“The Triple Crown races are to showcase the future stallions of our industry andfillies should run with fillies and stallions with stallions.” So said Dolphus Morrison, the then-owner of Rachel Alexandra following her dominating win in the Kentucky Oaks. No second guessing for this owner, no wondering how she might have fared had she been…
The laws of physics are getting in my way today. As this posts, I am at Monmouth for the day, to catch some workouts and spend the day at the races, but there’s much at Belmont that I’ll be keeping my eye on. In the first race, That’srightofficer (Do you know how happy it makes…
Next month, ReRun, the New Jersey-based Thoroughbred adoption program, is hosting its third annual “Day at the Races” at Monmouth Park Racetrack. Taking place on June 13th, this event is ReRun’s largest annual fundraiser and will be held outside on the Patio Terrace. The benefit luncheon to raise funds for the adoption of ex-racehorses will…
I met City On Line last summer, on the backstretch at Saratoga. Allen Jerkens’s barn is as far north of the track as you can get, before the grounds at Saratoga give way to the old Greentree facility. It was feeding time in the afternoon, and the Chief pulled up in his golf cart. “Let’s…
The more that I watch mainstream media’s coverage of horse racing on television, the more I think that we might be better off if the sport didn’t get covered at all. I didn’t watch this year’s Derby coverage, but based on the Oaks coverage on Bravo and the Preakness coverage on NBC, I’m thinking that…
Seattle Smooth—or maybe her jockey Ramon Dominguez—gave her backers and her connections some tense moments during the running of the Grade II Shuvee at Belmont on Saturday. Stuck behind horses down on the rail at the top of the stretch, Dominguez seemed to be waiting for a hole that didn’t open up, and he finally…
If I’m wrong about all this, and if Mine That Bird somehow figures in racing for the rest of the year—or even for the next few months–I’ll be the first to admit it, right here. But until then, I’m going to have a hard time seeing this year’s Derby as anything approaching important as we…
On this day, after this week, when much has been written about the decision to run Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, the Grade II Shuvee is being run at Belmont Park. In 1970, Shuvee became the first filly to win the two mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, raced then at Aqueduct. It was her fourth…
He’s baaaa-aaaack! Brian Nadeau returns to Brooklyn Backstretch for a look at the Preakness. There’s really no reason to beat around the bush, so let’s get right into it…what a Preakness lined up for Saturday! As if the improbable Derby winner Mine That Bird wasn’t enough, we have the super filly Rachel Alexandra to boot.…
In a comment on a recent post about the new barbecue facilities at Belmont, Ashley Herriman answers some questions posed by readers: The minimum number of people to reserve a table in a section is 8, but withoutreserving the entire section, you would likely be mixed in with other groups. To reserve an entire section…
Brooklyn Backstretch 