On September 13, less than two weeks after the end of this year’s Thoroughbred meeting at Saratoga Race Course, the racing world was stunned to learn that five priceless, historic trophies had been stolen from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In a year that saw the town celebrate the sesquicentennial of…
The International Conference on the Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys lived up to its name at Monmouth Park on September 13 and 14, with representatives from South America, England, Ireland, Australia, France, and Germany. And a few people from the United States — but only a few — showed up, too. “I don’t understand…
When T. Paul Bulmahn was a little boy, his mother offered him an incentive for doing a good job with his family’s sharecropping chores on an Indiana farm. If he raked and hoed and planted well, she said, he could climb over the fence and hang out with the draft horses next door. “I loved…
People leave the horse racing business for all kinds of reasons. It can be dangerous work. It’s tough to make a living. In most cases, they end up in work that’s a little safer, a little more stable than what they did on the racetrack. But not if you’re Iona Craig, who went from a life…
In his six years on the racetrack, Stud Muffin showed a definite predilection for distance: the bulk of his 14 lifetime victories came at a mile and or more, with the gray guy coming from off the pace, often eking out a win, sometimes winning by a length or so. He seldom won by more…
Afleet Alex was the first horse I followed all year round. I was at Saratoga for his Sanford and Hopeful, and I watched every race on his road to the Kentucky Derby, the first time I had ever watched racing in the winter. I had my birthday party on the day of his remarkable, unfathomable Preakness and…
At a July meeting in Saratoga Springs, the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) approved a model rule described by the organization as the third of three measures designed to address inconsistencies in national medication policies in Thoroughbred horse racing (here). Just about two months later, details of the system have yet to reach the…
“It’s a long story,” Francis Paolangeli cautions when asked how he first got into horse racing. He doesn’t add that it’s also wildly improbable. As he tells it, Paolangeli–Frank to his friends—was at the racetrack in 1982 for one of the few times in his life. The native of Ithaca, New York went to Finger…
On the second and final day of the 2013 International Conference on the Health, Safety and Welfare of Jockeys Sept. 14 at Monmouth Park, representatives from a half dozen racing jurisdictions discussed prohibited substances and testing procedure, nutritional, physical, and mental health during racing careers and in retirement, and the frequency of rider injury on…
Representatives of jockeys’ organizations from around the world gathered at Monmouth Park Sept. 13 for the first session of a two-day meeting of the International Conference on Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys. Medical professionals and jockey advocates discussed matters including insurance for jockeys riding overseas, research into concussions and spinal cord injuries, and setting minimum…
Brooklyn Backstretch 