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Joe Clancy 
There are six emails from Ed Bowen in my inbox. First off, the jockeyclub.com address – still in service long after he retired – made me smile every time I saw it. Second, the emails span nearly 10 years. The first came in January 2014, the last in December 2024. I probably deleted a few … Read more
And that’s that. The 2024 National Steeplechase Association season took its last jump, navigated its last turn and closed the last page of its book Saturday in Aiken, S.C. The seven-race card at the Aiken Steeplechase wrapped up a racing calendar that began in the same place in March and weaved its way up – and … Read more
And then there was one. The National Steeplechase Association season, which began way back in March, comes to an end with the Aiken Fall Races in Aiken, S.C. Saturday. The seven-race card gets started at 1 p.m., with most of the attention drawn to a still-tied race for the 2024 training championship. Leslie Young and … Read more
Down to two. The shadows are long on the 2024 steeplechase season, which includes just two more days of racing – Sunday’s long-awaited return of the Colonial Cup in Camden, S.C. and next Saturday’s Aiken Steeplechase down the road in Aiken. After that, put the traps away and let the horses rest. Jump racing returns in … Read more
From the Aug. 28, 2024 edition of The Saratoga Special newspaper. Halfway through a six-and-a-half-minute walk up the Saratoga Race Course stretch late Saturday evening, Juan Aguayo and Byron Lopez high-fived each other over Fierceness’ wet neck. In a single moment of peace, joy and pride among near-bedlam, they smiled, laughed, patted their horse and … Read more
From the Aug. 31, 2024 edition of The Saratoga Special newspaper. As a hustling young jockey, Vince Bracciale Jr. made the morning rounds. Some trainers gave him horses to breeze, some booked him for an afternoon mount, others sent him packing. Fifty years ago, Frank Whiteley Jr. put him on a legend. “Every morning when … Read more
A few days before the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga this summer, Chad Brown thought about Sierra Leone’s second in the Kentucky Derby and his third in the Belmont Stakes and looked ahead. It was the only choice, really. Narrow losses like those two – with bumps, drifts, a stumbling start, an eight-wide bid, a … Read more
John Panagot wasn’t quite running around like Jim Valvano Friday afternoon at Del Mar, but Manny Franco’s agent could have used somebody to hug after the jockey delivered a victory with Immersive in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. And it had little to do with the commission check. “Somebody said something to me … Read more
The Breeders’ Cup gets all the attention in Thoroughbred racing this weekend, but the jumpers head to two meets Saturday as the autumn season meanders to a close this month. Virginia’s Montpelier Hunt Races and Georgia’s Callaway Gardens go to the post for races over hurdles and timber and even a couple on the dirt … Read more
Kentucky Derby Day . . . Belmont Stakes Day when a Triple Crown is on the line . . . and Breeders’ Cup Weekend. These are the days – other than those a self-inflicted controversy of some sort – when you feel a little less like a unicorn to be involved in Thoroughbred racing. Your neighbor knows … Read more
