Joe Clancy

Forgive me, but when a racetracker starts to talk about all the places the sport can take you my mental checklist starts small: Timonium, Aqueduct, the vet, the back of a truck, the manure pit, the track kitchen, a nap under a fly sheet in a bad director’s chair while waiting for the blacksmith. Yeah, … Read more

We went to see Orb train. We got a whole lot more, on an early morning by the rail at Oklahoma Thursday.  “Did we bring the camera?” my 12-year-old companion asks.  “No,” I answer. “It’s at home.” “That’s OK, it might not work very well anyway. It’s pretty dark. And the flash would be bad … Read more

This was in The Saratoga Special Aug. 9, so we’re catching up a bit. It sure seemed like a good idea, if a bit out there, far-fetched, potentially chaotic and possibly somewhat dangerous. McDynamo, a three-time steeplechase champion and millionaire, gets inducted into the Hall of Fame today. He’s 16 years old, and lives on … Read more

Vintage Xavier Aizpuru, the ride to get All Together home first in an optional-claiming steeplechase here Aug. 1 involved a cone-skimming trip around the final turn, a never-give-up aggression that produced his horse with a chance at the last fence and a hard-pumping finish that saw out the partnership’s fourth win together.  It was also … Read more

Oh if we only had the time. The brains. The thought processes. Imagine what we could do.  Late Thursday night, I was hammering away at a 48-page newspaper – writing headlines, a column, two stories, finding Names of the Day, grabbing photos, doing cutlines, juggling the myriad tasks of pretty much everyone on The Special’s … Read more

Fast forward another 10 years. If you’re following along, we started this mini-history tour through some milestone catalogues from Fasig-Tipton sales of the past.  First came 1963, a little musty but classic and clean and weighty. And full of legends from the past. Then came 1973, a sale which featured a future Kentucky Derby winner … Read more

It’s 1973, Fasig-Tipton yearling sale in Saratoga. Forty years ago. The catalogue is right here on my desk, fished out of a bin back in Fair Hill – smells, feels and looks different than the 1963 version (and no spiral binding). The sale lasted four nights, Aug. 7-10, and listed 264 yearlings for sale. I … Read more

The book is 50 years old. The front cover shows a healthy-looking yearling standing by a white fence on a dimly lit evening, waiting its turn. The back cover pays tribute to 100 years of racing at Saratoga Race Course with a familiar-looking oval logo. There are no markings, but a few pages are dog-eared. … Read more