One of the reasons that I like going to the races is that for me, it’s an immensely social event; going with friends, eating and drinking, watching the races, talking and hanging out, enjoying good weather—there are, in fact, few more pleasant ways to spend an afternoon. The only problem with the above scenario is…
Today’s feature at Aqueduct is the Busher, for three-year-old fillies at a mile and a sixteenth. Run for the first time in 1978, the race is named for the filly who was the Horse of the Year in 1945. She’s depicted here in a painting by J.N. Slick, from the National Museum of Racing collection.…
Nice day for good-guy Mike Luzzi at the Big A today; he brought home three winners: a favorite, a $13.80 winner, and a $26.00 longshot. And in other good news for New York jockeys, Richard Migliore is the recipient of this year’s George Woolf Memorial Award. I don’t care where the Mig is riding, and…
It’s a big week in the world of synthetic surfaces. On Wednesday, a group of owners, trainers, jockeys, and executives gathered in California to discuss the topic, with, predictably, a variety of opinions being expressed. Some trainers love it; some trainers hate it. Some trainers are sure injuries are down; some trainers see more injuries.…
So we had a rare Wednesday without racing, and the franchise is all settled, and, despite some Derby preps, it’s a slow week in a slow time of year. So time, perhaps, to turn our attention to some of the more pressing issues facing our sport. As always, one can turn to The Blood-Horse: On…
It’s a good thing that I’m interested in the philanthropic end of this little Derby fantasy game, because if all that kept me going was the prospect of winning, I’d be a miserable woman. Despite gaining points with Zito and Cornelio in the Sam Davis, I remain last in our field of seven. This week’s…
Ed Fountaine in the NY Post reports that trainer Sid Watters died in Maryland last week. Watters, age 90, trained champions Slew o’ Gold and Hoist the Flag, whom I profiled at the end of January. The story of Hoist the Flag, which must have garnered a relatively similar amount of press coverage as the…
My Saturday mornings are often a leisurely stroll through racing history; with a cup of coffee (aside: for Christmas, my mother gave me one of those old-time stovetop espresso pots, and it makes the best coffee I’ve ever drunk. It’s a sublime source of Saturday morning pleasure), I check out the New York feature race,…
I wish I could say that I have come out of week two of the ST Publishing Take Ten Derby game unscathed, but I cannot: predictably, my Pyro-less stable plummeted. That’s what I get for being a non-conformist. We’ve got seven stables in our little intramural competition; many have kicked in to add to my…
Brooklyn Backstretch 