In early August of 2011, my parents and I, not unusually, spent a lovely afternoon at Saratoga Race Course. With other family in town, they had to leave before the last race, but not before placing their wagers, and later that evening, my mother, from whom I inherited the hunch-betting gene, called to inquire about the…
Golden Gate Fields: The Grade III, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 10-4-2-1) by Brian Nadeau #1 Donji (30-1): Gigantic longshot gets the coveted inside post and will save all the ground, but that’s quickly where any positives end, as he’s still a maiden after seven starts and…
It’s back! Or…it’s almost back. We started this way back in 2008, and in six years, we’ve raised nearly $4,000, donating it to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Belmont Child Care Association, Days’ End Horse Rescue, Our Mims, Old Friends at Cabin Creek, All About Spay Neuter, ReRun, Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue, the Thoroughbred…
The connections of Shared Belief could be forgiven for looking back at 2014 and wondering, “What if?” What if Shared Belief hadn’t gotten injured in the spring and had been able to run in the Triple Crown races? What if Shared Belief hadn’t been compromised at the start of the Breeders’ Cup Classic? Those are…
At the break of the Grade III Withers at Aqueduct Saturday afternoon, the #2 horse, Far From Over, stumbled under jockey Manuel Franco, who pulled the horse up to re-gather him, then sent him chasing after a field of horses more than a dozen lengths in front of him. Off the screen for much of…
Originally this race was run over the memorable six-furlong straight course at Morris Park, then the newest and most elaborate of Metropolitan racing plants—which was a bit down grade and for that reason nicknamed the “toboggan slide”. (Hervey) When the first edition of the Toboggan was run, back in 1890, the race’s creators couldn’t possibly…
“No man in the country was more widely esteemed by racing men.” David Dunham Withers was born in 1822 in New York City; he and his family lived downtown on Greene Street, now in fashionable Soho. When his parents married, the couple was given a cottage by the bride’s father as a wedding present. According…
Santa Anita: The Grade III, $150,000 Robert B. Lewis at 1 1/16 miles by Brian Nadeau #1 Tizcano (15-1): Longshot goes back to the Miller barn after a one-race trip to Gulfstream Park where he didn’t fire in the 6F Spectacular Bid last month and also runs beyond six furlongs for the first time today.…
Aqueduct: The Grade III, $250,000 Withers at 1 1/16 miles by Brian Nadeau #1 Classy Class (2-1): Tricky read starts his 3yo campaign as a bit of a wildcard as he looked great winning his bow sprinting, then didn’t fire when a modest fourth over a highly speed-favoring track when stretching out in the local…
At noon today, the betting windows open for the second pool of the 2015 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, enabling the hopeful, the strategic, and the confident to place $2 win and exacta bets with an eye on cashing big on the first Saturday in May. The pool closes at 6 pm on Sunday evening. At…
Brooklyn Backstretch 