Brooklyn Backstretch

In the summer of 2008, I sat with Dale Romans at Saratoga as he watched Robby Albarado work an unraced two-year-old filly on the main track.   Back at the barn, Albarado got off the horse and said to the trainer, “She could win first time out.”  Her name was Sara Louise.
The jockey didn’t get it [...]

I lived in the mid-Atlantic for seven years, and I logged more hours than I care to remember on I-95, making my way home to friends and family in New York and Saratoga.  When I left the area in 1995, I vowed I’d never again live anywhere that required regular travel on 95.
I was reminded [...]

On Monday, Anna House held its 2010 graduation; its seventh graduating class celebrated and looked with anticipation at heading to kindergarten in the fall. Because of the Belmont Child Care Association, the ten graduates are beginning readers and writers, and they are fluent in English, ready to take on the challenges of their kindergarten [...]

For most people in the world, today is just another Monday, just another June 14th.  But for New York Rangers’ fans, it’s the anniversary of the day that “will last a lifetime,” in the unfortunately likely prophetic words of Sam Rosen, the day that the New York Rangers, after 54 years of futility, finally, finally [...]

So whose idea was it, exactly, to schedule Belmont week, final exams, and a bathroom renovation all in the same week?
The good news is that despite mess and work and fatigue, at their completion all of these things have, in their own way, a sort of splendor.  They are also, mercifully, finite.  Thank goodness, because [...]

We’ve arrived at the end of the end of the road: the Belmont Stakes. Belmont’s spring showcase and the final leg of the Triple Crown gives us a deep field of 12 looking to add their name to the history books. Let’s take a look at the contenders for the Test of Champions.
Belmont Park: The [...]

No fewer than five racetracks were located in Brooklyn, over the course of the last century and a half.  Though known as the “Borough of Churches,” Brooklyn might also aptly be called the “Borough of Backstretches.”
The Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and Prospect Park courses were all located in my fair borough.  The [...]

Last Friday, the National Museum of Racing announced that jockey Randy Romero had been elected to its Hall of Fame.  Romero had suffered through several previous rounds of being nominated without being elected, and as reported by Jay Privman in Daily Racing Form, Romero said of his election, “It’s a great honor. I’m so, so [...]

Beautiful weather.  A great crowd.  Exciting horses.  Belmont Stakes contenders.  An agonizing near-miss.  Friends.  Celebrations.  Memorial Day weekend, 2010.
It starts on Saturday morning, with a trip to Barn 1 to check on First Dude, Quiet Temper, and Stately Victor.  Stately Victor had gone out early and was home in his stall by mid-morning; First Dude [...]