Barn cats are as much a part of racetrack lore as good-luck horseshoes, and in some barns, the reality lives up to that idyllic image of a cherished feline, prowling the barns for prey, soothing the horses, ruling the roost. Some backstretch cats are beloved and spoiled rotten, traveling from track to track with trainers and…
For a man whose work depends on pedigree, consignor Marshall Silverman is living proof that bloodlines aren’t everything. Standing on the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sales grounds last Sunday, outside the empty stalls that housed his Saratoga consignment of New York-breds, Silverman wore jeans, a blue, red, and white checked shirt, and a Maryland Horse Breeders Association…
Panelists at the Saratoga Institute on Racing and Gaming Law Aug. 12 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. painted a picture of increased compliance in the wake of a 2008 investigation into wage practices by the state of New York. Titled “Labor and Immigration Law in the Racing Industries,” the panel featured anecdotes of backstretch life by…
If you’re reading this, you have probably spent some time at Saratoga Race Course. And if you’ve spent any time at Saratoga Race Course, you’ve experienced among the best that Thoroughbred racing has to offer. The racing is good, the landscape is beautiful, the history is ubiquitous. At the end of the meet, many of…
Monday, August 11 At the track… Today’s stakes race: the $100,000 Tenski for three-year-old fillies at a mile on the turf. Live-money, low roller handicapping tournament. $40 entry fee. $10 goes to the prize pool, with 70% to be awarded to the first-place finisher, 20% to second, and 10% to third; the remaining $30 comprises…
In what could be an indicator of the strength of the market for New York-breds, a first-time buyer at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale made his first dive a deep one by purchasing the session-topper for $250,000. French bloodstock agent Hubert A. Guy, who has offices in California and shops at both domestic and…
On a backstretch with no shortage of beautiful spots, Graham Motion’s Herringswell Stables sits in one of the best. Shaded by Saratoga’s famous trees, it lies just off the far turn, with a photographer’s dream view of the horses out for morning works, or racing in the afternoon. Steps beyond the horsepath sit a table…
With celebration and nostalgia, the 2014 Hall of Fame class that began tinged with controversy was inducted on Aug. 8 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. in a ceremony that honored two equine champions, Ashado and Curlin. “My husband, Jess Jackson, loved this horse,” said Stonestreet Farm’s Barbara Banke of Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year inducted…
On the heels of a healthy selected yearlings sale earlier this week, optimism is high on the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grounds as attention shifts to New York-breds for this weekend’s preferred yearling sale Aug. 9-10. New York-breds brought high prices from prominent buyers in the open sale, with Stonestreet Farms, George Bolton, and Darley bloodstock agent…
If, like human parents, equine parents hope that their children will accomplish more than they did, then Ashado made her sire’s and dam’s dreams come true. Though both sides of her pedigree were successful racehorses, Ashado made more in her worst year on the track than the lifetime earnings of her parents combined. Continue reading…
Brooklyn Backstretch 