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The end of the jump racing season is closing fast with the Colonial Cup on tap for Saturday, two weeks removed from the conclusion (for the most part) of the North American flat season. Training in Saratoga comes to an end Tuesday and things are slowing down a bit in Fair Hill, too. Sure signs of winter for sure.
It’s almost the end of the month and the Breeders’ Cup is less than a week away so what better time than to reboot, unload and turn the page.
It’s the showcase event that ex-racehorse advocates and enthusiasts all over look forward to attending. In the past few years, its popularity has soared, and this year’s event should prove to be one of the biggest and best yet. The Retired Racehorse Project’s $100,000 Thoroughbred Makeover is set for this week at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
While a crisp breeze swept through the mare barn at Sunset Hill in Woodbine, Md., Friday afternoon, Smash And Grab stood quietly on crossties as owner Sabrina Morris finished tacking for their dressage school, making final preparations for their venture to the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover at the Kentucky Horse Park later this month.
The Horse Who Changed Everything for me never ran in a stakes race and I never cashed a ticket on him. He finished in the money a lot (32-for-56) in his Midwest pari-mutuel career, but I never saw any of those races.
I met Karen’s Look in August of 1975 at the Effingham County Fair in my hometown of Altamont, Illinois. He was a 6-year-old Illinois-bred, and so was I.
The crew from This Is Horse Racing and The Saratoga Special awoke from their very brief post-Saratoga respite, got out and about in recent weeks and filled up their notepads and voice recorders with plenty of quips and quotes.
Todd Pletcher’s spot in the Hall of Fame is as close to an absolute lock as there is in racing. He’s won seven Eclipse Awards, three U.S. classics, three Canadian classics, 10 North American earnings titles, nine Breeders’ Cup races and 145 Grade 1 stakes. Yes, 145.
Jovial, witty and distinctly British, 33-year-old U.K. transplant Tom Morley recently enjoyed his best Saratoga Race Course meeting highlighted by two graded stakes victories by Haveyougoneaway.
Some horses are born with it. The “it” to which I’m referring is the ability to soar. It is mystifying how a 1200-pound mass of pure muscle and bone can leap through the air, looking effortless while doing so, but some horses just have the ability to seemingly fly. Much to Nicolette Merle-Smith’s liking, her new OTTB, Blazing Beryl, is one of those naturally gifted horses.
The book closed on the 2016 Saratoga Race Course meeting Monday afternoon and with it another memorable summer of racing action in upstate New York.
