A visit to Greentree

Drive south on Nelson Avenue, with the track on your left; you’ll come to the corner of Gridley Avenue. If you turn left, you’ll be on the Saratoga backstretch, with Clare Court barns and the half-mile training track on your right. If you keep going down Nelson, you’ll shortly see an expansive farm, with a…

A Western round-up for Anna House

Last Wednesday, the Belmont Child Care Association held its annual and major benefit for the children of Anna House. Having outgrown its traditional home at the Gideon Putnam, this year’s event was held at the City Center…and the good news is that it, too, felt crowded at times, testimony to the commitment of so many…

Week 5: Sights, sounds, musings

With, unsurprisingly, an emphasis on Travers Day. Approximately 6:20 am… …and a stranger says to me, “If heaven’s like this, I’ll never sin again…” Venturing to the back, we are greeted with electronic welcome messages… …just before the gates open for the first sprint of the day, as hundreds run to grab a prime spot…approximately…

Living up to the hype

Big race days and big races are supposed to be memorable. We want them to stand out somehow, to give us something to savor, to become, in the words of ESPN, instant classics, to create stories. And boy, did Travers Day 2008 deliver. Let’s start with the weather. It’s become tiresome to talk about the…

It’s a filly in the…Travers

Ruthless (Eclipse – Barbarity) Photo credit to the National Museum of RacingThose of us who favor the distaff side have had quite the year and a half. Fillies and mares have stolen the headlines pretty regularly since last summer: Rags to Riches’ victory in the Belmont; Eight Belles’ impressive second in the Derby, followed by…

Week 4: sights, sounds, musings

The Jacobson barn last week, on Spooky Mulder: “He doesn’t know he’s ten years old; he acts like a two-year-old.” On Sunday, Spooky beat four other horses in a $16,000 claimer at Monmouth, in his first and only start for trainer David Jacobson. Spooky had been in Scott Lake’s barn since February of 07, and…

Weekend wrap-up

Over at Railbird, Jessica has eloquently and elegantly described the scene following Proud Spell’s win in the Alabama; if you haven’t already read it, take a look. The crowd stood and applauded as Proud Spell and Music Note came back after the race, causing many of us on the apron to look up and enjoy…

A morning with Dale Romans

Another damp, chilly Saratoga morning; it feels more like October than August. The sky is leaden; standing along the rail of the Oklahoma training track, we’re wearing fleeces, boots, sweaters. The sun should be shining; we should be wearing tank tops. But we’re shivering, and trying, futilely, to avoid puddles. “Hop on,” trainer Dale Romans…

The first Alabama

Saturday brings to us the second oldest race for fillies in the country; the Alabama Stakes, inaugurated in 1872, is younger by four years than the Ladies Handicap. The race is named for Captain William Cottrill, a Southern military man and keen horseman. Edward Hotaling, in They’re Off! Horse Racing at Saratoga, tells of the…