Question: How did you get interested in racing? Nearly everyone I know answers this question the same way: Answer: My parents/uncle/grandmother took me to the track when I was a kid. These early experiences instilled in them an enthusiasm for the game, one that carried into adulthood and that they now pass on to their…
Thirteen days ago, Swift Temper finished thirteen and a half lengths behind Icon Project in the Grade I Personal Ensign at Saratoga. Following that race, trainer Dale Romans said, “She ran good. We’re happy with the way she ran. Of course, we’re disappointed that she didn’t win.” Thirteen days later, he didn’t need to be…
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. And profuse thanks to reader BrooklynSaint, who pointed out two unforgivable omissions in my wrap-up post from yesterday. Brian Nadeau: thank you! Brian started writing Derby preps last winter, and he continued handicapping through the end of the Saratoga meet, focusing on the Saturday Pick 4’s. His work…
On Friday, August 14th, steeplechase trainer Janet Elliott became the first woman trainer elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. On Saturday, September 5th, Rachel Alexandra became the first filly or mare to win the Woodward. And on Monday, September 7th, Linda Rice became the first woman to win the Saratoga training…
Labor Day is Backstretch family day at Saratoga; members of the extended clan head to the track, armed with coolers and sandwiches and cans of beer, to spend closing day at the races, unencumbered by any obligations other than those of betting, eating, drinking, and enjoying. The day starts at 7:00 a.m., when the table…
Seth Merrow of Capitol OTB’s Call to the Post and the website Equidaily has invited me to join him and co-host Jeff Carle on their final show of the Saratoga ’09 racing season. Broadcasting from the backstretch, the show starts at 10:30, and I should be on shortly thereafter to do a meet wrap-up and…
Sunday morning on the Saratoga backstretch was quiet. Yesterday’s heroics in the books, the feeling of the end of the meet is undeniable, and many, it seems have packed up and left: the sparse crowd at the backstretch coffee stand mirrors the empty stalls across the grounds. It’s cold, too, perhaps the coldest morning the…
It is the morning of which Saratoga dreams are made, and the racing gods ensure that everything’s perfect.At 6:30 am, the sun is peeking over the trees, but bathing the track and the horses working out over it in golden light. The morning fog without which no Saratoga photograph is complete shows up on schedule,…
Race 9: The Grade I, $300,000 Forego for 3&up at 7 furlongs.1. Pyro: Made a nice return earlier in the meet when his patented late rally fell just short in a minor stakes. Eligible to be much tighter today as well and that means he’s someone you need to be aware of in the lane.…
A couple of days ago, this came across the old Twitter wire from o_crunk: Never did sign up for Bris. Now they’re offering free .pdf charts all the wayback to 1991. Mr/Mrs Pls tear down this USER/PASS wall. Free charts? For almost 20 years? Too good to be true. Can’t be true. What’s the catch?…
Brooklyn Backstretch 