Published August 23, 2024 Over the last few months, a trio of Mid-Atlantic-bred fillies and mares have established something of a rivalry, often entered in the same turf sprints and trading wins and placings. Most recently, Dontlookbackatall (PA), Roses for Debra (PA), and Future Is Now (MD) were entered in the Caress Stakes (G3) at…
A little after 5pm ET on Friday afternoon, R. Larry Johnson answered the phone at his Virginia home, a bit surprised to hear from a reporter from Saratoga Springs. Alone in his family room, he’d just watched his four-year-old Maryland homebred Future Is Now win a tight photo finish in the Intercontinental Stakes (G2) at…
Under an unsettled Saratoga sky, R. Larry Johnson’s homebred Future Is Now earned her first graded stakes win in the $200,000 Intercontinental Stakes (G2T), edging favored Roses for Debra in a photo finish. Minutes after a downpour and high winds passed through Saratoga Race Course on June 7, nine fillies and mares lined up for the 5 1/2-furlong race run over a…
At no point during the running of the $150,000 Tremont Stakes did Studlydoright look like a winner, except for when it really counted. In the first stakes race of the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course, the two-year-old colt broke with alacrity from post 1 under jockey Xavier Perez, putting a head…
He should have been a contender. Of course, maybe he still will be. Right up until the starting gate opened for the Sanford Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course on July 17, Maryland Brando looked like he was in with a chance. Though making only his second start, he had won his debut impressively at…
On Sept. 29, a two-year-old Maryland-bred filly named Selflessly won the Miss Grillo Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park. The win did not go unnoticed by Rick Nichols, the vice president and general manager of Shadwell Farm. About five weeks later, he and Shadwell shelled out half a million dollars for the filly’s weanling half-brother, perhaps…
Sabrina Moore didn’t grow up in the horse business. No one in her family was involved, either. But when she was nine, Moore got her first horse, and thus began the 15-year process of her, and her mother’s, pretty much complete immersion in the industry. When Moore’s mother Angie was a little girl, she’d look…
As 2017 draws to a close, the face of Maryland racing continues to change. New stallions have arrived to stand in the state; the flagship is no longer historic Pimlico, but a rejuvenated Laurel Park; Thoroughbred retirement has become an official program supported by an industry-wide partnership. By nearly every indicator, Maryland racing is heading…
Back in August, Dancing Rags debuted at Laurel for trainer Graham Motion. Despite her dirt pedigree, Motion elected to start the Union Rags filly on the turf, not an unusual decision for him with first-time starters. “I like to start some of them on the grass,” said the trainer by phone from California. “It’s much…
“Jack on the Rocks roars back to win under Sheldon Russell! It’s Sheldon Russell—make his a double on Maryland Million Day! Jack on the Rocks!” That call by Dave Rodman is one of Richie Munk’s favorite racing memories, and he’s got no shortage of them from which to choose. Munk has nearly 20 years in…
Brooklyn Backstretch 