It is now post time. My Saratoga training began well: like many summer runners, I made the transition from Belmont to Saratoga well, with a series of works showing steady improvement. I familiarized myself with the course, adjusting to the different upstate running route, learning the configuration, the potential challenges, benefitting from the cool Saratoga…
Race 8: $30,000 claimer for 3&up on the inner turf at 1-mile (claiming price $35,000). 1. Ninth Client: We saw on Thursday with Fast Draw that when Lukas drops them in for a tag, they usually run well. This guy has been running against some top competition and now makes his first start for a…
Last month, I wrote briefly about Sabellina, the New York-bred mare who was a favorite of mine; Matt Lyons, general manager of Woodford Thoroughbreds in Versailles, Kentucky, commented on the post to let us know that Sabellina was at his farm in Kentucky and that her first foal would go through the ring during this…
Week 3 begins today; a third of the meet is gone; prevailing mood is a combination of fatigue and regret. “I can’t believe that only four weeks are left…” In no particular order… Week 2 was a good one for the felines, with three winners… Scottkeith’s Kitten Dean’s Kitten And our favorite, Crazy Catlady…The theme…
Despite a card of good races, Sunday felt like a letdown. The expectations around Saturday’s Whitney; the double carryover; the incredible weather; the nearly 40,000 spectators—no question that Saturday at the Spa was a Big Racing Day. Sunday started chilly and grey and humid, and ended warm and grey and humid. We got a little…
The happy ending was supposed to come in the 10th race, not the 9th. Commentator was supposed to win the 83rd Whitney, to join Kelso and Discovery as the only horses to win the Whitney three times. He was supposed to cruise to victory and sail off into the Saratoga sunset, retired at age eight…
Earlier this week I wrote in the Saratogian about the rewards and difficulties of researching racing history; Superfecta took an excellent look at the work of archivists following the disastrous flooding at Churchill Downs. Friday, I turned my attention to the first running of the Test, the 96th running of which takes places today at…
Two Grade I’s highlight the Saturday card so let’s see if we can shake the 3-out of-4 tag and cash one. –Brian Nadeau Race 8: The $70,000 John Hettinger for 3-year-old fillies at 1-mile on the inner turf. 2. Our Golden Dream: State-bred is on a nice little run but meets a pretty salty crew…
For agonizingly long minutes on Wednesday following the third race, thousands at Saratoga Race Course wondered whether we were going to witness, right there in front of us, the fourth equine death in the first seven days of racing. Just past the finish line, three-year-old Hidden Face, making her first start, suddenly collapsed. She threw…
The 2009 meet gets off to a terrific start when Saratoga Russell wins the fourth race… …but Naughty New Yorker finishes last on a dismal Friday. Ernie Munick and his impromptu back-up band don’t let the rain deter them in the backyard… …and we saw far too much of this sloppy mess in opening week……
Brooklyn Backstretch 