The three-day holiday weekend means Monday racing at Aqueduct—perhaps not something to which to look forward, given the forecast, but with stakes races each day, it’s not going to be hard to be convinced to head out there…provided, of course, that the weekend cards don’t go the way of today’s, which is to say, out…
Following, a collection of random thoughts, all of which has at least some tangential relation to horse racing, even if it is not immediately apparent. On a menu in Lexington, listed under imported beers: Sam Adams. The Garden District, New Orleans: doesn’t every neighborhood need one of these? That old hockey and horse racing connection:…
In response to the mild, followed by apocalyptic, followed by mild forecasts for Saturday’s weather, the New York Racing Association sped up post times to insure that all nine races could be run before the “storm” hit. Nine races run in approximately three hours and forty-six minutes—barely time to check the paddock, bet, get to…
Neither a champion nor a Hall of Fame inductee, Busanda nonetheless lives on in two ways: through her bloodlines and one of those Aqueduct winter races that, when I first started following races, sent me to the archives to figure out who those eponymous horses were. I don’t know whose idea it was to name a…
A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us bloggers “[fell] over each other…trying to solve the great marketing problems of racing,” in the Twittering words of o_crunk. That wave having passed, the topic de la semaine seems to be the world of racing writing: I wrote about it on Monday; Claire Novak’s on it…
I have a new favorite out-of-town track. I really liked Tampa Bay Downs when I was there a year ago, and I still think it’s terrific, but Fair Grounds is Tampa Bay Downs with good food and history, so it’s got the edge. It may be the cleanest race track I’ve ever been to—the place…
Last August, Jessica Chapel of Railbird and I were invited by Seth Merrow of Equidaily to appear on his show on Capital OTB to discuss how the Internet is affecting the relationship between racing and its fans. Among the questions he asked: “Do you consider yourself a journalist?” The answer, of course, is no. Journalists…
Back in Brooklyn, after an excellent nine-day road trip, and how good of NYRA to be running the Ruthless on my re-entry day, the Ruthless, named after the excellent nineteenth century filly who won both the Travers and the Belmont in 1867. Ruthless was by Eclipse out of Barbarity, and she and her four full…
Early in the morning, the empty paddock, being readied for the day… Larry Jones working out one of his horses (check out that sweatshirt!) in the morning… …and saddling one in the afternoon… As seen on NYC OTB channel 71, John Dooley and Jessica Pacheco on the morning handicapping show… And Jessica in the paddock,…
Happy 2009! I walked home from New Year’s Eve dinner in relatively balmy temperatures in the fifties, wearing just a light jacket, and turned on the television to watch the brave? foolish? insane? revelers back home in New York shivering in single-digit temperatures. Much as I love home, I can’t say that I was sorry…
Brooklyn Backstretch 