On Monday of the penultimate week at Saratoga Race Course, Kim Dutrow was getting ready to head home to Pennsylvania with her trainer husband Tony to check on their horses at Fair Hill. But first, they had to wait until about 4:00, until after the sixth race, when their Pennsylvania-bred 4-year-old filly would be going…
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but if those words are coming from Tom Durkin, they command a far higher price. Soporific. Obstreperous. Oracular. The kind of words that used to be called $10 words, SAT words, the kind of words that might get you a bemused look if you use them in…
Tuesday, August 19th Guests in the Gallery at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame: John Shirreffs will discuss his career in racing with program host Jeff Carle. 11 a.m., free with paid Museum admission ($7 adults, $5 students/seniors 55 and older, members and children under 5 free). Wednesday, August 20th At the…
Last year at Royal Ascot, Estimate, a horse owned by Queen Elizabeth II, won the Gold Cup in its 207th running. As the Queen traditionally presents the trophy to the winning owner, her victory presented something of a problem, solved when her son Prince Andrew stepped in to do the honors. In August of 1864,…
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…
Brooklyn Backstretch 