On Wednesday, August 26th, the Belmont Child Care Association held its annual benefit in Saratoga at the Gideon Putnam, and as usual, the racing community turned out in full force to support the work of Anna House. The event was completely sold out, and approximately $300,000 was raised through live and silent auctions, raffles, and…
It’s the last day of week four, Monday of Travers week, day 24. We won’t see Rachel Alexandra this weekend, but Jess Jackson’s decision insures that any final weekend doldrums will be swept aside by the appearance of his super-filly in the Woodward. Highlights of the weekend include the oft-mentioned ninth race on Saturday, in…
I came out of the race fine; I’ve eaten up my various feed tubs since; and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result. As predicted, I finished solidly in the middle of the pack: 112th out of 239, with a final time of 26:42, a pace of 8:36. That’s faster than I’ve ever run…
It is now post time. My Saratoga training began well: like many summer runners, I made the transition from Belmont to Saratoga well, with a series of works showing steady improvement. I familiarized myself with the course, adjusting to the different upstate running route, learning the configuration, the potential challenges, benefitting from the cool Saratoga…
On Wednesday morning, Ambassador Rubén Beltrán, Consul General of Mexico, paid a visit to Anna House. Many of the Anna House families hail from Mexico, and the Consul General came to see for himself the services of the Belmont Child Care Association, and to talk to backstretch families about how the consulate could be of…
Last summer, I wrote about a filly who went through the ring during the New York bred sales in Saratoga; she sold for $200,000 and is a half-sister to New York favorite Naughty New Yorker. By Songandaprayer out of Naughty Natisha, the filly makes her racing début on Wednesday in the second race at Belmont.…
The attention paid here over the weekend to Rachel and Russell might have led readers to believe that little else was happening in the racing world, so we’re taking a minute to recap other points of interest: Ventured out for my second visit to twilight racing on Friday afternoon; the Festival Tent had been taken…
The last few weeks have been pretty good ones for Anna House, with a steady stream of visitors stopping by to visit the children and to see in action the good work of the Belmont Child Care Association. A few weeks ago, Kiaran McLaughlin stopped by to have lunch with the children. McLaughlin and Edgar…
On Friday morning, the children at Anna House got a surprise visit from New York’s new favorite, Mine That Bird’s trainer Chip Woolley. Donna Chenkin, executive director of the Belmont Child Care Association, said that Woolley sat down and played with and talked to the students, and that they quite readily crawled all over him,…
Next month, ReRun, the New Jersey-based Thoroughbred adoption program, is hosting its third annual “Day at the Races” at Monmouth Park Racetrack. Taking place on June 13th, this event is ReRun’s largest annual fundraiser and will be held outside on the Patio Terrace. The benefit luncheon to raise funds for the adoption of ex-racehorses will…
Brooklyn Backstretch 