On Friday evening at Churchill Downs, a lot of people in the press box were surprised at Life At Ten’s performance when she broke – sort of – from the gate in the Distaff. (Do I *have* to call it the Ladies’ Classic? Do I have to?) And some of us weren’t. Most of the…
Horse racing let us down a lot last weekend. We saw a disgraceful and indefensible jockey fight in the winner’s circle; a perplexing series of events that led to Life At Ten jogging around the track at Churchill Downs under the lights; a fatal injury to Rough Sailing in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. And…
I’m sitting in the press box at Churchill Downs. It’s quiet. No sound is coming from the many televisions, and people who have time to talk have already left; everyone else is typing. The lights, those lights that were to make this first night-time Breeders’ Cup racing so special, are still on, illuminating an empty…
So, here we are, two days away from the Breeders’ Cup. You may, like me, already be feeling a little inundated with information: stories, photos, odds, angles, handicapping. But if you’re still seeking information, check out Keeping Up with the Breeders’ Cup at Raceday 360. You’re probably already checking out the Raceday360 Wire, an essential…
The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is a baby, compared to the BC races that have been run since 1984, the year of the event’s inception. This year, the race is three years old…just like one of the fillies that will be contesting it. Rose Catherine is one of two three-year-olds in the race; the other…
On the post about the Secretariat statue in the paddock at Belmont, a commenter wrote about Secretariat’s Triple Crown-winning season, “America needed a hero, even if it was a four legged one. We need one today as well and we have one; a female at that…Zenyatta.” With all due respect to the other horses running…
Whether you like the movie or not, Secretariat has been a welcome reminder of Big Red’s accomplishments, 37 years after he won the Triple Crown. And while I haven’t seen the movie, I am reminded of that incredible spring each time I walk into the Belmont paddock, where stands a statue of the Chenerys’ Triple…
My father is the very antithesis of a hunch bettor: he has little use for the betting proclivities of his daughter (in fact, he frequently refers to me as “the worst bettor of all time”), and I can’t remember a single time when he bet a horse for any other reason than that he thought…
On October 3, I was sitting at Belmont Park watching the Grade 3 Miss Grillo with a trainer who knows a thing or two about winners; he’s trained horses that have won all three legs of the Triple Crown and the Travers; he’s trained two Breeders’ Cup winners. And as he watched Winter Memories fly…
How do I love thee, New York Showcase Day? Let me count the ways! Tomorrow at Belmont Park is all about New York, on and off the track. And having spent all but 10 years of my life here, I am rather an unabashed cheerleader for all things Empire State. (OK, maybe not all things.…
Brooklyn Backstretch 