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Sean Clancy Preakness hangover over. Fair Hill come and gone. Riverdee had a winner. There is nothing like a winner. Saratoga looming. Belmont still to come. Shug’s bullish on Orb, surprising. New horse coming tomorrow. Need to raise money. Animal Kingdom’s work blowing up Twitter. Book tickets to Ascot.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice . . .
The TIHR Handicappers are back for another intrepid voyage into predicting the future. The Preakness card brings it all – the Rollicking, Chick Lang, James Murphy (our man), Allaire duPont Distaff, Gallorette, Maryland Sprint, Dixie and Preakness. Just for the record, Tom dutifully went back to his hotel and studied the form, Joe had his son Jack read the entries to him on his way around 695 and Sean went to the Sagamore party, so follow who you want.
Whew, time flies. Sorry, about posting late, we wound up in the Orb at Pimlico. Here are the ST Handicappers picks for Radnor. Hard to believe, it’s time for Radnor already. Spring is almost gone, summer’s looming.
Black Eyed Susan Day. Orb is perfect. Pink is the color of the day. Joe, Tom and Sean are at Pimlico. Tom, writing and taking photos. Joe, glasses perched atop his nose, pecking away at a feature for Jenn Patterson while his son revels in the infield. Sean, well, typing away at our picks for the day. As we say, we are not handicappers, but like to wade in at times.
In celebration of Shug McGaughey winning the Kentucky Derby, we went back to the 2004 archives and found Shug’s 32 flavors, when we asked Shug to talk about one of his horses every day in The Saratoga Special. They are included in our book, The Best of the Saratoga Special. Seems like a good time to read a few. Here’s the second.
Only on the TIHR Tour . . . we stopped at Nashville for a weekend of jump racing between the Derby and the Preakness. It took 3 miles to separate Demonstrative and Divine Fortune and Derby starter Mr. Hot Stuff continued his second chapter. Now, it’s on to Pimlico where Orb continues his orbit.
It’s 5:30 in the morning at Churchill Downs. Two days before the Kentucky Derby. One cup of coffee finished, working on the second. Still dark. Still a racetrack. It took an old-habits-die-hard ex-trainer to get me here this early. The tourists won’t get here until 7, they think that’s when it starts, to me, it’s when it ends. I’d give up the afternoon races for the morning exercises. With two hours before my first gig, there’s one place to go.
In celebration of Shug McGaughey winning the Kentucky Derby with Orb, we went back to the 2004 archives and found Shug’s 32 flavors, when we asked Shug to talk about one of his horses every day in The Saratoga Special. It was in celebration of his election to the Hall of Fame. Seems like a good time to read a few. Here’s the first.
Orb won the Kentucky Derby, Grinding Speed rebounded from a fall to win the Virginia Gold Cup and now it’s on to the Nashville for the Iroquois Saturday and Baltimore for the Preakness next Saturday. Here’s your Here and There for post-Derby, post Gold Cup.
