The Grade 3 Saranac was Saratoga’s final 2014 stakes race, and Graham Motion won it. Ring Weekend’s triumph gave Motion two graded stakes wins on the meet; his first was Main Sequence’s Grade 1 Sword Dancer victory on August 17 — 10 years and three days after Better Talk Now provided Motion his first win in the race. The…
Nearly every day at Saratoga, I’d stop somewhere—in the backyard, walking down the clubhouse steps, standing on the second level and looking back out over the trees and the old saddling shed—and I’d marvel. I’d marvel at the beauty of the place, and I’d marvel that day after day, thousands of people came: to watch…
On day 33 of the 2014 Saratoga meeting, Jonathan Sheppard was ready to go home. “I’ve been ready,” he said frankly, standing outside his barn in the Oklahoma annex, a short walk from the training track. “It’s too stressful up here. I love it here, but I am a bit of a homebody, to be…
Just because it’s almost over doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to do! Sure, the pace has slowed, but one of the best times to be in Saratoga is the post-Travers week. The mornings are crisp, the town is a little quieter, but there are still stakes races, sunrises, and sunsets to enjoy. Enjoy it while…
On Monday of the penultimate week at Saratoga Race Course, Kim Dutrow was getting ready to head home to Pennsylvania with her trainer husband Tony to check on their horses at Fair Hill. But first, they had to wait until about 4:00, until after the sixth race, when their Pennsylvania-bred 4-year-old filly would be going…
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but if those words are coming from Tom Durkin, they command a far higher price. Soporific. Obstreperous. Oracular. The kind of words that used to be called $10 words, SAT words, the kind of words that might get you a bemused look if you use them in…
Tuesday, August 19th Guests in the Gallery at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame: John Shirreffs will discuss his career in racing with program host Jeff Carle. 11 a.m., free with paid Museum admission ($7 adults, $5 students/seniors 55 and older, members and children under 5 free). Wednesday, August 20th At the…
Last year at Royal Ascot, Estimate, a horse owned by Queen Elizabeth II, won the Gold Cup in its 207th running. As the Queen traditionally presents the trophy to the winning owner, her victory presented something of a problem, solved when her son Prince Andrew stepped in to do the honors. In August of 1864,…
Barn cats are as much a part of racetrack lore as good-luck horseshoes, and in some barns, the reality lives up to that idyllic image of a cherished feline, prowling the barns for prey, soothing the horses, ruling the roost. Some backstretch cats are beloved and spoiled rotten, traveling from track to track with trainers and…
For a man whose work depends on pedigree, consignor Marshall Silverman is living proof that bloodlines aren’t everything. Standing on the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sales grounds last Sunday, outside the empty stalls that housed his Saratoga consignment of New York-breds, Silverman wore jeans, a blue, red, and white checked shirt, and a Maryland Horse Breeders Association…
Brooklyn Backstretch 