Valentine’s Day is over and done, Laurel Park got its President’s Day weekend stakes programs in, Kentucky got buried under a blanket of snow and Mardi Gras kicked into full effect down in New Orleans and everywhere else they celebrate the holiday.
Fairly quiet week, but the wheels are in motion here at This Is Horse Racing as we gear up to produce the annual awards dinner program for the New York Thoroughbred Breeders and get our annual advertising and information brochure out to our friends, supporters and clients.
Joe took in the action at Laurel, Sean hunkered down and got some writing done in Virginia and Tom took his patriotism over the President’s Day holiday weekend with a trip to Quebec and Ontario.
We proudly present this week’s Here & There.
Worth Repeating
“Got to protect my baby.” – Laurel Park photographer Jim McCue, who wraps his camera in a towel while walking to/from the track in the cold
“In June?” – Trainer Robin Graham, to TIHR’s Joe Clancy who said he’d give her a call for an interview when they were both warm
“Body heat!” – Laurel Park’s Gabby Gaudet, while pulling winning connections Graham and owner/breeder Jim Hibbert in tight for an interview Monday
“Ottawa? Not cold enough in Saratoga for you?” – Tim Molloy’s text to TIHR’s Tom Law Sunday afternoon
“The best kept secret in the Mid-Atlantic, Robin Graham, seriously. I mean it.” – Hibbert, on his trainer, after they won the Wide Country Stakes with Gypsy Judy Monday
“Aaaaaghhh!” – Jockey Victor Carrasco, walking to the jocks’ room after Golden Years finished a troubled third (beaten a neck) as the favorite in Monday’s Miracle Wood Stakes
Jockey Forrest Boyce, at the conclusion of a post-race interview: “I really like your coat, where did you get that?”
Gaudet (in a whisper): “T.J. Maxx.”
“What a life.” – Sean Clancy to Tom Law after the latter outlined part of his trip last weekend to a cattle farm in Quebec
“Are we still 3,000-to-1?” – Trainer with a longshot, looking at the odds board at Laurel Monday
“I can stop, I talk better when I stop.” – Jockey Kendrick Carmouche, pausing to explain how he won the General George on Misconnect
“I know who I want to be in my next life . . . Keith Cooper.” – Trainer Mike Trombetta, on a vacationing van driver (whose winter sojourn has included Easter Island, Bora Bora, Peru and French Polynesia)
“Do you cover harness racing, too?” – Dave “The Voice” Schreiber, longtime announcer for the Ottawa 67s junior hockey team, to Tom Law after a game last weekend at TD Place
By the Numbers
1: Horse with St. Louis Cardinals blinkers in Monday’s Wide Country Stakes. Kazuri finished fifth for Thomas McClay and trainer Michael Salvaggio. Pitchers and catchers report Thursday.
4: Horses separated by a nose, a neck and a head at the finish of Monday’s Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park.
10: Inches of snow on the ground in Lexington Tuesday morning.
5,000: Career wins for Gary Stevens after he rode Catch A Flight to victory Friday at Santa Anita Park.
Tweets of the Week (Snowmageddon edition)
Gary Contessa (@GaryContessa): “You have not lived until you get snowed in at Washington Reagan Airport with just the clothes on your back.”
Rajiv Maragh (@RajivMaragh): “What a card @GulfstreamPark on Sat. chance to watch CHAMPION #Main_Sequence run live. You get goosebumps watching his stretch run.”
