Brooklyn Backstretch

On Saturday at Saratoga, the main event, the Grade I Woodward, will be preceded by the Grade I Forego, named for the horse who won the Woodward for four consecutive years (1974 – 1977) and who was named Horse of the Year in the first three of those years.
That the Forego and the Woodward are [...]

Drive south on Nelson Avenue, with the track on your left; you’ll come to the corner of Gridley Avenue. If you turn left, you’ll be on the Saratoga backstretch, with Clare Court barns and the half-mile training track on your right.
If you keep going down Nelson, you’ll shortly see an expansive farm, with a racetrack [...]

Last Wednesday, the Belmont Child Care Association held its annual and major benefit for the children of Anna House. Having outgrown its traditional home at the Gideon Putnam, this year’s event was held at the City Center…and the good news is that it, too, felt crowded at times, testimony to the commitment of so many [...]

With, unsurprisingly, an emphasis on Travers Day.
Approximately 6:20 am…

…and a stranger says to me, “If heaven’s like this, I’ll never sin again…”
Venturing to the back, we are greeted with electronic welcome messages…
…just before the gates open for the first sprint of the day, as hundreds run to grab a prime spot…approximately 7 am…
…and 7:15, settled [...]

Big race days and big races are supposed to be memorable. We want them to stand out somehow, to give us something to savor, to become, in the words of ESPN, instant classics, to create stories.
And boy, did Travers Day 2008 deliver.
Let’s start with the weather. It’s become tiresome to talk about the weather up [...]

Ruthless (Eclipse – Barbarity) Photo credit to the National Museum of RacingThose of us who favor the distaff side have had quite the year and a half. Fillies and mares have stolen the headlines pretty regularly since last summer: Rags to Riches’ victory in the Belmont; Eight Belles’ impressive second in the Derby, followed by [...]

“Is Mr. Schwartz around?” I ask a stable hand, having no idea what the trainer looks like. He looks at me skeptically. “Not here right now,” he says. “Be back in a few minutes. In a pink cart.”

A pink cart? OK. That should make it easy.
I get a cup of coffee, and when I come [...]

The Jacobson barn last week, on Spooky Mulder: “He doesn’t know he’s ten years old; he acts like a two-year-old.” On Sunday, Spooky beat four other horses in a $16,000 claimer at Monmouth, in his first and only start for trainer David Jacobson. Spooky had been in Scott Lake’s barn since February of 07, and [...]

Over at Railbird, Jessica has eloquently and elegantly described the scene following Proud Spell’s win in the Alabama; if you haven’t already read it, take a look. The crowd stood and applauded as Proud Spell and Music Note came back after the race, causing many of us on the apron to look up and enjoy [...]

Another damp, chilly Saratoga morning; it feels more like October than August. The sky is leaden; standing along the rail of the Oklahoma training track, we’re wearing fleeces, boots, sweaters. The sun should be shining; we should be wearing tank tops. But we’re shivering, and trying, futilely, to avoid puddles.
“Hop on,” trainer Dale Romans tells [...]