I first heard of T.D. Thornton’s Not By A Long Shot last May, a year ago, when it came out; listening to a podcast of the WBUR sports program Only A Game focusing on the Derby, I was captured by host Bill Littlefield’s interview with Thornton. Completely absorbed in the engaging stories Thornton told about…
Katie, winner of the Brooklyn Backstretch Take Ten! mini-league, has decided to donate her money to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, which is a part of NTRA charities. When Katie let me know where she wanted the money to go, she wrote, “…it will help people that are forced to face life changing circumstances due…
In the aftermath of Eight Belles’s breakdown in the Derby, we have no shortage of suggestions about where to put our energy and attention into making racing safer. Commenters on yesterday’s post offered their opinions; elsewhere, ideas—both informed and uninformed—are flooding blogs and newspapers. One suggestion–or in some cases, demand–that repeatedly arises is that tracks…
I regret to inform Superterrific Stables of Green but Game that based on updated Take Ten! standings, I must unfortunately remove her blanket of roses as the winner of the Brooklyn Backstretch mini-league, and toss it over to Katie at Trip’s Triple Crown Stable, who finished first in our league and sixtieth overall. Congratulations, Katie—please…
So the comments have started, in blogs and on comment boards and in conversations, wherever the Derby is being talked about. Porter and Jones should never have raced Eight Belles against the boys. All tracks need be changed from dirt to synthetic surfaces. I have many reservations about horse-racing; when Ruffian broke down, I turned…
I have until now managed to avoid the dreaded Derby pick. My TBA colleagues are handicapping in depth, Alan quite traditionally; others, not so much. The Quinella Queen goes the bibliographical route, Railbird goes by the numbers, and Dana hits the romantic angle. Sue, like me, is still in search of the horse that we…
Congratulations to Dana at Green but Game and Superterrific Stables for winning our version of the Take Ten! Derby fantasy game. Full standings are not up, but Dana leads our group, finishing 27th overall. Dana thus gets to choose the equine charity to which I’ll donate $150 in her name. I pledged an original $50,…
As a racing fan, I am filled anticipation as we approach the Kentucky Derby, this country’s most anticipated horse race. As a racing fan, I am dismayed that so much Derby attention is being focused on trainers with, shall we say, less than savory reputations. Richard Dutrow, trainer of the acclaimed Big Brown, has racked…
My parents owned harness horses when I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, my family moved to Saratoga. Until I was about 23, I was around racing pretty regularly and even though I didn’t follow the sport that closely, I went to the track a few times a year and considered myself…
I learned three things on my sojourn Thursday to Atlantic City Race Course: –Do not rely on Mapquest for directions to the track (Mapquest didn’t provide an exit number, and the state highway route number was wrong).–Do not, under any circumstances, miss the exit off the Atlantic City Expressway (you have to go an additional…
Brooklyn Backstretch 