No matter how hard I resist, it’s impossible to avoid indulging in end-of-year introspection–personal, professional, familial, etc.—and among my favorite late December reading material are the various top 10 sporting lists that emerge. In 2007, I spent more days at the racetrack than I ever have; I visited more tracks than in any previous year;…
A quick long-distance word about some personal faves making recent or upcoming appearances on the race track: Duchess of Rokeby finished a disappointing (for me, anyway) 5th on Friday; I was told today that she bled during the race and will be heading to the farm for the winter, with a return to the races…
It’s not the backyard at Saratoga, but a day at a Gulf beach ain’t bad…
As Madison and Floyd have noted to the left, I am at this moment ensconced in a Holiday Inn Express in Savannah en route to a week’s holiday in south Florida; on the west coast, so I’ll be making my maiden voyage to Tampa Bay Downs in a week or so. I was tempted, but…
As I wrote in my bio on the TBA homepage, my first memory of being at Saratoga Racecourse is of General Assembly’s Travers, in 1979. I was fourteen, and my family had moved to Saratoga the previous summer; my father owned a business near the racetracks, and having rented our house to “summer people,” we…
Barclay Tagg’s nicely-named Groomedforvictory (out of Minigroom by Victory Gallop) first came to my attention on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, at the annual family gathering at Saratoga Harness for simulcasting. He was entered in the second and finished a game but well-beaten second, racing from just behind the leaders until the final turn, when he…
In the absence of local racing news (and let’s hope that this is a temporary situation due to the holiday break, not a taste of what the NY racing world will feel like on January 1st), NYRA reports that an Albany consulting firm will be working with B.E.S.T. (Backstretch Employees Service Team) to underwrite a…
I had heard a lot about, and seen photos of, the Anna House holiday party at which the children of the backstretch workers get to pick out gifts for their families, but nothing prepared me for the sight that greeted me when I showed up at my appointed hour of 12:30 on December 8th. The…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Tuffy Gold, owned and trained by the same connections as Evening Attire. Tuffy is a half to Evening Attire, and his grandsire, Black Tie Affair, is Evening Attire’s sire. And, alas, Tuffy shares with his half-brother some challenges at the gate. In Saturday’s first race, Tuffy got…
The Blood-Horse reports that Roy and Gretchen Jackson have made another major gift to the Belmont Child Care Association. Gretchen is on the board of the BCCA, and she and Roy were the honorees at this year’s benefit in Saratoga. The Jacksons are major supporters of Anna House; there’s a playroom named after Lael Stables…
Brooklyn Backstretch 