The list of Forbes 400 Richest Americans was published this week, and pity the poor 133 billionaires that didn’t make the cut. But five names familiar from racing did…a look at how they made their millions, what they did with them at the racetrack, and a mare who has foals owned by two of them.…
Maybe it was the cross-country ship. Maybe it was the post position. Maybe it was the speed-favoring track. Maybe it was the three-month layoff. Or maybe Bayern is just a faster horse. Whatever the reason, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome lost his second consecutive race after winning six straight when he finished sixth…
On Saturday at the racetrack now called Parx (formerly Philadelphia Park), Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome will make his first start since finishing fourth in the Belmont Stakes in June, becoming the 12th horse since 1978, the year of the last Triple Crown winner, to fail in a Triple Crown bid. Given a…
It’s not easy to fly with me. I’ve never loved it, and often avoided it; I didn’t grow up in a family that flew frequently, and because we drove almost everywhere, that’s what I did, too, until I moved to London in the summer of 1995. There, I became a frequent, if not entirely comfortable,…
If you can play, you can play. Those seven words sum up the message of the You Can Play Project, founded two years ago by Patrick Burke, Brian Kitts, and Glenn Witman. “Dedicated to ensuring equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation,” You Can Play began with one video, in which Burke…
On a backstretch with no shortage of beautiful spots, Graham Motion’s Herringswell Stables sits in one of the best. Shaded by Saratoga’s famous trees, it lies just off the far turn, with a photographer’s dream view of the horses out for morning works, or racing in the afternoon. Steps beyond the horsepath sit a table…
With three Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Owner and one for Outstanding Breeder; nine meet-leading titles in 2013 (including breaking records for wins at Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Kentucky Downs, and Saratoga); the #1 sire by earnings in 2013 and the current leading turf sire in Kitten’s Joy, it might not be much of a…
On May 21, the New York State Gaming Commission released the security procedures for the horses entered in four of the six Grade I races on Belmont Day: the Manhattan, the Met Mile, the Ogden Phipps, and the Belmont Stakes. Such procedures are put in place for races worth more than $1 million, according to…
Tomorrow’s weather for Big Apple Showcase Day might not scream “summer!” (mid 70s, partly cloudy, occasional shower, if you were wondering), but thanks to Frost Giant and the good folks at Sunrise Stables, kids under 12 will be treated to free ice cream from Mister Softee in the backyard at Belmont Park. Sunrise Stables, partners…
Last Friday night, the local Time Warner News NY1 aired a report about fatalities at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, linking horse racing with the contentious Central Park carriage horse issue. On the face of it, it’s not a stretch to consider the issues together; both, after all, raise issues of equine welfare; both have made…
Brooklyn Backstretch 