Dark clouds and torrential rain gave way to blazing sun and a glorious Met Mile day at Belmont, exactly the sort of day to kick off summer racing with one of New York’s historic races. The Grade 2 Sands Point for three-year-old fillies was the day’s co-feature; inaugurated in 1995, the race is named for…
On May 30, 1913, Belmont Park threw open its doors for the first time in three years. Racing had been suspended in New York due to the state’s anti-gambling laws, and racing-starved patrons flocked to Belmont in what was reportedly the second-biggest crowd in the track’s history. The featured race that day was the Metropolitan…
Not long after the Kentucky Derby, I was putting together a post about jockey John Velazquez, and, in search of embeddable video of the race, I went to YouTube, expecting to find an official version made available by NBC, by Churchill Downs, or by the NTRA. In some ways, I’ve gotten spoiled: the NTRA, Breeders’…
I first heard Paddy O’Prado’s name on August 5, 2009, the day that Saratoga Race Course was celebrating midsummer St. Patrick’s Day. The aptly named two-year-old, owned by Donegal Racing, was entered in the fourth race, a maiden special weight at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf. He finished second by a neck…
Pimlico: The Grade I, $1 million Preakness at 1 3/16 miles #1 Astrology (15-1 ML): Beautifully bred son of A.P. Indy has progressed nicely this year and enters on the upswing off a one-turn run in the sloppy Jerome. However, up to this point he’s never been true GI quality, nor has he ever run…
2004-2005 was the first year that I paid attention to horse racing year round. I’d spent much of the summer of 2004 at Saratoga, and I developed my first major horse crush, on Afleet Alex. I was there for his Sanford. I think I bet him, but in memories like this, we always do, don’t…
This year’s Hall of Fame class is a celebration of the distaff side. Announced last Friday, this year’s inductees are Jerry Hollendorfer, Safely Kept, Open Mind, and Sky Beauty. Oh, sure, Hollendorfer’s a male, but the first question that he took during the teleconference following the announcement was about which of his three Kentucky Oaks…
Who ever thought it would be a good idea to have the end of the school year nearly exactly coincide with the Triple Crown season? Not this teacher/writer, that’s for sure! It’s an exciting month: we’ve got a compelling, interesting Kentucky Derby winner, a horse that offers the hope that he won’t fall into the…
On April 14, I got an e-mail from a woman named Andrea Pollock. I didn’t know her, and she asked if I knew anything about two horses she followed that had been running at Aqueduct: Morine’s Victory, who hadn’t run or worked out since January, and Talented Princess, who had been injured in a race…
Wandering around Churchill Downs last week, anticipating a big race, I thought about the last time I was there: last November, for the Breeders’ Cup. That was, of course, the Zenyatta Breeders’ Cup: no matter what else happened that weekend, it was all about her, all about the Classic. She was the story on the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 