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…
Advocates for change in horse racing didn’t find much reason for optimism in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s legislative update held in Saratoga Springs Aug. 7. The presentation from lobbyist Greg Means, founder and principal of The Alpine Group in Washington, D.C., reviewed current legislation or proposals that pertain to racing. Included were bills covering…
After a slow start that saw the first four horses and five of the first seven fail to meet their reserve prices, the second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale Aug. 5 saw steady momentum gains that led to the third million-dollar horse of the sale. While the number horses failing to meet…
A revamped racing program, enhancements to the customer experience, and a continued decline in equine fatality rates were among the successes trumpeted at the Aug. 6 of the board of directors of the New York Racing Association in Saratoga Springs. And in return, NYRA president and chief executive officer Christopher Kay got a bonus and…
A Tapit filly purchased for $550,000 as a weanling was briefly the star on the first night of Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga select yearling sale Aug. 4 before she was upstaged several hips later by another Tapit filly, who topped trading at $1.15 million. Hip 81, a Tapit filly out of champion She Be Wild grabbed headlines late…
Last Friday afternoon, a group of 25 trainers, including some of New York’s top conditioners, released a statement declaring their support for a phase-out of the raceday medication furosemide by 2016. Among them are trainers, such as Todd Pletcher and Graham Motion, who have in the past advocated for use of the anti-bleeding medication. Furosemide,…
Monday, August 4 At the track… Today’s stakes races: the New York Stallion Series for horses sired by New York-based stallions. The Cab Calloway and Statue of Liberty Divisions, each worth $100,000, will be run at a mile on the turf for three-year-olds and three-year-old fillies respectively. Live-money, low roller handicapping tournament. $40 entry fee.…
Brooklyn Backstretch 