In my preview of the Preakness, I noted that that race in general lacks the chaos of the Kentucky Derby. Ha—famous last words, before a race that took place after a week of downpours and on a track so encased in fog we couldn’t see the horses. And as he has every time he’s been on…
The announcement of sports sponsorships, in Thoroughbred racing and elsewhere, can often elicit an eye-roll. Monster Energy logos bedecking American Pharoah before the 2015 Belmont? UPS capitalizing on Big Brown’s name back in 2008? Big Brown’s jockey Kent Desormeaux accepting sponsorship from Hooters? You get the idea. When Audible the audiobook company sponsored Audible the racehorse before…
After the first stakes race at Belmont Park on Monday, owner Michael Dubb reflected on winning the Mount Vernon with a New York-bred mare out of a New York-based stallion. “I go to the New York-bred dinner every April, and there’s a real camaraderie,” he said. “It’s a family.” As it does each spring, Belmont…
Two days before the Preakness, Dr. Kelly Ryan is sitting on a floor in the Pimlico grandstand, staring intently at her computer, responding to texts, and greeting passersby. You’d never know that among the many people who will have to make decisions this weekend—trainers about running, jockeys about strategy, stewards about inquiries, bettors about wagers—she,…
Pimlico: The Grade I, $1.5 million Preakness at 1 3/16 miles by Brian Nadeau #1 Quip (12-1): GII Tampa Bay Derby winner gutted it out for a well-beaten second behind the then-undefeated Magnum Moon in the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, then opted to skip the Kentucky Derby to run here as a fresh…
According to the Maryland Jockey Club’s logo for the feature race at Pimlico this Saturday, this year is Preakness 143. That would mean that the first edition of the race was run in 1873, when Survivor won it. (1918 counts twice, because there were two divisions that year.) If you go by the June 3,…
It all started with a bunch of Google alerts. “We started seeing notifications for Audible popping up in our newsfeed, and we went, ‘Wait, this isn’t about us. This is about a horse,’” said John Harrobin, senior vice president of marketing at Audible the audiobook company. Audible the horse began to get national attention in…
