Trainer Leah Gyarmati gave up an academic career for a life at the racetrack, so it is, perhaps, a little ironic that the filly who brought her her first graded stakes victory is named Sweet Reason. Gyarmati had an off-again, on-again relationship with reason earlier in her life, wrestling with the decision to stay in…
Guests posts don’t often appear here, but when the Brooklyn Backstretch house handicapper takes down a contest, it’s worth making an exception. Brian Nadeau, who regularly handicaps the Triple Crown trail here, won this summer’s #Huddie contest at Saratoga, and author/handicapper/editor Peter Thomas Fornatale, who’s currently working on a book about handicapping contests, talked to…
It was easy, by the time closing day rolled around, to be weary of the ubiquitous yellow and red logo, easy to be fatigued by endless ceremonies and presentations and proclamations, easy to be ready for the celebrations to come to an end. Every once in a while, though, during a meeting that despite its…
The time to arrive at the race track in Saratoga, N.Y., is 7 a.m. Actual racing won’t commence until 1 in the afternoon, but at 7 you can enjoy a blueberry muffin, strawberries, and coffee beside the track as long-time commentator Mary Ryan describes the passing show…which is horses. After breakfast in the cool of…
Fifty years ago, as the centennial Saratoga racing season came to a close, this paper’s editorial board began, after a summer looking back at Saratoga’s history, to look forward. More reliant then than now on the summer season for economic prosperity, Saratoga was anticipating the opening of a new hotel, one expected to attract more…
On July 17 at the annual preview of the Saratoga race meeting at the National Museum of Racing, trainer Linda Rice was asked if there were any horses she was looking forward to running. “Palace,” she said without hesitation. He finished fourth a couple of weeks later, but if the people in the audience that…
As Allen Jerkens made his way out of the winner’s circle on Monday afternoon, he was unable to go more than a few steps without being stopped by fans who wanted their picture taken with him. His eyes still red from the tears he couldn’t hold back as he was applauded by Saratoga’s crowd, standing…
In November 2011, Benjamín León went to Lexington, Kentucky to buy a racehorse. Not just any racehorse—he had his eye on one in particular, and he was, he said last weekend, determined to get her no matter what. He actually bought nine horses at the Keeneland November sale that year, spending $22.4 million on fillies…
The New York Racing Association held its second public forum Monday, Aug. 26, providing an opportunity for its customers to speak directly to the association’s management. The first public forum was held at Belmont Park in June. The June meeting was commandeered by a local union, which sent representatives not employed by NYRA to challenge acrimoniously the…
A day after two horses broke down in the same race on the turf at Saratoga Race Course the issue dominated a scheduled New York Racing Association Equine Safety Committee. The committee met via teleconference Aug. 25. Committee chair Anthony Bonomo Sr., whose homebred Heading to Toga was euthanized on the outer turf course earlier in August, said he…
Brooklyn Backstretch 