Gulfstream Park doesn’t open until this Sunday, but the backstretch is abuzz as horses train in Hallandale for races at Calder (for a few more days, anyway) and get ready for Opening Day 2010. Standing at the quarter pole, looking east as the sun comes up; the track’s been open for a while, but it’s…
7:00 am, Saturday morning. It’s Memorial Day weekend, and it’s gorgeous. I meet up with Jessica Chapel of Railbird and Raceday 360; we stock up on bagels, coffee, and water; we jump in the car, and head south: Garden State Parkway, Jersey Shore, here we come. A perusal of the car will yield no sunscreen,…
A few weekends ago, I made my third visit to Delaware Park; I’d intended to post this then, but then the Derby happened…and then the Derby aftermath happened. My previous visits were on closing day in November of 2006 and on a Saturday in April of 2007. Each time, I was impressed with various elements…
My parents owned harness horses when I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, my family moved to Saratoga. Until I was about 23, I was around racing pretty regularly and even though I didn’t follow the sport that closely, I went to the track a few times a year and considered myself…
I learned three things on my sojourn Thursday to Atlantic City Race Course: –Do not rely on Mapquest for directions to the track (Mapquest didn’t provide an exit number, and the state highway route number was wrong).–Do not, under any circumstances, miss the exit off the Atlantic City Expressway (you have to go an additional…
If you’re a big fan of Turfway, you may want to stop reading. I have never liked going to a track for the first time on a big racing day, and my experience at Turfway on the day of the Lane’s End bears out that instinct. I am sure that it’s a perfectly fine track,…
Brooklyn Backstretch 