One step at a time
“Is it six days?
Time flies when you’re having fun.
“That’s amazing.”
Then Ian Wilkes laughed long and hard.
Sean Clancy
Monday Afternoon Rewind: Cue Card to Bodhisattva
You read The Saturday Special, took your notes, watched the races and either believed in us or wondered about us. Yeah, that happens. From Cue Card’s triumph to Page McKenney’s ouster, here’s your Monday Morning Rewind.
Going for Gold
Ski Friday. Yes, ski Friday. Off to the slopes with Miles for the finale of the ski season at Bryce Resort. The Ski Olympics. Miles goes at 11:30.
Last week, we arrived at the slopes, found our rental equipment, hooked up our lift ticket, pulled our goggles down and stared up, well, not exactly up.
Hear it Here: Jonathan Thomas
One of our own, Jonathan Thomas, hit Steeplechase Times as an apprentice jockey when he went on a tear winning six races in 1999 and seven races in 2000. The Virginian’s burgeoning career came to a crashing halt when he fell from Darn Tipalarm at Colonial Downs in 2000.
Throwback Thursday: Winning and Losing with Robby Albarado
In celebration of Robby Albarado’s 5,000th career victory (accomplished Jan. 22), we dug around the archives. Here’s the 43-year-old Louisiana native talking about the best and worst losses in his career. Published in The Saratoga Special Aug. 29, 2009.
Coffee in Aiken, Women in France…
Random thoughts on random racing news…
Saturday Special Rewind
You read The Saturday Special with all the stars from McCracken to Native River and the predictions and insights. Well, we nailed some. We missed some. Here are the highlights and lowlights form the weekly feature, which should help reset your table for the week.
Throwback Thursday: Wilkes’ big horse
Ian Wilkes scaled one of racing’s tallest peaks in 2012 with Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned and the Australian-born conditioner will try to continue on the road to the Kentucky Derby in Saturday’s Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. Wilkes will send out the highly regarded McCraken in the $250,000 stakes for 3-year-olds and we thought we’d dig into the archives of The Saratoga Special to take a look back at another memorable victory by Fort Larned in the 2012 Whitney at Saratoga.
Goodbye Kempton, Thanks for the Memories
Kempton Bombshell. That was the headline in the Racing Post as Britain plans to bulldoze another turf track and build another all-weather. As John Gorka sings, “They’re growing houses in the fields between the towns. And the Starlight drive-in movie’s closing down the road is gone to the way it was before. And the spaces won’t be spaces anymore.”
Throwback Thursday: Charley’s Gold Cup
In honor of Charley Strittmatter, who died in January, today’s Throwback Thursday is dedicated to the longtime steeplechase owner and NSA board member. We had to climb into the attic and find the printed pages of Steeplechase Times in 1996 (there aren’t any PDF files from back then) to find an article on Strittmatter’s Big Boo Boo when he upset the International Gold Cup.
