Sean Clancy
Churchill to Cheltenham
Mark Johnson calls races at Churchill Downs in the spring and fall, Cheltenham in March, Aintree in April. Now, that’s a gig. This Is Horse Racing caught up with Johnson, days before the Cheltenham Festival.
Plains, trains and . . .
Crammed in the National Express bus, aiming for Woking. Clif Bar for breakfast, my kingdom for a cup of tea. Tight quarters, I can’t bend my elbow well enough to hit the Y on the keyboard. Free wi-fi, on a bus, not bad. Technology is amazing, I remember searching for international access phone numbers for … Read more
The Lure of It
In celebration of Lure’s nomination to the Hall of Fame, I checked “The Best of The Special,” our five-year anniversary book of The Saratoga Special, and found Shug McGaughey’s take on the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner. We conducted 32 individual conversations with the Hall of Fame trainer, just a trainer talking about a horse. Sitting in Shug’s tack room at Saratoga and listening to his memories would be near the top (probably right behind the golf cart rides with the Chief) of anything I’ve written.
Assault’s Assault
Nothing piques my interest more than an email titled, “The Old Training Methods.” Bill Hirsch, grandson of Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch who trained Assault, read our quote from Allen Jerkens about the 1946 Triple Crown winner and emailed us the horse’s training regimen. In a word – wow. Take it away, Bill… … Read more
Worth Repeating for March 5
In this week’s installment of Here and There, Seen and Heard…
From the Couch
Quiet weekend, with just a day trip to Belmont to look at the next champion (he’ll be in Maryland Thursday). Evidently, the last quiet weekend for a long time after I took a Sharpie and crossed out the travel days for March. Uh oh. Traveling for 17 out of 31 days and that doesn’t include St. Patrick’s Day. Spring has sprung. Time to hit the road.
Livin’ Lively
Lee Lewis gives Mark Hennig a basic order to fill when the trainer goes to Keeneland September. Racehorses. Doesn’t matter if they’re fillies or colts, long or tall, chestnut or bay. Just find racehorses.
Pino Power
Veteran jockey Mario Pino recently became the 64th winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Voted by his peers, the 51-year-old jockey won the award over four finalists, Javier Castellano, Perry Compton, David Flores and Rodney Prescott.
Worth Repeating . . . for the week
People say the darndest things. Worth Repeatings are some of our favorite things to include in print, online, wherever. Here are a few from this week that made us smile, even laugh out loud.
