Churchill Downs: The GI, $2 million Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles #1 Firenze Fire (50-1): Arguably the longest shot in the field danced every dance this winter in New York with the sole purpose of accumulating qualifying points to get into the gate in Louisville, and while the mission was accomplished, it doesn’t mean…
Happy 10th anniversary to the Brooklyn Backstretch Charity League. It’s taken several forms over the year, inspired by the Saratoga Special Derby fantasy league, run by Brian Nadeau, way back in the days of yore. Last year we raised just under $1,900 for racing charities across the country, donated by our top three finishers with the…
The mint juleps were flowing, and the music, supplied by a jazz trio tucked into the dining room, was southern and sweet. Women in elaborately designed hats and men in snappy fedoras selected from a menu in which bourbon played a featured role, their Derby-best attire not deterring them from digging into the ribs…
With a week to go until Kentucky Derby 142, the expected field has taken shape, with entries and post positions to be drawn on Wednesday, May 4. Bear in mind, though, that in recent years, the week before the Kentucky Derby has seen significant scratches, with high-profile horses dropping out and making room for those…
So began a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or more tracks in his life, but…
In a scenario that I’d have thought less likely than my hitting the Kentucky Derby superfecta, NPR’s Only A Game asked me to talk about…Derby Fashion. “For a select not-so-few, the Kentucky Derby is about bringing to the starting gate a horse that, however temporarily, will be a candidate for racing’s Triple Crown. “For the not-so-select many,…
So began a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or more tracks in his life, but this Louisville…
It was in 2008 that I first made the historical acquaintance of Hollie Hughes, a man who devoted himself to and made a life in horse racing, a man as closely linked to one of racing’s first families as anyone could be. In 2008, I wrote of Hughes and of Sanford Farm, the place where he…
This month’s edition of sexism in sports is brought to you by Insider Louisville, the BBC, Hollywood Park, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Back in April, Insider Louisville published what was meant, according to the author, to be a paean to the female turf writer, an admiring salute to the women on the Churchill Downs backstretch…
“He alone made it what it is today.” So began a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or…
Brooklyn Backstretch 