In news that is only tangentially related to racing, I noticed this item in Filip Bondy’s column in the New York Daily News: Shahar Peer was supposed to play a first-round match Sunday in Dubai against Anna Chakvetadze, but that isn’t going to happen now. The Israeli tennis player wasn’t granted an entry visa by…

Yeah, yeah, I know that I “sent” this card last year…but that’s just a mark of my fidelity, and it’s just too good to sit in a drawer…Happy Valentine’s day, everyone!

My picks are made, my league is created—now it’s your turn to join. We’re kicking off the second annual Derby picks for charity contest at Brooklyn Backstretch. Join the Brooklyn Backstretch league in the Road to the Roses, and the winner will have a minimum $50 donation made in her name to the racing charity…

It’s a poorly-kept secret that reality television is in fact only partially that—situations and conflicts are contrived to create maximum drama and ultimate titillation, to make viewers return to see where the ugliness ends. It was something of a relief, then, that the first two episodes of Jockeys were not characterized by the manufactured antagonisms…

I haven’t seen Jockeys; I haven’t checked race results; I’ve no idea whether the Pick 6 at Aqueduct was hit or whether any cat horses have won, or even raced, in the last few days. A much-welcomed international visitor, a quick trip out of town, and an unequivocally fun reunion have me waking this Monday…

As predicted last week, the Derby prep re-runs have begun on the OTB channel, so if between now and the middle of April you miss any, just tune in to channel 71 and before too long, you’ll be able to recite the race calls along with the track announcers. Here we go… I feel a…

Bless me, readers, for I have sinned. Nothing, unfortunately, along the titillating lines of St. Augustine…but my Catholic upbringing does, on occasion, lead me to unburden that which is weighing on my soul. I can only hope that you will find my sins venial as opposed to mortal, and assign me penance and grant me…

Sitting home, Monday night, not watching the Eclipse Awards because Time Warner Cable in Brooklyn doesn’t offer TVG, not even for a price, and because I live in a co-op, a satellite dish is a non-starter. Thanks to Ray Paulick, though, I’m keeping up. I follow racing on the New York City OTB racing channel,…

Thanks to everyone who sent both private and public get-well wishes for Madison—as of this morning, she seems to be feeling a lot better. She’s not quite back to her old self, but she felt well enough to put in a pick for today, and she’s much perkier than she’s been over the last few…

A slight cat-astrophe delayed my arrival at the Big A on Monday, and when I got off the train at Aqueduct, I was fairly surprised to see it snowing. I didn’t recall seeing anything in the forecast about snow today, and I soon realized that I wasn’t alone: I don’t think many of us expected…