We weren’t supposed to be devoting so many words to Marylou Whitney just yet. Sure, she is always present, somehow, when racing season starts, but it’s on Whitney weekend, this year August 3, that we focus on her life and her contributions to Thoroughbred racing and to Saratoga Springs. Instead, racegoers at Saratoga Race Course…
On a cold March afternoon, Joan Taylor and Bill Wilmot stood in the paddock at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. They’d traveled nearly four hours from their farm in Saratoga Springs to watch Holiday Disguise, the 4-year-old filly they’d bred and sold as a weanling, run in the Heavenly Prize Stakes and try to…
On January 16, Sheila Rosenblum stood on the stage at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida, clutching a statue of Eclipse, the legendary 18th century racehorse for which Thoroughbred racing’s highest awards are named. Moments before, her six-year-old mare La Verdad had been named 2015 champion female sprinter, and if there had been any doubt before…
It was practically dark when post time for the last race at Belmont Park rolled around Oct. 3. A dismal, cold, wet early fall day on which a half-dozen graded stakes races had been run was nearly at an end, and following the running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (gr. I), the already sparse crowd had…
On the Thursday after the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park was nearly deserted. A sparse weekday crowd dotted the apron; upscale specialty cocktails were nowhere to be found; attire tended to denim rather than linen, and the hats adorning people’s heads bore not flowers and ribbons, but the insignias of sports teams. None of that mattered…
On July 17 at the annual preview of the Saratoga race meeting at the National Museum of Racing, trainer Linda Rice was asked if there were any horses she was looking forward to running. “Palace,” she said without hesitation. He finished fourth a couple of weeks later, but if the people in the audience that…
After meeting with the media earlier in the day July 17, New York Racing Association president and chief executive officer Christopher Kay made his first public appearance at the annual Saratoga Race Course meet preview at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Kay was one of five panelists who took questions from moderator Brien…
As Saratoga Race Course celebrates its 150th anniversary, racing figures look back on their favorite memories and share what the track and city mean to them. Julie Krone, Hall of Fame jockey Saratoga is not just a race meet, it’s such a mix of people really honoring summertime. You acknowledge that the days are long,…
Brooklyn Backstretch 