A quick review of recent events in the world of synthetic surfaces: Following Santa Anita’s announcement that it would replace its current Cushion synthetic surface with Pro-Ride, Ray Paulick provided on his website two sets of data about the Santa Anita surface. The first, from Ed Halpern, the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers,…
Following the launch last week of the Self-Appointed Fan Committee, a second fan advocacy group made its début on Friday. The motto of the Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association, also known as Thorofan, is “giving the fan a voice,” and its website provides the following mission statement: The Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association is a non-profit, membership-basedcorporation…
Hat tip to Equidaily for the link to this article from the Palm Beach Post, in which Michael Iavarone, at Calder to see IEAH’s Benny the Bull race (and win) in the Smile Sprint, once again classily took an opportunity to slam the trainer who brought him two-thirds of the Triple Crown: “I think (Benny)…
This afternoon’s Man o’War at Belmont carries several intriguing storylines, perhaps unusually for a mid-July race. The first, of course, is the return of Curlin to New York, the site of his most famous defeat, in last year’s Belmont. He’s gone undefeated lost only once since then, in the Haskell (thanks, Ernie, for writing with…
Having grown up in Saratoga, I’ve seen racing slogans come and go, and my favorite has always been “The August Place to Be,” introducing me as it did to “august” as an adjective, and to a new pronunciation of the word. When racing went to five weeks and began in July, this was changed to…
I rarely have the opportunity at work to follow what’s going on at the track; I can occasionally check results, but checking odds on upcoming races or making an electronic bet are rare opportunities, and yesterday was no exception. Thus the exuberant e-mail from Ernie, entitled, “Madison at Monster Mutuel!! Kitty Nip…”, with the text…
For twelve years Sherry Ross had my dream job, writing about the Rangers and racing for the New York Daily News. Her writing was knowledgeable, vivid, funny, and irreverent; I remember using as an example in my writing class an article in which she described Brian Leetch “snaking down the ice” en route to scoring…
Congratulations to la famille Jerkens for their exacta in Sunday’s Dwyer. Jimmy got the win with Mint Lane, while père Allen took second with longshot Tizbig. Another of the Chief’s Middleburg alumnae, Mrs. Holden, joined stablemates Duchess of Rokeby and Above All Odds on the racetrack, finishing second in her second start. Twice it looked…
As I wrote here last week following my post on the Triple Tiara, the information that NYRA provided about this racing series didn’t quite match up. The website page about the Mother Goose indicated that the original configuration of the race (Acorn, Mother Goose, Coaching Club American Oaks) had been changed in 2003, with the…
It’s tempting this morning, the day of the Dwyer Stakes for three-year-olds at Belmont, to hearken back to the epic 1920 running of the race, in which John P. Grier challenged Man O’ War for the lead, headed him at the eighth pole, and eventually gave way in what the New York Times then called…
Brooklyn Backstretch 