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…
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…
In Friday afternoon’s Curlin Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, trainer Tom Albertrani’s Romansh crossed the wire second, but within seconds of the finish, he knew he had the winner. Standing on the track and watching the race replay next to a flashing “inquiry” sign, Albertrani was fairly confident that the winner, Transparent, would be taken…
The way Curlin’s imminent departure from the racing stage was treated yesterday bears some resemblance to his racing career: we knew he was important, but he never quite got the attention he deserved. The Sunday morning print edition of the New York Times carried a good-sized story about Jess Jackson’s decision to begin Curlin’s stud…
On yet another grey, rainy day at a New York racetrack, of which there have been far too many this year, Curlin made history, joining Kelso and Forego and Secretariat and Shuvee on the list of horses who have stepped on the biggest stage and left it victorious. He passed Cigar as the all-time U.S.…
You can’t say that NYRA doesn’t listen to its critics. After being called out roundly for failing to promote Curlin’s appearance in the Man o’War at Belmont in July, it took steps forward at Saratoga in August, creating a number of PR events to call attention to the big chestnut’s appearance in the Woodward on…
Hat tip to Equidaily for the link to this article from the Palm Beach Post, in which Michael Iavarone, at Calder to see IEAH’s Benny the Bull race (and win) in the Smile Sprint, once again classily took an opportunity to slam the trainer who brought him two-thirds of the Triple Crown: “I think (Benny)…
This afternoon’s Man o’War at Belmont carries several intriguing storylines, perhaps unusually for a mid-July race. The first, of course, is the return of Curlin to New York, the site of his most famous defeat, in last year’s Belmont. He’s gone undefeated lost only once since then, in the Haskell (thanks, Ernie, for writing with…
What a great, great day to be at the races. There was a nice crowd, though the announced attendance of 19,000 included those who showed up for the folding chair giveaway and then left; shockingly, I saw spinners for the first time at Belmont: people going through the turnstile multiple times to get multiple chairs.…
Brooklyn Backstretch 