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Joe Clancy 
The horse resides in a new, four-stall barn where he can see the various comings and goings – equine, human, vehicular – at Ashwell Stable. Park your car up that way, and he’ll almost always hang his head over the stall door. You pretty much have to say hello and give him a pat on the neck. For him, for you, for anyone who ever hurt. That’s just the way Mandola is.
It might be the most popular steeplechase meeting in the United States, and it’s not in the United States. England’s Cheltenham Festival goes to the post for its first of four banner days Tuesday and will be watched the world over. To get you started, here’s some facts and figures courtesy of the Festival press office.
In the U.S., watch on TVG (we think) or via your ADW account. Otherwise, the Fesitval can be seen live on Racing UK and Channel 4.
Equal parts chaos and control, fun and function, mess and masterminded, trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s barn near Unionville, Pa. bustles with Thoroughbreds of every shape, size, age and background. Especially in March, and especially this year.
In the office, around the barn or out on the roads and horse paths of his Tapeta Farm in Cecil County, Maryland, Michael Dickinson talks fast. He walks fast. He drives fast. But he might plan and think and dream even faster.
Trainer Chuck Lawrence went to the Breeders’ Cup with a horse last year. He’s won 359 races as a trainer. He rode 1994 steeplechase champion Warm Spell, and won two National Steeplechase Association jockey championships as part of a 122-win career. But his Horse Who Changed Everything wasn’t even a horse.
What a difference four and a half days make. The buses are headed north, home from sunny Florida and Disney. The band’s performance went great, so did the choir’s concert. But, man, these kids are quiet. No movies, no jokes, no conversations, everybody (OK, probably not everybody) is asleep.
The wifi stinks, so does the legroom. The movie choices are odd (the credits to Lilo and Stitch are rolling). There are two kids in Disney character snuggies (maybe) across the aisle. Four rows in front of me, Leonard the bus driver just keeps on steering – straight and steady. He’s with us until Florence, S.C., where his relief awaits. He’ll get eight hours sleep and drive home in the morning. We’ll keep on heading south.
As David Allen Coe’s friend Steve Goodman wrote, the perfect country and western song says something about mama, trains, trucks, prison and gettin’ drunk. Well, David (and Steve) never met Cowboy Dan.
We’ve got an abbreviated version of Here & There this week. Truth be told, typically if we’re light on content we might wait a week but this is no ordinary week because we’ve got something pretty cool we want to share. Check it out below, along with a few quotes in Worth Repeating and By the Numbers.
