Joe Clancy

Fair Hill. Depending on who you talk to, the two words mean many things – a Thoroughbred training center, a 5,800-acre state park, a nature center, mountain biking, the Cecil County Fair (demolition derby, anyone?), an epic winter trail-running race called Phunt, sledding to die (or at least get sent to the emergency room) for, … Read more

The hosts sold 4,800 tickets to this year’s Preakness at Laurel Park, but there might be more people at trainer Anthony Farrior’s backstretch party – Barn 1; bring a donation – if local horse Taj Mahal gets the job done in the $2 million Grade 1 Saturday. Undefeated in three starts over the track, the son … Read more

You going to the Preakness at Laurel? That sounds a little like going to the beach in Kansas, but this is the world we live in. In case you didn’t get lucky and get tickets – 4,800 is the attendance cap – you can head north to the Philadelphia suburbs for jump racing at the … Read more

Call Corona de Oro a Preakness Stakes longshot if you want – he is 30-1 on the morning line – but he’s been beating odds since his first breaths. Shortly after foaling the bay colt at Timber Town Stable in Lexington, Ky., his dam Lemon de Oro hemorrhaged. Rushed to a clinic with her newborn, … Read more

Any weekend plans? While flat racing takes a breath, barely, after the Kentucky Derby and before the Preakness (calm down, everybody), jump racing heads to its biggest weekend of the spring season with Saturday stops at the Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville (with $730,000 in purses up for grabs) and the Willowdale Steeplechase closer to home … Read more

It’s Kentucky Derby Day so everyone you know, horse-oriented or not, is drinking mint juleps, looking for fancy hats, trying bow ties or asking you for advice on who to bet. Well, that’s our world anyway. You’re probably not all that different and if you’re steeplechase-oriented, you’re headed to Virginia. The 101st Virginia Gold Cup … Read more

The last Saturday in April means two things in American jump racing – the Maryland Hunt Cup and the Foxfield Races. The date also means the spring season has hit a cruising altitude  and we’re headed to May and a Memorial Day touchdown at the Fair Hill Races May 25. Last week, Zabeel Champion pulled … Read more

Happy Easter. Opening Weekend at Keeneland, the last Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, Kentucky Derby talk, the Elkridge-Harford Point-to-Point in Maryland and three NSA races on the Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point card in Virginia. Saturday’s post time at the historic Ben Venue estate in Washington, Va. is noon with the first NSA races at 1:35 p.m. … Read more

Got a Travers horse yet? OK, OK, we get it, the Kentucky Derby is still two months away but it’s never too early to start thinking about Saratoga Race Course’s summer classic – the $1.25 million Travers Stakes Aug. 29. Like the 1 1/4-mile race’s potential entrants, everyone has time but it’s never too early … Read more

The Saratoga Special will honor the legacy of one of its most unique and beloved team members by naming its renowned editorial internship program the Terry Hill Internship starting with the 2026 summer season at Saratoga Race Course. The summer internship, offered since the publication’s launch in 2001 but refined ever since, has produced dozens … Read more