We’d waited two weeks to see what would happen next. We wondered whether, after waiting so long for his first Kentucky Derby win, Todd Pletcher would find himself in the enviable position of bringing a Triple Crown candidate to his home track. We sat through seven and a half hours and 11 races…and then it…
One down, two to go. Super Saver relished the slop and the rail-and Calvin Borel-and dominated what was thought to be a wide-open Kentucky Derby. Can he do it again two weeks later in Baltimore, under what figure to be vastly different circumstances? In his path are four also-rans in the Derby and seven new…
Over the last couple of years, the Shuvee Handicap at Belmont has offered the occasion to consider the magnificent horse who, en route to winning handicap mare honors in 1970 and 1971, twice won the Jockey Club Gold Cup, back when it was a two-mile race. In 2008, we could talk about Shuvee in the…
Today’s post is a series of public service announcements of one form or another, catching up with racing charities and other news. Still waiting to hear from Bourbon Bliss Barn, the winner of the 2010 Road to the Roses Brooklyn Backstretch charity league. It’s been a week, so Bourbon Bliss, unless I hear from you…
The second weekend of spring racing at Belmont is in the books, and I still haven’t made it out to Big Sandy. Family and other events have conspired to keep me west of Elmont, and will continue to do so through this next weekend, so in the absence of opportunity to spend a day at…
Regular followers of New York racing might expect to see the Peter Pan, a traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes, this week; instead, they’ll be seeing the Grade II Dwyer. Because neither the State of New York nor New York City Off-Track Betting has managed to meet its financial obligations to the New York Racing…
Crazy Catlady isn’t the only feline equine with whom I spent some time when I was in Florida; on my way home up the Gulf Coast, I spent a day at Tampa Bay Downs, starting the morning at the barn of Bernell Rhone. Ted Grevelis is a fellow blogger and managing partner of Grevelis Racing…
Nearly as important as post-Derby racing coverage is post-Derby media coverage. Equidaily has devoted a whole section to links to media commentary, and no shortage of mainstream and Internet racing writers (including this one) have dropped an opinion about what they saw on television on Saturday afternoon. I thought about writing my usual scathing coverage…
On June 18th of last year, two baby felines moved temporarily into my home. They’d been found in a Brooklyn backyard, offspring of a feral mother, and at about a month old, they needed immediate foster care. “No more than a week,” I warned as I accepted them from their rescuer. “We have to find…
Congratulations to Todd Pletcher for getting off the Derby schneid. Pletcher and his wife Tracy have been major supporters of the Belmont Child Care Association, and two years ago they were honored for their work on behalf of the children of Anna House. And now we can, happily, stop hearing about his winless streak. Pletcher’s kind of like the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 