Horse lovers and auction owners make strange bedfellows. Oh, not those high-end, Keeneland/Fasig-Tipton/Lexington/Saratoga auctions, where well-bred babies are sold for hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars, before their careers even begin, before anyone knows whether they can run. Horse lovers, even the poor ones, flock to those auctions: we stand at the bar, we…
On a November afternoon in 2006, I sat at my desk at school, taking a little break from the work of an 11th and 12th grade dean to check the weekday entries at Aqueduct. Maybe I was looking for cat horses; maybe I was trying to figure out which horse to play in the SHOWdown…
In his six years on the racetrack, Stud Muffin showed a definite predilection for distance: the bulk of his 14 lifetime victories came at a mile and or more, with the gray guy coming from off the pace, often eking out a win, sometimes winning by a length or so. He seldom won by more…
While the opening of the Oklahoma training facility in April is usually greeted with enthusiasm, there’s at least one person and a lot of felines who mark the return of the horses and the humans with mixed feelings. In the off-season, the barns belong to the cats of the three colonies who call the Oklahoma…
Some children want bicycles. Some want skateboards. Michael Straight wanted an Equicizer. Growing up in East Greenbush, about 40 miles south of Saratoga, Michael and his twin brother Matthew were obsessed with horse racing. Brought to Saratoga Race Course by their parents as children, they became instant fans. “We fell in love with the track,”…
Early this morning, a fire broke out on a block of historic rowhouses on Woodlawn Avenue in Saratoga Springs. By mid-morning, the Saratogian and the Daily Gazette were reporting via reporters’ Twitter timelines that while no one had been hurt, the buildings are a total loss and will likely be demolished. As reported in the local paper and…
On Saturday, January 19, Ramon Dominguez won his third consecutive Outstanding Jockey Eclipse Award. He didn’t know it at the time, but the day before, he had ridden in his last race. While his friends and colleagues John Velazquez and Javier Castellano accepted the award on his behalf, Dominguez was in a New York hospital…
Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay doesn’t have a horse running in this year’s Belmont Stakes, but next Thursday night, he’ll join his two passions—food and horse racing—to support two major racing charities. Each year, the Jockey Club, which is the breed registry for Thoroughbred racing, holds the official Belmont Stakes Charity Celebration, to be held this year…
It’s back! Though it dwelt at the gate, the Road to the Roses (Presented by TwinSpires.com, officially–so thanks to TS for helping to make it happen) kicks off this weekend, and with it, the sixth Brooklyn Backstretch charity league. Registration opened today at noon and continues through 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 28. The game…
In 1913, racing returned to New York State after a nearly three-year absence. In 1913, Rock View won the Travers, Whisk Broom II won the Met Mile, and Prince Eugene won the Belmont. And in 1913, John Nerud was born. A Hall of Fame trainer, Nerud worked for most of his 44-year career for Tartan…
Brooklyn Backstretch 