaginably impressive; the place was packed with happy people enjoying a day at the races; Summer Bird, Tim Ice, and Kent Desormeaux provide terrific storylines and a satisfying ending to the Triple Crown season; and all the horses and…
Let’s take a look at the major contenders in the stakes races Saturday at Belmont. From top to bottom, it’s one of the best cards NYRA has put out in quite some time, from both an equine and betting standpoint. I think it’s about the toughest Pk4 you’ll ever see and the Manhattan very well…
On Friday morning, the children at Anna House got a surprise visit from New York’s new favorite, Mine That Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley. Donna Chenkin, executive director of the Belmont Child Care Association, said that Woolley sat down and played with and talked to the students, and that they quite readily crawled all over him,…
I hit Brooklyn Thursday night at around 9:00 pm; four days of fun, food, and community service in Baltimore with our senior class had come to a monumentally successful end, and it was with a combination of fatigue, relief, and satisfaction that I swung off the Verrazano Bridge and headed north. The trip was over…
We’ve finally come to the end of the road. The Triple Crown trail, that is. The Belmont Stakes and one lap around the glorious main track of Belmont Park. There’s no Triple Crown on the line this year, no big bonus for the winner and no exciting rematch between the Derby winner Mine That Bird…
Yes, that’s right, August Belmont and Edith Wharton. Belmont the Jewish immigrant financier arriviste, he who changed his name from the German Schonberg to the French/Italian-flavored Belmont, the parvenu who married into the establishment, taking as his wife Carolyn Slidell Perry, daughter of the Commodore. Wharton the descendant of the great old Dutch New York…
Brooklyn Backstretch 