One hundred and four years ago this week, Belmont Park opened. Hailed as a track that would appeal to the general public and not simply to bettors, Belmont occasioned a week of coverage leading up its opening, the day after which the Times declared, “There has never been a more brilliant assemblage at any race…
Part two of our installment was supposed to start with Quality Road, who would have vied for favoritism on Saturday. Sadly, he was declared from the Derby Monday morning as the result of a quarter crack. Let’s continue at our look and hope we see the classy son of Elusive Quality soon. –Brian General Quarters…
When we watched the 2008 Kentucky Derby, we all wanted to know: How is Eight Belles? What happened? When we watched the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, we all wanted to know: How is Pine Island? What happened? When we saw a five-horse pile-up at Aqueduct earlier this year, we all wanted to know: How are…
We made it through the winter and the spring preps, so now it’s time to look over the prospective field for the 135th Kentucky Derby. Entries will be taken Wednesday afternoon, but it’s never too early to get a look at the runners, their background, and the good and bad aspects they bring to the…
Late Saturday afternoon, I stood on the A train platform at Aqueduct for the last time until this fall. I wore a sleeveless shirt, sandals, and a skirt, no tights. No hat, no gloves, no scarf, no coat, no boots. I don’t think that that’s EVER happened. It’s spring, all right, and with the last…
At first, it was just another version of disturbing: shortly after the beginning of the eighth race yesterday at Aqueduct, jockey Mike Luzzi was working hard to pull up Cloud Nine. Watching the turf race from the winner’s circle, we could see that a rear leg was badly broken–horse and jockey were directly across from…
The Rail, the New York Times racing blog, launched this week for the 2009 Triple Crown season, and this post appeared there yesterday. ***************************************** They certainly got the name right. One can imagine Mrs. John D. Hertz, breeder and owner of a brown colt born in 1940, looking at his pedigree—the colt was by Reigh…
The Lexington Recap, by Brian NadeauThe Polytrack surface has long reminded everyone–horsemen and horse players alike–of a turf course, and adhering to that theme, WinStar Farm’s Advice made the last run a winning one in the final prep before the May 2 Kentucky Derby. With Garrett Gomez aboard, Advice sat in last of the 11-horse…
Keith of Triple Dead Heat asked yesterday in a comment, “Who’s going to win the Road to the Roses donation?” An excellent question, and one that I can answer with certainty: Not I! Superfecta’s Sleipnir Stables remains in the lead, but the ever-threatening Triple Crown73 is right behind her, in excellent position to swoop in…
Photo credit: AP/Julie Jacobson, from ESPN.comOn Saturday afternoon, my racing friend Jenny Kellner of NYRA and On The Lead wrote to me: Now, THAT was the most exciting two minutes in sports! She obviously wasn’t talking about the Derby; she was talking about the final minutes of Game 2, Rangers/Caps. I, unfortunately, couldn’t really relate…
Brooklyn Backstretch 