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Joe Clancy 
Finish Line. The Special wraps up its 2023 season with our final big Saturday edition. We preview the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Flower Bowl, Prioress and Harvey Pack (about time he got a race) plus cover Wednesday, Thursday, Friday racing and take one of our favorite Fasig-Tipton Stable Tours of the season with Hall of … Read more
Travers Dude. Arcangelo adds the Grade 1 Travers Stakes to his win in the Belmont Stakes in June to take control of the 3-year-old division. He’s won four in a row. Plus we cover the rest of a bittersweet Travers Day which included a Grade 1 double by trainer Steve Asmussen and more. We take … Read more
It was 2008. Jonathan Sheppard was in yet another chapter of his storied career and The Blood-Horse magazine wanted a feature story. Steeplechase Times still existed, and I still wrote freelance articles for other racing publications.
Travers Day. We made it. Sixty-four (64) pages of previews, recaps, columns and so on. Saratoga Race Course hosts five Grade 1 stakes. We look at them all. Travers: Forte and the classic winners clash in the meet’s signature race. Forego: Katie Davis gets a chance to ride her first Grade 1. Jerkens: Canterbury shipper … Read more
Randomized puts everybody on the back foot in the Grade 1 Alabama and runs away with the victory for Klaravich Stable and trainer Chad Brown. In Saturday’s Lake Placid, the Brown-trained Aspray kicks away late. We take a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Danny Gargan, preview this week’s stakes action from the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard … Read more
Alabama Day. Wet Paint, heroine of the Coaching Club American Oaks a month ago, looks for her second Grade 1 win of the meet for Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox. She faces off with Sacred Wish, Gambling Girl and others in the historic mile-and-a-quarter stakes. The Saturday card includes the Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies … Read more
That’s two. Turf veteran Casa Creed digs in late to catch Annapolis and win a second Fourstardave and second graded stakes at Saratoga 2023. Total dude. Two-year-old Rhyme Schemes delivers in the Saratoga Special (the race) for trainer Norm Casse, who is thinking Hopeful. We take a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Tom Amoss, catch up … Read more
If Saratoga had a pool and a pond, the pond would be OK with Carl Spackler who blazed down the stretch to win Friday’s rescheduled Hall of Fame Stakes after the original was canceled with horses in the paddock last week. Check your Caddyshack references and read about how he did it. Plus we’ve got … Read more
A colt by Curlin out of Beholder (so a Hall of Fame sire and a Hall of Fame dam) brings down the house at Fasig-Tipton with a $4 million price tag to power a strong second session with eight million-dollar yearlings. Spendthrift Farm bred the chestnut, who was sold by Taylor Made Sales Agency to … Read more
Opening night at the sale showcases two million-dollar yearlings and statistical increases over last year’s first night. Plus we have a Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Ian Wilkes, more stories from Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas (don’t miss it), a conversation with Javier Castellano about his big 2023 and what it means to him and … Read more
