Features

Restock, rebuild, reload. Such is the life of a horse trainer and Phil Serpe proves no exception. (Originally published in Aug. 16 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Jonathan Thomas free admits to not being in a rush, especially when it comes to the young horses in his care. (Originally published in Aug. 15 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Mike Trombetta has come a long way from his formative summer stints. (Originally published in Aug. 11 issue of The Saratoga Special)

It might be the best barn on the grounds. Tucked between, around and among shade trees and bordered by Union Avenue and Yaddo Gardens, John Kimmel’s Saratoga stable houses 30 horses in a courtyard of buildings including a house, a cottage and (depending how you count) four barns. (Originally published in Aug. 10 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Trainer Mark Hennig won six races with seven seconds and seven thirds at the Belmont Park spring-summer meeting and arrived in Saratoga confident his string mixed of veterans and newcomers could keep things rolling. Then it rained. (Originally published in Aug. 8 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Phil Gleaves showed up in Saratoga in the spring of 2018 ready to roll. He bedded down his compact string in a barn on the Oklahoma Training Track and generated a little press as one of the first horsemen on the grounds. (Originally published in Aug. 9 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Where all paths cross on the Oklahoma Training Track stands the barn housing Gary’s Contessa’s 31-horse Saratoga string for the past 15 years, but really a lifetime for the trainer. (Originally published in Aug. 6 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Barn 9 way back behind the main track’s kitchen and almost to Greentree has been home to trainer Rick Schosberg’s horses for the better part of 25 years – Maria’s Mon, Affirmed Success, Pentatontic, Mossflower, Giant Moon and so on. He no longer fills it up, but he’s still there with a string of eight ranging from a homebred with a regal pedigree to 2-year-olds with potential. (Originally published in Aug. 5 issue of The Saratoga Special)

One of the many staples of Saratoga can be found in one of the green barns off the main track’s outside rail of the Saratoga Race Course. A barn toward the middle of the group to be specific, Barn 31, has housed runners trained by a member of the Martin family for the better part of more than four decades. (Originally published in Aug. 4 issue of The Saratoga Special)

Around The Special office, the term “Stable Tour Luck” gets thrown around in response to race results. It used to be how we sold the idea of actually doing a stable tour to reluctant trainers. “Stable tours are lucky,” we’d say. “Everybody wins when they do Stable Tours.” (Originally published in Aug. 3 issue of The Saratoga Special)