Another New NYRA?

May 16, 2012 by Teresa

Would you believe that I planned last week to write a post for today about what’s going on at the New York Racing Association?

No, I probably wouldn’t either, if I were you, but it’s true.

Starting at the beginning of Derby week, when the New York Times reported that New York State alleged that NYRA knowingly withheld payment from bettors, the news about New York racing has been one hit after another. The Times published the second installment in its series about racing’s ills, focusing on Aqueduct; by the end of the week, both Charles Hayward and Patrick Kehoe had been dismissed.

I didn’t respond immediately for a couple of reasons. One was timing: getting ready to go to the Derby, juggling school commitments and writing commitments and hockey commitments (thank God there’s some good news there, at least), left little time for the sort of considered response that the events merited and that I wanted to offer.

I also wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say, or how to say it. I know no more than what I’ve read, and I am cautious about responding to anything that’s been printed: allegation and speculation and investigation, oh my. I don’t know what’s true, and I’ve no interest in commenting on a situation that seems to change by the day, and about which I have no first-hand information or insight.

In addition, as a contributor to BelmontStakes.com and the Belmont Stakes program, I have close ties to NYRA. In fact, it was NYRA and Charlie Hayward that made it possible for me to write about racing. In the summer of 2008, it was Hayward who was responsible for my being granted my first ever press credential, and nothing I’ve done since then would have been possible without the opportunities the organization gave me. I value that relationship and the work I do for NYRA.

Now, the State of New York has declared war on New York racing, withholding slots revenue and announcing an investigation into licensing and possible revocation of the franchise agreement. The State has made it clear that it wants greater involvement in the way racing is run, seeking greater representation on the NYRA board, this same state with not one but two agencies obliged to oversee NYRA’s operations, neither of which was apparently doing much overseeing while the alleged wrongdoings were being committed.

When NYRA handed over the tracks and their intellectual property as part of the most recent franchise agreement, I cringed. Having witnessed the dysfunction of this state’s government for decades, I couldn’t bear the thought of New York’s grand racing past and present in the hands of the corrupt, the inept, the self-interested, in the hands of people who have no understanding, much less an appreciation, of what racing has meant to this state since the middle of the 19th century.

And now, it seems, that is exactly what will come to pass. The lives and livelihoods of thousands of horses and humans in New York will be at the mercy of those with greedy agendas, of those who seem, if the recent past is any indication, to have little regard for the well-being of the state’s citizens if it doesn’t directly benefit them or advance their causes.

Whatever has or hasn’t happened at NYRA will and should be investigated. We can hope that some version of the truth—real truth, not just a convenient one–will make its way to the public, and that the public—and not only politicians–will be served.

Whatever has or happened at NYRA, the people who work there, and the people who work on the backstretch, and the people who work on farms and in feed stores and for van companies, deserve much, much better than to be pawns in New York State’s latest political game.

But that, I’m afraid, is exactly what they’ve got.

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The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Responds to the New York Times

May 14, 2012 by Teresa

On May 3, the New York Times reported that the New York State Attorney General is suing the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, alleging financial mismanagement and neglect of the horses in its care.

I have long been a supporter of the TRF and link to the organization several places on this site; in the summer of 2010, I visited the organization’s Wallkill facility and wrote about the program’s care of retired Thoroughbreds for The Blood-Horse. I’ve donated to the organization and attended its fundraisers, and I don’t intend to discontinue my support.

Last week, I received a copy of an open letter from the TRF board of directors, responding to the Times‘ article and Attorney General’s allegations. An excerpt follows.

I know no more about what’s going on at TRF than what I’ve read, and publishing the letter is not an endorsement of all or part of its contents; I publish it in order to offer the organization an opportunity to respond to the allegations leveled against it. As with any charitable organization, those interest in supporting it should do their own research and make their own decisions.

OPEN LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In March of 2011, the TRF was the subject of a front-page story in the New York Times, in a position and size normally reserved for the start of a war or a terrorist attack on American soil.

We now know that that factually incorrect and misleading story, and its equally prominent follow-ups, were the first salvo from the paper of record on the horse racing industry, and have now led to the Attorney General of the State of New York filing a lawsuit against the foundation and its board of directors.

The wording of the most recent New York Times story on the TRF, like all of those in its front-page horseracing series, is designed for the appearance of truth with the absolute intention of misleading the reader.

That intent is clear from the moment you look at the picture accompanying the latest attack on the TRF, which shows two horses in a field, and reads, “An emaciated horse under the care of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation at Wallkill Correctional Facility, in Ulster County, N.Y., in February.” The photo credit is from the Ulster County SPCA.

Makes you think the TRF is not feeding its horses and that the Ulster County SPCA has swept in to save them. Right?

Want to know the true story?

Click here to read the full text of the TRF’s response and for links to vets’ reports on the horses in the organization’s care.

 

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Shop at Shishi and support the children of Anna House

May 10, 2012 by Teresa

Earlier this week, I was happy to announce the winner of this year’s Brooklyn Backstretch Road to the Roses charity league, and that one of the recipients of Matt Shifman’s donations is the Belmont Child Care Association, which oversees Anna House, the day care and education center located on the backstretch of Belmont Park.

The only organization of its kind in the United States, Anna House offers low-cost child care to the children of backstretch workers. Unlike most child care centers, Anna House welcomes infants, and it opens at 5 a.m. every single day of the year.

In more good news for the children of the backstretch, Shishi, a women’s clothing shop on the Upper West Side, is hosting an event of spring cocktails and shopping to benefit Anna House.

Next Wednesday, May 16, from 7-9 p.m., Shishi will donate a percentage of all sales to Anna House.  Last year, Time Out New York called Shishi “the best new indie shop” in New York; “cheap and chic,” the store offers funky, eclectic clothing and jewelry at reasonable (for New York City) prices.

Shishi is at 2488 Broadway between 92nd and 93rd Streets. I’ll be there along with other members of the BCCA board, and we hope that you can stop by to browse and shop, and to learn more about, and contribute to, the incredible work of Anna House.

 (click to enlarge)

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A win for racing charities

May 8, 2012 by Teresa

Over the last week, I’ve had multiple opportunities to feel grateful. In addition to the everyday reasons to be appreciative, for family and friends and health, for a home and a job, I am grateful for having the chance to cover the Kentucky Derby, and grateful to be at Madison Square Garden last night for not just a playoff game, but for an overtime game from which the Rangers emerged victorious.

But right up there with all of that is gratitude to all of you, you who have so generously donated $1,000 to the Brooklyn Backstretch Road to the Roses charity league. $1,000! $1,000 that a person that most of you don’t even know can donate to the racing charities of his choice.

Congratulations to Matt Shifman for winning this year’s league. The contest went right down to the wire, with Matt surging to victory to the finish, not unlike I’ll Have Another, whose late run in the Kentucky Derby led to Matt’s title.

Matt has chosen three recipients for his donation: the Belmont Child Care Center, Our Mims, and Old Friends at Cabin Creek. He wrote to me,

I know the BCCA is important to you and I feel strongly that they should benefit from your hard work. [which I find so kind and generous – thank you, Matt]

I was going to give to Old Mims after they took in Elmhurst recently, but didn’t get around to it, so now I can.

Because we all love Saratoga so much, I’d like to include Old Friends, also.

If you made a pledge, I’ll be in touch this week to let you know how to make the donations. If you’re still interested in pledging, please e-mail me or leave a message in the comments.

Thanks again to everyone who played and everyone who donated; your prodigious generosity is why this contest works every year. In the four years we’ve played, we’ve donated over $2,000 to a variety of racing charities that help both horses and humans. Thank you all, very, very much.

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2012 Kentucky Derby Picks, by the letters

May 4, 2012 by Teresa

Past performances. Speed figures. Race replays. Expert commentary. To each her own in the handicapping world. And “my own” means that it would be folly to contemplate Derby picks without a serious look at the horses’ names.

The 2012 Brooklyn Backstretch Derby picks, by the letters.

Alpha: This is a no-brainer, right? His name means “something that is first.” End of story.

Bodemeister: I can’t wager on a horse that sounds like something Jeff Spicoli would say.

Daddy Long Legs: He’s named for a bug. An elegant, graceful bug, but a bug nonetheless.

El Padrino: Sorry — had it with the Godfather jokes. Passing.

Hansen: The man named the horse after himself, and we really just can’t encourage that sort of thing.

Rousing Sermon: By Lucky Pulpit out of Rousing Again, scores big on pedigree points.

Sabercat: Need I say more?

Union Rags: Another high on the pedigree points scale: by Dixie Union out of Tempo. Rather brilliant, actually.

Went the Day Well: His former owner explains his name here; the redolence of history and the connection to his dam charm me. Anything that thoughtful gets  my money.

So based on this highly scientific examination, at least some of my money will go on Alpha, Sabercat, Rousing Sermon, Union Rags, and Went the Day Well. Feel free to leave your own naming rationalizations and/or wagering suggestions for these five.

Good luck to you, safe trips to all!

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Brian’s Derby Preps: The Kentucky Derby!

May 3, 2012 by Teresa

So here we are. Four months and multiple preps later, the road on which Horseplayer Now’s Brian Nadeau started us makes its stop at Churchill Downs. His analysis of the race follows; my preview comes tomorrow, with an entirely different perspective on the race (hint: it won’t have a lot to do with past performances).

Churchill Downs: The Grade I, $2 million Kentucky Derby at 1 ¼ miles

#1 Daddy Long Legs (30-1): The lone European invader looked good winning the GII UAE Derby over the Tapeta at Meydan in Dubai and will try and better his forgettable 12th-place finish in his lone dirt start in last fall’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here. Broke through in a big way in Dubai and that win was at 1 3/16 miles, which is further than anyone else  in here has  traveled, so as a son of Scat Daddy, he’s already outrun his middle distance pedigree. In expert hands with O’Brien calling the shots and it’s not like they came over just to pad their frequent flier miles, but with this terrible draw and suspect dirt form, it’s asking a lot; passing. Continue reading →

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Comparing the Triple Crowns

April 30, 2012 by Teresa

We in the United States aren’t the only ones looking forward to the first leg of a Triple Crown this weekend. On Saturday at Newmarket, the 2,000 Guineas will be run at the distance of one mile, kicking off Britain’s Triple Crown season. The other two legs are the Epsom Derby, at Epsom Downs on June 2 at 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 10 yards, and the St. Leger, at Doncaster on September 15, at a mile and six furlongs.

The last winner of the British Triple Crown was Nijinsky in 1970, and while the Triple Crown drought is longer in England than it is in the United States, the hope for another winner is also more muted there, at least according to Nicholas Clee.

Clee is the author of Eclipse: The Horse That Changed Racing History Forever, and he’s followed racing for much of his life, going to the races for the first time as a child. According to him, when it comes to the Triple Crown, we here in the States are much better off than our neighbors across the Atlantic.

“We are rather envious of your Triple Crown because ours no longer has much meaning,” he said from his home in England. “Achieving a U.S. Triple Crown is much more feasible than an English one.”

Part of it is due to the calendar, he said, noting that the St. Leger, the longest of the three races, comes months after the other two, diminishing the narrative arc of the races.

“It’s a shame that we’ve lost that,” he said. “There have been various attempts to build a narrative into the season, but the Triple Crown isn’t going to be it.”

In addition, he said, “Increasingly horses are specialists. In fact, since Sea The Stars won the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, it had been quite a long time since a horse had won both of those races.”  The last had been Nashwan in 1989; prior to that, no horse since Nijinsky had won both.

And even if a horse wins the first two legs, he pointed out, it’s unlikely that a horse would go on to run in the St. Leger.  “The St. Leger has lost a lot of luster,” he said, “partly because breeders are looking for speed much more these days.

“The Triple Crown hasn’t worked for anyone for a long time, and I can’t see a Triple Crown winner happening again.”

Even the Epsom Derby, he said, doesn’t get the attention is used to.

“It doesn’t stop the nation as it used to,” he said. “It’s revived a bit, but it certainly doesn’t have the luster of the Kentucky Derby.”

Clee is not alone in his opinion; in 2006, Charlie Brooks wrote in The Telegraph,

A good number of you may not even know the Derby is the second leg and even fewer will be aware or care that the St Leger is the third leg. Because the concept of a Triple Crown winner is obsolete in this country.

Brooks advocated that the distance of the St. Leger be cut back to a mile and quarter, noting that traditionalists would “howl” at the idea.

In 2009, an article in The Mirror compared the English Triple Crown to the dead parrot in a Monty Python sketch.

The Triple Crown is like the ‘Norwegian Blue’ Parrot in the Monty Python sketch, where John Cleese enters the pet shop to register a complaint about the dead bird, but pet-shop owner Graham Chapman insists that it is alive.

(“The Triple Crown? It’s not dead, it’s resting.”) The last time a horse had the chance of winning the Triple Crown was 20 years ago, when Nashwan won the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, but Major Dick Hern decided against it.

(“You stunned it, just as it was waking up! Triple Crowns stun easily, major!”) Of course, we would have been amazed if John Oxx had given Sea The Stars the go-ahead to run at Doncaster, rather than plan for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and possibly the Breeders’ Cup.

On these shores, we regularly hear criticism of our Triple Crown: Space out the races more. Shorten the Belmont. Restrict the series to 4-year-olds. Nonetheless, each spring, racing fans in particular and sporting fans in general turn their eyes to Louisville and then to Baltimore, hoping that this year will be the one that we get to see the first Triple Crown winner in 34 years.

“If you want racing to regain its status,” said Clee, “you should probably be grateful that there is Derby fever.

“We don’t quite have that, and it would be good if we did.”

Last week at Forbes.com, I wrote about why I’m not a huge fan of our Derby, and my feelings haven’t changed. But Clee certainly has a point: whatever is wrong with our Derby and Triple Crown, it’s not, at least, a dead parrot.

 

Note: I’m working on a post-Derby post on Clee’s terrific book, which will appear at Forbes.com in the next couple of weeks.

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April, 1994, in horse racing and hockey

April 26, 2012 by Teresa

During the last week of April in 1994, turf writers were looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby while hockey writers were following the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. On the April 16, the Wood Memorial had been won by the Steven Young-trained Irgun; he beat Go for Gin by a length and a half, but by the time those first round playoff series were wrapping up, Irgun had been sidelined by a sore right foot. He wouldn’t race again for two years, returning on April 3, 1996 at Santa Anita, finishing fifth and never racing again.

In 1994, the Times still covered local stakes races.  Joseph Durso wrote about  the Excelsior on April 23, when Colonial Affair returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since the previous June, when he’d won the Belmont Stakes. Jose Santos rode him in the Excelsior, but his jockey for that Belmont, Julie Krone, was also in the news in late April, 1994.

Out of racing since a terrible spill at Saratoga the previous summer, Krone was returning to the track; the Times reported that on an April morning, she came to Belmont to exercise two “easy horses,” Uncharted Waters and Vel Vel, for Scotty Schulhofer. “I feel,” she was quoted as saying, “a little bit cocky already.”

On the Derby trail, Durso was writing about Garrett Gomez, who over the weekend had ridden Southern Rhythm (trained by James Keefer) to victory in the Lexington a day after he had won the Arkansas Derby with Richard Small’s Concern.  Also in Lexington, Holy Bull worked five furlongs at Keeneland in 1:02 ½.

Back home at Aqueduct, Minetonightsfirst (a “strange name,” said Durso) won the filly division of the New York Stallion Series with Gash taking the colt’s division. The filly was ridden by Robbie Davis and trained by Dennis Manning; Davis also rode Gash, who was trained by Mary Eppler and owned by Alfred G. Vanderbilt

And on April 25, the Rangers completed a first-round sweep of the hated Islanders in a series that left Rangers’ fans exulting and taunting. Beating the Islanders 6-0 in each of the first two games of the series, the Rangers crushed their eastern neighbors, moving on to face the Washington Capitals.

The win, said Robin Finn, was “embarrassing for [the Islanders] and ennobling for their metropolitan rivals.”

Should the Rangers emerge victorious tonight, no one will call the win “ennobling” for the home team. These Rangers do bear some similarity to that 1994 team, both having dominated through the regular season, both having a seemingly invincible goalie. But this team is more vulnerable and less experienced than that team, and in this series, that’s been evident. This series shouldn’t have gone seven, but it has, and here we are.

1994 was the last time that the Rangers played a game 7, and they played two. The first one came at the end of May, against their rival to the west, the New Jersey Devils; they played their second game 7 of the tournament on June 14, 1994. Both came on the Garden ice.

The horse that finished second in the Wood Memorial that year, Go for Gin, vindicated himself with a win on May 7, 1994, and later that summer, hockey and horse racing came together on the Belmont backstretch.

Courtesy Adam Coglianese/NYRA

The first round in 1994 was easy; this year, not so much. Tonight, the Rangers play game 7 for the first time in 18 years, and I break my game 7 maiden at the Garden. Once more, all together…

 

 

Durso, Joseph. Horse Racing; Colonial Affair Surges to Take Excelsior.  New York Times, April 24, 1994.

Durso, Joseph. Horse Racing; The Road to Louisville Is Taking Cruel Twists.  New York Times, April 24, 1994.

Finn, Robin.  Hockey; Rangers Sweep as Islanders Can’t Even Find Any Moral Victories. New York Times, April 25, 1994.

Sports People: Racing; Krone to Return in 30 Days.  New York Times, April 22, 1994.

 

“The Kenucky Derby winner, the hockey player, and the Stanley Cup.” Brooklyn Backstretch, June 14, 2010.

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A Winter of Discontent

April 23, 2012 by Teresa

Today, we celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday. We don’t know for sure when he was born, but he was baptized on April 26, 1564, and today is the day widely acknowledged as his birthday.

Yesterday was closing day at Aqueduct, a sodden, sloppy, chilly day far more redolent of winter than of spring.

And the day before that, the New York Rangers played dreadfully in their own building, losing a game they needed to win, and will play tonight in Ottawa to save their season, down 3-2 in their first round playoff series.

Winter of discontent, indeed.

When Shakespeare’s Richard III declared, “Now is the winter of our discontent,” he used the season as a metaphor for the end of unhappy times; it is in fact a statement of optimism, made clear in the next line, “Made glorious summer by this sun of York.”

It comes to my mind literally today, the winter of 2011-2012 offering more than a few reasons to be discontent.

At Aqueduct and Madison Square Garden, it was a winter of transitions. Out in Ozone Park, a new neighbor moved in; the Genting casino was a smashing success from the beginning, and it was nice to have good food and a decent bar nearby. The clubhouse at Aqueduct remained comfortingly—OK, maybe not so much—familiar; while casino money flooded into NYRA’s coffers, plans for capital improvements on the racing side will wait, we are told until fall, when we can expect, on our return to the Big A in November, to find a gorgeous simulcast center and sports bar and free Wi-Fi.

That beautiful new subway stop at Aqueduct never did materialize, so instead of a rundown, chilly subway stop just outside Aqueduct gates, we got  to depart from a rundown, chilly subway stop a couple of furlongs away. Steady progress was made on the new passageway from the casino to the platform, but it remained stubbornly closed, its opening pushed back from December 2011, to March 2012 to….?

And before winter came to an end, that long-anticipated casino revenue, pumped straight into purses, became a mixed blessing, seen as contributing to the unusually high number of breakdowns. The flashy next door neighbor, initially thought to jazz up the neighborhood, began to be seen as the people that you just might not want your kids to play with.

About 13 miles away, on 7th Avenue between 31st and 34th, Madison Square Garden unveiled the first stage of its “Transformation”: new concessions, new design, new seating. The renovations will creep slowly upward, affecting my seats next year; here, too, the opening was greeted with optimistic interest…but while the subways still work and the Rangers had their best season in years, the geniuses that make up the Garden brain trust saw fit to remove all the women’s rooms on the 400 level of the arena, leaving me to walk nearly as far to the bathroom during games as I had to to get to the subway from Aqueduct. And while some of those new concessions are tempting, I’m not sure that I need a $20 lobster roll during a hockey game. Color me underwhelmed–like the new beige color scheme coating the mezzanine–about the latest new Garden.

Both hockey and horse racing faced crises of safety. At Aqueduct, 19 horses died during racing during the inner track meet; in hockey, concern about concussions became part of the daily conversation everywhere, except, maybe, in the office of the commissioner.  Early on,  NHL suspensions came fast and furiously; later, not so much, and throughout the season, writers and fans complained long and loud about a lack of consistency in the consequences for illegal hits, including vociferous disagreements about what, exactly, makes a hit illegal or not.

Those calling for a racing commissioner, take note: even in a league with a commissioner, in a league in which every team has no choice but to submit to his will, in a league with a common rulebook, there’s no guarantee of consistent and fair consequences. A commissioner is not a panacea.

As some in racing say that breakdowns are an inevitable part of the sport, hockey has its voices who say that fighting is a part of the game. Both may well be true, but this is certain: it’s no fun at all to go to a sporting event when you’re worried as much about an athlete getting hurt as you are interested in who’s going to win.

Photo credit NYRA/Adam Coglianese

On Saturday, I went straight from Aqueduct to the Garden, the trusty A train speeding me there in about 40 minutes. The Lumber Guy won the Grade 2 Jerome, The Lumber Guy who has provided me with no small amount of punning amusement since he was pointed to the Wood, The Lumber Guy who’s quickly become one of my favorite horses. Alas, the Rangers didn’t come through, getting shut out on home ice, leaving me to wonder whether Saturday night was the last night that I’ll sit in my seats in section 418, where I’ve sat for a decade, before I am moved across the arena as part of the “Transformation.”

I won’t know until tonight whether my hockey season is over; no question, though, that racing’s winter season has come to an end. Aqueduct closed yesterday and live racing moves to Belmont this Friday. Spring is here, leaving, we hope, a winter of discontent literally behind us literally, and metaphorically before us.

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The Bard and the Jerome

April 20, 2012 by Teresa

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention…
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i’ the receiving earth…
Prologue to Henry V, William Shakespeare

We are just a few days away from the date accepted as Shakespeare’s birthday – April 23, the same date on which he is thought to have died. A bard is a singer, a poet, a reciter of epic verse; The Bard is Shakespeare, singularly worthy of the definite pronoun. There’s only one.

In literature, that is. In racing, there are plenty.

Pedigree Query offers five The Bards, bred in the United States, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia. All were male; the earliest was born in Britain in 1833, the most recent in Australia in 2002.

There were two The Bards born in 1883, one in Britain, one here. The British The Bard was by Petrarch–so delicious, that! Petrarch was the 14th century poet besotted with the married Laura, to whom he dedicated a series of poems about his unrequited love for her. It is he who gave us the Italian sonnet, without which the world would be a much, much poorer place. Just ask Edna St. Vincent Millay, who totally rocked the Italian sonnet with an early 20th century bohemian vibe. But I digress.

The Stateside The Bard was by Longfellow—which is fine, but I’ll take Petrarch over Longfellow any day. I suppose, though, that it’s fitting that The (American) Bard was named for an American poet, even though Longfellow, while a bard, is no The Bard. But I digress.

The British The Bard was no slouch, according to Pedigree Query, winning 23 of 25 races, but even if Longfellow is no Shakespeare (or Petrarch), the Yank The Bard, winner of the 1888 Jerome, might have given that British horse a run for its money.

The 19th century New York Times reports on The Bard are practically odes, effulgent panegyrics to his looks and his talent. The advance for the 1888 Brooklyn Handicap offers a sample:

The Bard [was owner] Mr. Cassatt’s pride and pet…The few who have been permitted to see The Bard since his arrival here are simply astounded at his appearance this Spring…the picture of a perfect race horse…with a coat lustrous as satin, a horse fitted and furnished to suit the eye of even the most captious critic, and apparently in condition “to race for a man’s salvation.”

If that last is an allusion, I don’t know the source, but it gives a sense of the esteem in which this horse was held. Walter Vosburgh’s Racing in America tells us that The Bard’s racing career got off to a slow start; he won the Jerome (then run at Jerome Park), and the Preakness at 3, and was second in the Belmont, but, typical of Longfellow’s get, this son hit his stride as a 4-year-old, winning 11 of 17 races, and improving even further at 5. He was, said Vosburgh, “incontestably the champion,” winning 7 of 8 races, including the Brooklyn Handicap, the St. James, the Brooklyn Cup, the Coney Island Cup, and the Ocean Stakes.

[How did it take me so long to find this horse? This horse named for a poet, who dominated Brooklyn racing? Where was he hiding? But I digress.]

The Bard’s win in the Brooklyn Cup, his third stakes win in two weeks, sent our Times writer into a frenzy of encomiums (or encomia, if you prefer), the headline declaring The Bard “America’s Greatest Race Horse”:

The antiques who prate of the glories of the turf in bygone days, just as other antiques do of the glories of the theatre in years long past, are loth to acknowledge that the modern days have brought forth anything good. Yet the fact remains that there never was a horse who wore shoes on American soil who was as great a racer as The Bard has shown himself to be during the past two weeks.

The Bard isn’t in the Hall of Fame, and aside from Vosburgh, he gets scant attention in racing history books. The Times fortunately and faithfully recorded much of The Bard’s career; without that publication, we would have regrettably little information about a horse who inspired such poetic tributes 124 years ago.

Another Bard, in about 1590, was also concerned about legacy, about posterity, devoting a series of sonnets to how beauty and memory might be preserved through time. Like our Times writers, he pulled it off pretty well.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thy wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
      So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,
      So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
                    Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare

(Extra credit available for those who identify what “eternal lines” and “this” refer to.)

Quoted and consulted

“Jerome Park’s Opening.” New York Times, September 26, 1886.

“The Bard Wins The Cup: He Is America’s Greatest Race Horse.” New York Times, May 27, 1888.

“The Brooklyn Handicap,” New York Times, May 15, 1888.

Vosburgh, Walter. Racing in America.

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