A minor brouhaha emerged on Twitter earlier this week when word began to spread that Laurel Park’s General George Stakes (G3) had been re-christened the General’s Stakes, with some observers claiming that the Maryland Jockey Club was trying to erase George Washington, the race’s namesake according to the MJC media guide, which also claims that Washington…
Didn’t we just do this? Like…a few months ago? A huge thanks to everyone who participated in last year’s elongated (interminable?), unconventional charity league. I’m grateful to all of you who stuck it out through revised schedules and added races and a prep season that seemed like it might never end. When we launched this…
We end this crazy Triple Crown season with Brian’s final race preview of the year. Despite an unpredictable schedule and way more races to handicap, Brian continued his masterful, detailed analysis, as he has for a decade. My deep and heartfelt thanks for all of his work, and I hope that he helped you cash…
Several years ago while researching a story, I called a handful of trainers and asked if they had any clients who were Black. The story was about the history of African-American people in horse racing and I wanted to get their thoughts for it. These trainers had big stables: dozens, if not hundreds, of horses.…
Churchill Downs: The GI, $3 million Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles by Brian Nadeau Brian handicaps at Capital OTB and Horseplayer Now, and he’ll offer analysis and selections of Derby points races, hoping to make us all a little money as we head to the Preakness. Follow him on Twitter here. #1 Finnick the Fierce…
Ellis Park: The $200,000 Ellis Park Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: (50-20-10-5) by Brian Nadeau Brian handicaps at Capital OTB and Horseplayer Now, and he’ll offer analysis and selections of Derby points races, hoping to make us all a little money as we head to the Belmont Stakes. Follow him on Twitter here. The Kentucky…
If this were an ordinary year, Saturday would not be Travers Day. If this were an ordinary year, hundreds of people would line up outside the gates of Saratoga Race Course in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the gates to open so that they could charge inside to snag their preferred location,…
Saratoga: The GI, $1 million Travers at 1 ¼ miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 100-40-20-10) by Brian Nadeau Brian handicaps at Capital OTB and Horseplayer Now, and he’ll offer analysis and selections of Derby points races, hoping to make us all a little money as we head to the Belmont Stakes. Follow him on Twitter here. #1 First Line…
There’s never a good time for a crisis, but it’s hard to imagine a less convenient time for Covid-19 to have hit the New York racing and breeding industries than mid-March. Mares were foaling and being bred; high-stakes races were on the calendar at Aqueduct; and the popular sales for two-year-olds in training were hitting…
…the silence was most striking moments later, when track announcer John Imbriale let us know that the stewards were taking a look at the stretch run and that Midnight Bisou’s rider, Ricardo Santana Jr., had lodged an objection against the winner. Ordinarily, we’d have heard cries of disgust from the people holding tickets on,…
Brooklyn Backstretch 