Saturday was the first day that I’ve ever spent on my own at Aqueduct, and I’m not entirely sure that it’s an experience I’d like to repeat, though I did seem to make a lot of friends. I’ve been to lots of other tracks on my own—Gulfstream, Saratoga, Belmont, Tampa Bay Downs—but all of them…
Well, he almost got there. As most people surmised this week, a mile and a sixteenth just wasn’t long enough for a ten-year-old gelding; he wants to run longer, and while Angliana was impressive in running down Judiths Wild Rush, it sure looked as though Evening Attire might have caught him if the wire hadn’t…
Nice day for Kiaran McLaughlin at the Big A on Friday: he had three winners and swept the early double with Labadeel and Cadet Blue. He also took the finale with Hatta Diamond. Three owners, three jocks (Garcia, Maragh, Dominguez). Anyone paying attention to racing knows that today’s feature at Aqueduct is the eponymously named…
Welcome to the new look of Brooklyn Backstretch. This html-challenged blogger prevailed upon the good services of Patrick at Handride, who obligingly configured the new three-column format, thereby enabling me to display more prominently several elements of the blog. I love it; thank you, Patrick. I decided to play with colors and fonts once the…
It’s nice when the good folks at the various racing publications serve up material that’s too good not to share. How pleasant to click open this evening’s electronic Daily Racing Form to see an article in which Pat Kelly, trainer of Evening Attire, discusses the top ten moments in the grey gelding’s career. Evening Attire…
Every once in a while I get the urge to clean up my DRF watch list, about as often as I get the urge to clean out my closets or put away the stack of filing on my filing cabinet. And I act on the urge about as often as I file: the current stack…
Not much in the way of original thinking in tonight’s post, so I’m lucky that there’s a lot of news out there worth sharing: Handride and an anonymous commenter share some cool intersections between language, New York City, and horse racing. Brooklyn blogger that I am, I feel entitled—nay, compelled—to steal the stuff and post…
Lyrical Ballad bookshop, on Phila Street in Saratoga, is one of the town’s most priceless jewels. It’s been there for thirty years, an independent bookshop on a little side street, with new but mostly used books: so many books, in so many rooms, that I really got lost there last summer, and sometimes I think…
If you haven’t recently visited the homepage of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance, take a minute and check it out. It features the final 2007 standings, according to the TBA rankings; we’ll see how they compare to the Eclipse Awards in a few weeks. You’ll also get news of the annual TBA donation to Old Friends.…
As noted by Superfecta, Einstein returned to the races on Friday, ending an eight-month layoff caused by an injury in the Dixie Handicap on the Preakness undercard. In an ugly incident, Mending Fences fatally broke down, and Einstein, right behind him, stumbled, throwing Robby Albarado, who came back a few races later to win the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 