When Ramon Dominguez retired from racing last year, the reigning three-time Eclipse Award winner for outstanding jockey, one of the lines most frequently said in tribute to him was, “He’s a great rider, but he’s an even better human being.” That characterization was no surprise to the Belmont Child Care Association (on whose board I…
Aside from a lightning-struck tree and a couple of deluge-filled days, we’ve been blessed with perfect weather so far (please tell me I didn’t just jinx it?) and treated to some terrific racing. After last weekend’s stakes race, Jimmy Jerkens finds himself with two possible Travers Contenders, as his V.E. Day took the Curlin and…
The sign isn’t hanging on barn 5 in Clare Court at Saratoga Race Course this summer; there’s no sign there at all, no one resident that’s claimed the spot that for so many years housed Allen Jerkens and his horses. The sign is at Gulfstream Park this summer for the first time, the summer meeting…
Beer cans popped open. The pages of The Daily Racing Form rustled. A voice boomed through the loudspeakers, accompanying the replays of the previous day’s races. And in the near distance, the whirling turnstiles at Saratoga Race Course clattered rhythmically, admitting some patrons only once, but others — those who came to spin, not to…
In the brief, five-year history of the Curlin Stakes, two trainers have already won the Curlin-Jim Dandy double: Anthony Dutrow in 2010 and Todd Pletcher in 2011. After V.E. Day won the Curlin at Saratoga Race Course on Friday afternoon, Jimmy Jerkens hopes to be the third. Already a major player on the three-year-old scene…
The Dutrow stable is tucked into a shady corner of Horse Haven, not far from where racing began in Saratoga in 1863, on a farm near what would become the Oklahoma training track. A sign with a big red D emblazoned on a field of black adorns the side; horses and humans walk under the…
The first dark day is in the books, and we’ve got another gorgeous day at Saratoga on tap. Week 1 featured great racing, beautiful weather, and encouraging handle and attendance numbers. Here’s hoping for more of the same as we kick off Week 2… Wednesday, July 23 At the track… Early post time of 12:25;…
He arrived late. His luggage was lost. He rode in borrowed boots. He got sick. He had to leave early. But it was worth it. “100 percent,” said Frankie Dettori of his weekend trip to ride for the first time at Saratoga Race Course. “It was always my ambition to get here,” he said Monday,…
At two opening week appearances, NYRA executives presented a rosy picture of New York racing over the last year. CEO and president Chris Kay and senior vice president of racing operations Martin Panza met with the media last Wednesday afternoon and with the public last Wednesday evening at the annual meet preview hosted by the…
Heady words, from a man who should know. Roberts writes about the history and architecture of racetracks, recently collaborating with the New York Racing Association and the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, creating an inventory of Saratoga’s buildings and landscape. With Isabelle Taylor, he publishedThe Spa: Saratoga’s Legendary Racecourse, an architectural history of the track that…
Brooklyn Backstretch 