If Angel Cordero, Jr., is known as the King of Saratoga, maybe trainer Winbert F. “Bert” Mulholland should be known as the King of the Travers. No one – jockey, trainer, owner – won Saratoga’s signature race more often than he did, teaming up with owner George Widener, Jr., for a record five Travers Stakes.…
The poor Triple Tiara. It’s been poked and prodded and tweaked and changed multiple times in the last half century; it might be the Rodney Dangerfield of Thoroughbred racing. Even the trainer whose filly might become the first Triple Tiara winner in 18 years isn’t that excited about it. In fact, Kiaran McLaughlin indicated that he…
Shortly before I came to Saratoga this summer, I sat down with NYRA president Charlie Hayward to talk about what racing fans might expect to see here this summer: what if any changes had been made, whether the track would look any different, what improvements visitors might expect. The short answer, as I wrote here,…
Happy Whitney Day! Whitney is a name as associated with Saratoga Race Course as Travers is; Travers helped found the track and was the first president of the Saratoga Association, giving his name to Saratoga’s flagship race in the track’s second season. The Whitney influence came later: William C. Whitney became president of the Saratoga…
Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of touring Mill Ridge Farm with Ed DeRosa. We looked at yearlings being prepped for the Keeneland and Saratoga sales; gazed on foals gamboling with their mothers; and listened to stories about the farm’s long and auspicious history. Kent Hollingsworth, in an undated article from his collection The Archjockey…
Heading into Belmont weekend, the horse Colin is getting a lot of love. Of course, over at Colin’s Ghost, Kevin Martin has done several recent posts on the namesake of website; in 2008, he did a series of posts on the undefeated horse, commemorating the 100th anniversary of his win in the Belmont Stakes. I…
On May 30, 1913, Belmont Park threw open its doors for the first time in three years. Racing had been suspended in New York due to the state’s anti-gambling laws, and racing-starved patrons flocked to Belmont in what was reportedly the second-biggest crowd in the track’s history. The featured race that day was the Metropolitan…
This year’s Hall of Fame class is a celebration of the distaff side. Announced last Friday, this year’s inductees are Jerry Hollendorfer, Safely Kept, Open Mind, and Sky Beauty. Oh, sure, Hollendorfer’s a male, but the first question that he took during the teleconference following the announcement was about which of his three Kentucky Oaks…
Saturday was closing day at Aqueduct, and by the time that last race is run, most people who have spent the winter in Ozone Park are unashamedly declaring their enthusiasm to get back to Belmont. The grittiness of Aqueduct, the lack of aesthetically pleasing outdoor space, the long weeks of (charitably) mediocre racing have taken…
Tomorrow the 140th Jerome will be run. Inaugurated in 1866, the race was first run at Jerome Park, the race and the track honoring the man who was something of a New York racing magnate in 19th century New York. A founding member of and vice-president of the Saratoga Association, Jerome was instrumental in the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 