Firenze! Her very name seems to call for an exclamation point, for a hand gesture to punctuate that strong second syllable…maybe a touch of an Italian accent? Firenze! Or Firenzi. Or Ferenzi. In her long career on the track, her name was spelled all three ways, and probably others as well. She was foaled in…
Tomorrow at Aqueduct, the Discovery will be run for the 67th time. In multiple accounts of the career of the horse for whom the race is named, commentators are awed by two things: his ability to carry weight and his effect on racing through his progeny. Purchased as a two-year-old by Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Discovery…
John Gaver doesn’t look quite bulky enough to carry the weight of three generations of racing history. Tall, lean, and lanky, Gaver seems pretty unburdened in general, walking his shedrow at the Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, welcoming a guest, elaborating at length on the horses in his care. Utterly unassuming as he discusses his horses’…
The Friday feature at Brooklyn Backstretch is generally devoted to New York racing’s past, but today we’re looking south, to the great racing state of Maryland as Laurel Park celebrates 100 years of racing. For five years in the early 90’s, I lived in Maryland, just north of Baltimore, smack dab in the middle of…
Among the trio of Grade 1 races on Saturday at Belmont is the Jamaica, named for Jamaica, Queens, for 56 years the home of Jamaica Racetrack. Opened in 1903, Jamaica was the odd track out in 1959, when management of racing here consolidated under the New York Racing Association, first known as the Greater New…
“More than any other racing country, America has had its share of great geldings…” claimed William H.P. Robertson in 1964. And Kelso, he said, was “the most successful gelding of all.” It’s nearly impossible to think about the Jockey Club Gold Cup without thinking about Kelso, the horse who won the race five times, all…
In September of 1905, a mere 106 years ago, the New York racing world had not yet returned to Belmont; its fall meet that year, the first year of the big track’s existence, would begin on October 2. And as opening day approached, rumors abounded about a possible rematch of Sysonsby and Artful, who had…
The female Fourstardave. Dave’s Pal. Tough and dependable. So was Irish Linnet described during her six-year racing career, a career that saw her win at Saratoga for six consecutive years, including five straight wins in the Yaddo. She won her first race at Saratoga as a two-year-old in 1990. It was the third start of…
Though the Woodward has been run at Saratoga only since 2006, Mr. William Woodward was no stranger to the old Spa. Owner and breeder extraordinaire from his Maryland farm, Woodward was a New Yorker: he was born in New York City in 1876, and he died there in 1953. His horses won five Belmont Stakes.…
On Monday, I got a release informing me that today, NYRA would unveil its proposed capital improvements for Saratoga Race Course, and that tonight, it would hold a community forum to get public opinion on the proposals. Really? Really? On one of the FOUR days of the whole meet that I won’t be there? Really?…
Brooklyn Backstretch 