On Monday night I attended the Sampras/Federer exhibition match. Had Sampras won, I’d have been certain that it was fixed; Federer won in a third set tiebreak, so I’m only 99% sure. My tickets said 7:00; the match maddeningly started at 8:30, and I got home far too late to generate anything new, so herewith,…
I didn’t get to Aqueduct until the fourth race on Saturday, and after watching the first race on television, I nearly decided not to head out. Poor John Imbriale—the horses broke, and unable to see anything through the dense fog, he pretty much stayed quiet until the horses were nearly at the finish line. Even…
I’ve already received at least three condolence messages following Saratoga Russell’s performance in the Gotham, and I can’t say that it wasn’t awful to be there, to watch him in the paddock (though I didn’t think he looked great, and his intestines didn’t seem to be exactly calm, if you know what I mean), to…
Aqueduct offers the best of two racing worlds this afternoon, the present and the historical. We’ve got the Grade III Gotham, for three-year-olds with Derby aspirations. The race was first run in 1953 at the Jamaica racecourse and named for the city in which the track was situated, another in a line of races honoring…
Bill Place didn’t make my wish come true on Thursday; off as the even-money favorite, he was a well-beaten third and was claimed from Anthony Dutrow by David Jacobson. I suppose that’s a good sign? On the other side of the world, Numaany too finished third, at Nad al Sheba. Beaten a length and a…
I’m beginning to dread, rather than anticipate, the weekly update of the Take Ten! standings at ST Publishing. Here’s this week’s debacle…at least from this blogger’s point of view: 30. Stafford Stables…………………….1,150,75046. Trip’s Triple Crown Stable………..1,033,00051. Sleipneir Stable…………………… 1,015,750111. Val’s Foolish Pleasure…………….730,750112. Superterrific Stables……………….725,750119. Quinella Castle……………………..695,750133. Sec Bar Stable………………………605,750143. Brooklyn Backstretch……………..571,150 Yours truly plunged twenty-one…
When it comes to hobbies, the New York Rangers and horse racing compete for my attention. Most of the time, they don’t come into serious conflict, but maybe one of these days the Rangers will still be playing deep enough into the post-season so that I can dash from the Belmont Stakes to Madison Square…
The Blood-Horse recently reported that a $40,000 grant from the Alfred Z. Solomon Trust will make it possible for Backstretch Employees Service Team (BEST), based at Belmont, to offer dental care to backstretch workers at Saratoga this summer. While BEST has for the past three years provided medical care, this is the first time that…
Poor old Evening Attire—Saturday just wasn’t his day. The Stymie set up as I’d hoped it would, with a speed duel immediately on the front end, but when Jose Espinoza asked for some run from Evening Attire, he didn’t have any, and he came home last in a field of four. Not, unfortunately, his finest…
A year ago on this day, I was getting ready to head to the Meadowlands; my sister-in-law was planning a surprise 40th birthday for my brother, and I was meeting some of his friends there in the afternoon for some simulcasting before the big event. Evening Attire was in action that day, in his second…
Brooklyn Backstretch 