Recent publications
- It's a Boy! Rachel Alexandra's First Foal (Forbes.com)
- Notable NY-bred winners for January (NY Breeder, p. 24)
- Champion Silverbulletday: Horse profile for Hello Race Fans!
- Black jockeys in U.S. racing history (Forbes.com)
- Jim Rome, from The Jungle to the (horse) farm (Forbes.com)
- From Horses to Hope, From Auction to Adoption: How one calendar inspires and raises thousands of dollars for horses (at Raceday360)
Handicatting with Floyd…
…and with Imp and Furlong
Madison’s fund for feline welfare
The cat horse winners during the Belmont spring meet added up to about $250, which was donated to All About Spay Neuter, the organization that helps take care of the Belmont cat colonies.
$155, representing the money made by cat horse winners at Saratoga, was donated to New York City Animal Care & Control
Racing-related charities
Recommended Reading
- Colin's Ghost
- Crist Blog
- Ernie Munick's The Daily Me
- Fillies First
- Foolish Pleasure
- Green but Game
- Hello Race Fans!
- Left At The Gate
- Michigan Bred Claimer
- New York Daily News racing coverage
- New York Post racing coverage
- Old Friends Blog
- Owning Racehorses
- Post Parade
- Raceday 360
- Railbird
- ReRider Who's Lucky To Cope
- Riding Rough Shod
- Superfecta
- That's Amore Stable
- The Race is Not to the Swift
- The Rail at the New York Times
- The Turk: Horses, Handicapping and Hijinks
- TURF
- Turf Luck
Racing sites
Racing books I like
A Year at the Races, by Jane Smiley
And They're Off! by Edward Hotaling
Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost, Hero of a Golden Age, by John Eisenberg
Not by a Long Shot, by T.D. Thornton
Saratoga Days, by Sean Clancy
Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand
The Great Match Race, by John Eisenberg
The Noble Animals, by Landon Manning
Racing sites
Racing-related charities
Recent publications
- Black jockeys in U.S. racing history (Forbes.com)
- Champion Silverbulletday: Horse profile for Hello Race Fans!
- From Horses to Hope, From Auction to Adoption: How one calendar inspires and raises thousands of dollars for horses (at Raceday360)
- It's a Boy! Rachel Alexandra's First Foal (Forbes.com)
- Jim Rome, from The Jungle to the (horse) farm (Forbes.com)
- Notable NY-bred winners for January (NY Breeder, p. 24)
Recommended Reading
- Colin's Ghost
- Crist Blog
- Ernie Munick's The Daily Me
- Fillies First
- Foolish Pleasure
- Green but Game
- Hello Race Fans!
- Left At The Gate
- Michigan Bred Claimer
- New York Daily News racing coverage
- New York Post racing coverage
- Old Friends Blog
- Owning Racehorses
- Post Parade
- Raceday 360
- Railbird
- ReRider Who's Lucky To Cope
- Riding Rough Shod
- Superfecta
- That's Amore Stable
- The Race is Not to the Swift
- The Rail at the New York Times
- The Turk: Horses, Handicapping and Hijinks
- TURF
- Turf Luck
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Brian’s Derby Preps: The Kentucky Derby!
We finally made it. After all the preps, it comes down to the 136th Run for the Roses. This year’s Kentucky Derby once again drew an oversubscribed field that was filed down to 20 3-year-olds Wednesday morning. They’ll head to … Continue reading
Brooklyn Backstretch Derby Picks, by the letters
It’s here. It’s Derby weekend. For weeks the prognostications have been coming; handicappers, analysts, turf writers have weighed in, posited picks, watched workouts. It’s time to make the call. Later today, Brian will be here with some serious handicapping; but … Continue reading
Checking in on charity
So here we are, April 29th. Two days to the Kentucky Derby; two days to the end of the Road to the Roses Backstretch Charity League; two days until the end of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation hay drive. Our league … Continue reading
The Derby comes to Brooklyn
It starts in the late spring and early summer. You look at the two-year-olds racing in Kentucky and New York. You examine pedigree and performance. You hope that by the following spring, you’ll have found your Derby horse. But sometimes, … Continue reading
Highs and lows
Over the weekend, I wrote about the withering of the Withers, about the loss of the historical and contemporary significance of the race: no big-name horses; a short field; an abiding lack of interest from the greater racing world. Just … Continue reading
The Withers, and Withering
Withers: “The high part of the back of a horse or similar animal, located between the shoulder blades.” (American Heritage Dictionary, via Wordnik) Well, that’s certainly appropriate. Withers: Mr. David Dunham Withers, member of the American Jockey Club and one … Continue reading
Keeneland Sunday
It’s Sunday morning in Lexington, Kentucky. Sundays are meant to be a day of rest…but there’s much, much too much to do to rest. On the road to Keeneland for workouts, we end up behind a horse van, and we … Continue reading
Breaking a Churchill maiden
Monday morning, April 19th: It’s been quiet for a little while, but at about 8:25, the stirrings begin. The clockers resume their places: binoculars are raised, stopwatches poised. After a morning of commonplace workouts—oh, except for that bullet that Rachel … Continue reading
Homiletic Handicapping
It’s Sunday morning, and I confirm that yes, mass will be celebrated on the grounds at Keeneland at 10 am. “I call it ‘Our Lady of the Sales Pavilion,’” quips a local acquaintance. The little room off the main sales … Continue reading
Brian’s Derby Preps: The Lexington
You know how every week I remind you that you can check out Brian’s handicapping for NYRA races at Horseplayernow.com? That he participates in a live chat about three-year-olds every Friday at 2pm? He also participates in chats on Saturdays … Continue reading





