The Jimmy Toner barn on the Saratoga backstretch was a busy one on Monday, and not only because Toner had horses to train, turf slips to fill out, condition books to check. The routine was the same, but it might have been taking a little longer than usual, because of the number of people who…
In terms of odd combinations, trainer Jimmy Toner and Facebook might rank right up there with mustard and pizza, Felix and Oscar, and A-Rod and the Yankees. But throw in a 14-year-old with a serious racing pedigree, and you might just have the perfect blend. Last fall, eighth-grader Elsa Lorieul brought the Toner barn into…
Jimmy Toner might keep a low profile, but his horses are easy to spot, especially in the morning. Just look for those bright orange bandages. Long before trainers began equipping their exercise riders with distinctive vests for easy identification during morning training, Toner was wrapping his horses’ legs in those bandages, mirroring the orange “JJT”…
Candy Feat was able to cheat death once, but to the sorrow and heartbreak of his connections, he couldn’t do it twice. The Hard Spun gelding succumbed to an infection and laminitis on December 29. “Where do I even begin?” wrote trainer Priscilla Godsoe on Facebook and Instagram. “Today the Covert Farm and 90 North…
If you need someone to run your barn, to do some legs, or to run a horse for you, on the flat or over jumps, you might want to give Tiffany Webb a call. You could also call her if you need a little legal advice, or if you need someone to build a racecar…
Beginning riders, even the most intrepid ones, generally get their start on quiet horses, the barn veterans, the ones used to inexperienced equestrians and who sometimes need encouragement to undertake anything more ambitious than a leisurely amble. Beginning riders don’t generally break their riding maidens on the backs of recently retired Thoroughbreds, but don’t tell…
As was likely the case at backstretches across the country last week, conversations at Florida’s tracks and training centers continued to focus on the New York Times’ story on PETA’s undercover investigation at Steve Asmussen’s Churchill Downs and Saratoga barns last year. Public commentary has been plentiful, abundant in insight, in stridency, in commitment, in sanctimony, in determination, in anger,…
It’s Sunday morning at Belmont Park, and Jimmy Toner’s phone is acting up. “I was watching the race last night and I got so excited I must have hit it or something,” he says with a rueful grin. “It stopped working right.” “The race” was the G3 Hawthorne Derby, and Toner was so excited because…
On April 18, Justin Nicholson was on a train from Washington, D.C. to New York; his father, with whom he owns horses in AJ Suited Racing Stables, was scheduled for minor surgery the next day, and Nicholson wanted to be with him. His phone rang and it was Jimmy Toner, trainer for AJ Suited’s horses…
Dark clouds and torrential rain gave way to blazing sun and a glorious Met Mile day at Belmont, exactly the sort of day to kick off summer racing with one of New York’s historic races. The Grade 2 Sands Point for three-year-old fillies was the day’s co-feature; inaugurated in 1995, the race is named for…
Brooklyn Backstretch 