A look at the week that was in Derby preps, by Brian Nadeau With little in the way of Derby prep races this weekend we’ll just take a look back at the trio of stakes that were run last weekend, as well as an important allowance Thursday at Gulfstream. We saw the reemergence of the…
A year ago, I first made the acquaintance of Hollie Hughes, a man who devoted himself to and made a life in horse racing, who is as closely linked to one of racing’s first families as anyone could be—and of whom most racing fans have never heard. A year ago, I wrote of Hughes and…
Preview of the Southwest Stakes – Grade III, $250,000 – Oaklawn Park – 1 Mileby Brian Nadeau Well, the Kentucky Derby Trail really gets going here, as we see the return of Old Fashioned, who many view as the horse to beat (is there such a thing three months out?) as of now. He meets…
Preview of the San Vicente Stakes – Santa Anita Park – Grade II, $150,000 – 7 FurlongsBy Brian Nadeau Well, we might as well get this out of the way early. I really have no feel for the fake stuff in terms of handicapping and I’m not a fan of it in the least overall.…
Guest analysis by Brian Nadeau: The Sam F. Davis Stakes – Tampa Bay Downs – Grade III, $225,000 – 1 1/16 miles Question: What do Bluegrass Cat and Any Given Saturday have in common? Answer: The obvious is that they were both Grade I-winning 3-year-olds trained by Todd Pletcher who were major players on the…
The racing gods work in mysterious ways. Just a couple of weeks ago, I felt compelled to confess publically my lack of Derby interest, and as the Road to the Roses game has begun, and the Derby preps are coming more frequently, and the racing press is dominated by news of three year old colts,…
“Whirlaway in action was more impressive than Whirlaway on his record, however, as the colt lost several times through bearing out, dawdling at the start, or other foolishness; when he finally made up his mind to run, he could turn it on, and it was agreed that he would be harder to beat at longer…
Photo credit: New York Rangers We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for our occasional dose of hockey, specifically the retiring of Adam Graves’ #9 last night at the Garden. Gravy, as he was known to his teammates and the Garden faithful, wore Rangers blue for ten years, coming to New York during the 1991 –…
The Belmont Child Care Association has set an industry standard and occupies a unique place in the racing world: located on the backstretch of Belmont Park, the BCCA offers very low cost child care to the children of the backstretch workers, opening at 5 am 365 days a year. It is the only such child…
An avowed fan of winter racing in New York, I’ve frequently mentioned (including yesterday) that while I understand the logic of a few months off, I’d really miss the opportunity to trek out to the Big A in the depths of winter. That was before yesterday, when it seemed impossible to get—and stay—warm if one…
Brooklyn Backstretch 