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……
Another day, another graded stakes, another track record, another perfect weather day (OK, so that’s not something we can take for granted). Welcome to the Spa. The fifth race was for well-bred two-year-old fillies, and it featured Dale Romans’s Tapitsfly (Tapit – Flying Marlin (Marlin)). Romans is the one who last year introduced me to…
Day 6 at the Spa dawned cool, dry, sunny, and beautiful; running past the Oklahoma this morning, I watched horses working out in the kind of light foggy sunlight that so many people have captured in photographs of Saratoga. It was sublime. And in my second breeze for the Fasig-Tipton 5K run on August 15th,…
“There’s nothing quite like watching a true champion win a grand old race at Saratoga,” wrote Steve Crist on Saturday afternoon, perfectly and simply summing up the experience of watching Forever Together in the 71st running of the Diana. A year ago on the first Saturday of the meet, Spa visitors were treated to one…
In Roman mythology, Diana is the goddess of the hunt; she is swift, she is chaste, and she is deadly. When the youth Actaeon saw her bathing naked, she transformed him into a stag and turned loose his own hunting dogs to kill him. Since 1939, fillies and mares have contested the Diana, often at…
I’m happy to say that Brian will continue handicapping the Saturday Pick 4, now guaranteed at $500,000 for Saratoga. At least, he’ll be doing it as long as his primary responsibilities at the Saratoga Special permit…if you’re in Saratoga, make sure to pick up your free daily copy of the Special for an in-depth look…
A day at the races offers any number of interesting storylines, opening day at Saratoga more than usual. We could talk about the weather (yes, of course, it rained, but as one NYRA employee said to me after the first race, “Hey, it’s already better than last year—we got a turf race in!”); we could…
Brooklyn Backstretch 