With great power comes great responsibility, a wise man once told a young, budding superhero — and, just days after the latest Spider-Man movie hit theaters, two great racing powers, the New York Racing Association and Churchill Downs Incorporated announced their bombshell vision of a brand new day in the sport of thoroughbred racing. Advertised as a move…
Being an everyday horse trainer is a full-time job and then some. Being a Kentucky Derby winning trainer adds a whole new set of obligations; throw in making history by being the first woman trainer to win the Kentucky Derby, and let’s just say that if Cherie DeVaux’s responsibilities paid overtime, she’d be a very rich woman. …
How this works: At the top of each week’s list are ongoing or weekly events; following that is a daily rundown of what’s happening at the track and beyond. I’m happy to answer questions (if I can) about anything that’s going on, or at least point you in the right direction. Here we go… Ongoing/weekly…
The results are in. And, from my wholly unscientific, small-sample-size survey, the four-day racing week has a pretty high approval rating, at least from the people most directly involved in the sport. For many years, the New York Racing Association raced six days a week during the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course. Then, in 2019,…
Meredith Krupp already loves Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She loves the town itself; she loves the enthusiasm of the people at the races, and she loves how fully the track is integrated into the community. The evening of Aug. 10 may give her yet another reason to love the upstate New York racing mecca: a horse…
The public library is one of the glories of Saratoga Springs. Back when I was in high school up the street at Spa Catholic, it was housed in the cozy building at the corner of Spring St. and Broadway before it moved to a modern, larger space on Henry St. in 1995, offering local residents…
Horses trained by Bill Mott have made more than 29,000 starts. They’ve won more than 5,600 races, which means they’ve lost more than 23,800 times. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998, and he ranks fourth on the all-time list of trainers by earnings and eighth by number of wins. He’s trained…
How this works: At the top of each week’s list are ongoing or weekly events; following that is a daily rundown of what’s happening at the track and beyond. I’m happy to answer questions (if I can) about anything that’s going on, or at least point you in the right direction. Here we go… Ongoing/weekly…
The backstretch at Saratoga Race Course has not been a particularly pleasant place to hang out over the last couple of days. More than six inches of rain fell between Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning, producing prodigious mud and puddles through which both horses and humans clopped and trudged. None of that seemed to matter…
Cherie DeVaux and Golden Tempo at her Saratoga barn, June 7, 2026. Photo by Teresa Genaro Cherie DeVaux and Golden Tempo at Saratoga Race Course, June 7, 2027. Photo by Teresa Genaro Cherie DeVaux doesn’t call Saratoga Springs her hometown. But that doesn’t preclude our community from claiming the first woman to train a Kentucky…
What you’ll find in these listings: Note that events are often added after this is initially posted, as information is released about them. Have an event you’d like publicized? E-mail me if it has something to do with racing or Saratoga history, or if it’s a non-profit that might be of interest to a local and racing…
Saturday, July 25 Grade 2, $400,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, 4-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs, dirt Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/8 miles, dirt Horse Sense. Every Saturday and Sunday, fans of all ages can pet a retired Thoroughbred from noon to 2 p.m. at Horse Sense located in the backyard…
T Loves a Fight at Saratoga, July 2026 This was originally published in September 2017, nine months after I’d been diagnosed with breast cancer, on Brisnet.com. Ed DeRosa was Brisnet’s director of marketing at the time, and he and I had been friends for years; I am godmother to one of his sons. He knew…
Welcome (a little late) to Saratoga 2026. I’m getting back to this after a few years away, after I heard last summer that people missed having a go-to resource for what’s going on during the summer meeting. I focus on: Have an event you’d like publicized? E-mail me if it has something to do with racing…
Well, it’s August 2025 and I haven’t posted anything here since…September 2024. All is well. No health setbacks, thank goodness (knocking wood), and no good reason, as I’ve spewed forth plenty of words over the last year. If you get notifications of new posts, here’s your warning: in what is almost certainly a futile attempt…
Brooklyn Backstretch 