We’re a little more than 24 hours away from the big race, and while John Perotti has accumulated a daunting number of points at the top of our charity league leaderboard, the 525 points on the line at Churchill mean that an awful lot of of players still have a chance win the league and the $1800 charity…
When Danza crossed the finish line first in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 12, he had plenty of people cheering him on at Oaklawn Park. He also had a serious, albeit smaller, cheering section at Henry Clay’s in Lexington, Kentucky, where Pam Robinson was having dinner with Ressa Harris, one of the clients…
We’re less than 48 hours out from the Kentucky Derby, but the final field may still not be set. Trainer Bob Baffert announced this morning that Hoppertunity, considered a contender by many, would be scratched due to a foot injury, making room for Pablo Del Monte to draw in off the also-eligible list. Trainer Wesley…
To some observers, the most damning element of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) video of trainer Steve Asmussen’s barns is that it reveals nothing that violates racing’s medication rules. That video, released in March and covered by The New York Times, purported to show what really goes on behind the scenes of a…
Listening to Rodney Paine talk about why he emigrated from Australia to the United States, you might be forgiven for at first regarding him as just a touch naïve. “The Kentucky Derby always intrigued me,” he said, sitting in the jockeys’ room at Aqueduct last weekend. “I thought it would be neat to take a…
By tomorrow, the 20 horses expected to start in the Kentucky Derby this Saturday will be on the grounds, as will the hopeful few on the also-eligible list, who will make it into the starting gate in the event of any defections later in the week. Late scratches are not uncommon: In 2009, 2010, and…
Last Friday, the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame announced its 2014 induction class. As with most Hall of Fame announcements, in racing and in other sports, the announcement was greeted with both approbation and criticism for who got in and who was left out. In most years, voters choose four inductees from…
She made hometown heroes of her owners and trainer. A two-time champion, she set a record when she sold as a broodmare in 2005, the object of a bidding war between two international powerhouses. When she didn’t have her game face on, she was as mild-mannered as a pony. If, like human parents,…
Though the last major points-earning preps took place on Saturday, April 12, the Kentucky Derby field continued to take shape through last week, with the inevitable defections due to injury. Significant withdrawals include Constitution, the Florida Derby winner trained by the multiple Eclipse Award winning Todd Pletcher, and Cairo Prince, owned in part by Dubai’s…
The road to the Kentucky Derby is nearly at an end, and with it our Kentucky Derby charity league. John Perotti has taken a commanding lead, but remember that the points in our league go to the top 5 Derby finishers (300-120-60-30-15), leaving plenty of participants in striking distance. Brian Nadeau of Horseplayer Now takes…
Brooklyn Backstretch 