by Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB TV. Aqueduct: The GI, $1 million Wood Memorial at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 100-40-20-10) #1 Shagaf (2-1): Expected favorite made it 3-for-3 when he rode one of the most intense speed biases in recent memory early before tipping out off the far turn to win the…
by Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB TV. Keeneland: The GI, $1 million Blue Grass at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 100-40-20-10) #1 Looking for a Kiss (50-1): Gigantic longshot will make his first start for Tomlinson after two modest runs for Romans and will need a monumental jump in his form to even…
Image: Postcards from Eugene Wood to the nieces he supported following the death of their mother, his sister. When Eugene D. Wood died in 1924, his local paper –The New York Times – didn’t pay that much attention. Despite his prominence in New York City, through decades of political involvement locally and in Albany, through…
by Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB TV. Turfway Park: The GIII, $500,000 Spiral at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) While the Spiral has lost a lot of luster in recent years as synthetic racing has fallen out of favor, it still ranks as essentially a “Win and You’re In” race for the…
by Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB TV. Gulfstream Park: The GI, $1 million Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 100-40-20-10) #1 Sawyers Mickey (30-1): Ridiculous longshot enters as a maiden after seven starts and likely wouldn’t even be under 6-1 if he were entered with his own kind earlier on the…
A few days before this weekend’s Florida Derby, Saratoga native Joseph DeSantis is doing errands in Lexington, Kentucky, shuttling between the three farms that his employer, Shadwell Stable, owns. With the exception of a three-year stint in Oklahoma, he’s made his home in the Bluegrass of central Kentucky for the last 20 years, most recently…
About four years ago, an 11-year-old horse came off to the racetrack at Charles Town, his racing days done. I’d been following him for a while—six years–and the call finally came that his trainer thought he had had enough. Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue graciously agreed to take him in; a bit obstreperous, at times downright hard…
On a recent Saturday morning at Belmont Park, trainer Rick Schosberg sat in his office, his dozen or so horses in their stalls after morning training. Within minutes, his attention is needed again, not by his barn staff or one of his horses, but by another trainer with a horse whose racing days have come…
by Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now and Capital OTB TV. Fair Grounds: The GII, $1 million Louisiana Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 100-40-20-10) #1 Gun Runner (3-1): Heavy-hitter sat a dream trip in winning the local prep, the GII Risen Star last month, as he settled off the hot pace to the inside, tipped…
It’s that time: time to try to bolster your lead or make a move on the leader by adding a couple of horses to your charity league stable. Last week Cindy Reid regained the lead after ceding it briefly to 2014 winner and 2015 runner-up John Perotti in a dead-heat with turf writer and first-year…
Brooklyn Backstretch 