Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue doesn’t boast any Derby winners—or maybe even any Derby runners–but its equine family of 150 stakes winners and claimers invite you to the farm’s first Derby party, a fundraiser at Madava Farms in Dover Plains, NY. The home of 100% organic Crown Maple syrup, the beautiful Madava Farms is a working farm…
At the close of the second Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in March 2008, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club, underwriters and hosts for the event, released eight recommendations, developed by the working groups that participated in that summit held in Lexington, Kentucky. Recommendation #7 reads: “Find solutions for unwanted…
On Saturday afternoon at Charles Town, an odds-on favorite with a big fan base went to the gate. She was expected to be an easy winner; after all, she’d won eight in a row, and 14 of her last 15. Her lone loss in that stretch came at Mountaineer, one of only four starts in…
At his first meeting as chair of the board of directors of the New York Racing Association, Anthony Bonomo Jr. pledged “to work to make New York racing the best it can be,” saying that he would bring together owners, trainers, and racing executives “for the good of the sport.” Acknowledging the challenges faced by…
So began a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or more tracks in his life, but…
Sarah Crouse might not call herself a handicapper, but a prize pot of more than $10,000, won earlier this month at a contest at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York says otherwise, and says it loud and clear. The 25-year-old Crouse took home first prize in the New York Racing Association’s live-money tournament on the day…
Oaklawn Park: The Grade I, $1 million Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 100-50-20-10) #1 The Truth Or Else (15-1): McPeek charge took a step back last time when fourth behind today’s imposing favorite American Pharoah in the local GII Rebel after a fine second in his seasonal debut in the…
You don’t have to drive very far outside of the city of Baltimore to arrive in Maryland hunt country. Within 10 miles of the city proper, development gives way to farms; go a little further, and you’re in the heart of Maryland horse country, where races have been held for over a century. Thousands of…
At the New York offices of The Jockey Club in the heart of midtown Manhattan, president and CEO James Gagliano hails, as one would expect, from the corner office. Not as commodious or luxuriously appointed as those of other Manhattan high-flyers, the modest space nonetheless occupies a highly coveted bit of New York City real…
Horse racing is not known for embracing new technology–only within the last few years have fans been able to view races in high-definition—and staying true to past performance lines, the sport’s individuals and institutions were both initially slow to establish a presence on social media. Even now, some of racing’s biggest presences in real life—people…
Brooklyn Backstretch 