She came to me, along with her brother, in September of 1996. I had left my cat back in the States when I’d moved to England in 1995, and, having decided to remain in London for the foreseeable future, I was no longer going to live without a cat. I grew up with tabbies and…
Today at Aqueduct is the 91st running of the Evening Attire. Well, OK, not exactly: the race has been run, with a few gaps, since 1902; formerly the Aqueduct Handicap, the race was re-named to honor the gelding who won it in 2002 and who was retired in 2008 at age 10. In its former…
It’s all about the girls this weekend at Aqueduct, with the Busanda on Saturday and last week’s Ruthless being brought back on Sunday; both races are for three-year-olds, with the former at a mile of 70 yards and the latter at six furlongs. This site is in the middle of its third winter, so the…
Regular readers might accuse me of never having met a racetrack I didn’t like: I’ve gushed over Gulfstream, swooned over Suffolk, waxed rhapsodic over Woodbine. In my own defense, I am occasionally discriminating: I’d be happy never to return to Philadelphia Park, and while willing to admit that I caught Turfway on a bad day,…
Gulfstream Park doesn’t open until this Sunday, but the backstretch is abuzz as horses train in Hallandale for races at Calder (for a few more days, anyway) and get ready for Opening Day 2010. Standing at the quarter pole, looking east as the sun comes up; the track’s been open for a while, but it’s…
“…grey is not a coat. Then what is it? It can only be a strange pigmentation disease…” Federico Tesio A study of genetics focusing on horses’ colors resulted in Tesio’s mid-20th century declaration. Aesthetic observation brings Barbara Livingston, fortunately, to a different conclusion. “Before I started the book, I knew little about the science of…
Joe Drape describes himself on his Twitter page as “New York Times reporter, author, horseplayer.” “My dad taught me how to read the Form when I was a kid. I’m from Kansas City, and once or twice a year, I’d go with him to Ak-sar-ben or Oaklawn. I went to college in Dallas, and I’d…
May 2008 brought news that caused much consternation in the Backstretch household. “Storm Cat Pensioned,” read the headline in the Blood-Horse. Storm Cat pensioned? Good-bye to generations of Cat horses? Good-bye to nearly unlimited hunch betting? Feline brows furrowed. Fast forward just about a year…and all of a sudden, signs of feline fecundity were everywhere.…
Given that I generally still refer to the Patrick Division and the Campbell Conference, one would correctly surmise that I’m not a big fan of eviscerating history in the name of modernization. It seems silly to me that a huge banner in the clubhouse at Saratoga reads “The Go For Wand Est. 1954” when the…
On Friday at about 6:30 am, the temperature in Brooklyn was 22 degrees; the wind made it feel like it was in the single digits, and it likely felt much colder on the backstretches of Belmont and Aqueduct. The men and women who take care of the horses had already been at work for several…
Brooklyn Backstretch 