If this were an ordinary year, Saturday would not be Travers Day. If this were an ordinary year, hundreds of people would line up outside the gates of Saratoga Race Course in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for the gates to open so that they could charge inside to snag their preferred location,…
The race now known as the Dwyer began life in 1887, as the Brooklyn Derby. It was run at the Gravesend track in Brooklyn, a track that the Dwyer brothers, Phil and Mike, had helped to bring into existence in 1886. Phil and Mike were Brooklyn butchers, their shop at the corner of Atlantic and…
When racing and government collide, the residents of the state of New York have learned to be patient. We waited for a VLT operator to be named. We waited for a franchise operator to be chosen. We waited for a board to be selected. We wait, still, for NYRA’s next CEO to be appointed. One…
“The weather was bright and warm, the track fast, and the betting lively.” So the New York Times described Alabama day, 1883. So far, we’re running neck and neck with that day 129 years ago: it’s a glorious, perfect Spa morning, and the track is indeed fast. The betting will, we can assume, be lively—indeed…
The race now known as the Dwyer began life in 1887, as the Brooklyn Derby. It was run at the Gravesend track in Brooklyn, a track that the Dwyer brothers, Phil and Mike, had helped to bring into existence in 1886. Phil and Mike were Brooklyn butchers, their shop at the corner of Atlantic and…
Regular followers of New York racing might expect to see the Peter Pan, a traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes, this week; instead, they’ll be seeing the Grade II Dwyer. Because neither the State of New York nor New York City Off-Track Betting has managed to meet its financial obligations to the New York Racing…
Some oft-told stories bear repeating, and as we head to a stakes-laden Fourth of July card at Belmont, the 1920 Dwyer comes to mind as one of those races whose story deserves to be told, yet again. On July 10th, 1920, Samuel Riddle’s once-beaten Man o’ War faced off against the only colt said to…
It’s tempting this morning, the day of the Dwyer Stakes for three-year-olds at Belmont, to hearken back to the epic 1920 running of the race, in which John P. Grier challenged Man O’ War for the lead, headed him at the eighth pole, and eventually gave way in what the New York Times then called…
Brooklyn Backstretch 