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Joe Clancy 
Jonathan Sheppard’s horses are running better than his car at the moment. Early in the meet, the Hall of Fame trainer said he was 50-50 to make it on a drive north from Pennsylvania. On another trip Tuesday night, Sheppard felt like it was 60-40 – and not in his favor.
Sunday morning, George Weaver and Cindy Hutter were back at work. He was sitting tall in a western saddle, heels down, spurs ready, aboard the stable pony. She was galloping a tough one on the Oklahoma training track. At the barn, at 9:20, there were still two sets to train. Four horses walked on the … Read more
Check out these Saratoga racing events this week.
In the massive Ramsey Farm racing operation, some trainers pick and choose troops – assessing pedigree and conformation of young horses before putting in requests. Others wait for horses to arrive, which is just fine with Wayne Catalano.
Millionaire … Race’s leading earner by more than $300,000 . . . Grade 1 winner . . . Big, beautiful, gray horse with a win over the course . . . 10-1 shot in an optional claimer.
Only in Saratoga could one horse be all of those things.
The Jockey Club follows its rules, so when breeder Bonner Young sent in Caroline Thomas as a name request for a chestnut filly the response was predictable. Thoroughbred racing’s official registration service requires written permission to use the name of a living person. Young’s granddaughter Caroline Thomas Rich put pencil to notebook paper and wrote … Read more
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. The Saratoga clock is running – for us, for horses, for horsemen. The meet starts a week from tomorrow which means the first edition of The Saratoga Special goes to press a week from today. Yikes. There’s some great racing this weekend too, we’ll probably miss most of it while selling, packing, driving, organizing.
It’s a long walk to the racetrack at Fair Hill Training Center, and on that jaunt Wednesday morning trainer Shug McGaughey contemplated his Kentucky Derby winner Orb.
When the great English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky suffered the first loss of his career in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1970, owner Charles Engelhard took the fall when he said something to the effect of “I asked too much of the horse. I let him down.”
Short and sweet. Kentucky Derby winner Orb’s workout Wednesday morning lasted all of 36 seconds, but brightened an otherwise gray, misty, humid morning at Fair Hill Training Center.
