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“Sorry about yesterday, sometimes you get this thing so jammed up I don’t pay any attention to it.”

It was 5:53 Friday night, the Belmont Stakes loomed in 23 hours, 49 minutes and Barclay Tagg had unjammed his phone to call The Special. We had left a message Thursday and added a “missed call” Friday morning, another Friday afternoon and still another Friday evening. 

“A day in the life…” That’s how Mike Stidham starts off the conversation while checking on one of his three venues Thursday morning. Stidham and his partner, Hilary Pridham, were at Monmouth Park, looking over 65 horses with assistant Ben Trask. Pick another day and they might be overseeing their 48 horses at Fair Hill Training Center. In a few weeks, they’ll be at Keeneland to see assistant TC Stuckey and their 10-horse brigade. After that, perhaps, Colonial Downs with a projected 20 for the Virginia meet. 

It was early evening on Memorial Day in 1982 and Dr. J. David Richardson had just returned home from Churchill Downs, where, in pre-simulcasting days, he had to go into the racing office to watch the Met Mile from Belmont Park on a small, black-and-white TV. Conquistador Cielo ran off the screen, romping to a 7 ¼-length win while setting a track record of 1:33.

Schedule in advance, show up on time, come prepared and bring a list. That’s how we roll when Todd Pletcher agrees to take time out of his day for a visit to his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track every summer at Saratoga. 

Never doubt Ron Moquett’s ability to be the most hands-on horseman possible. (Editor’s note: Originally published in May 2 edition of The 2020 Special)

Mark Casse can handle the complexities of running his training operation out of multiple divisions. He’s done it for years, successfully enough to rank in the top seven in North America by earnings since 2011 and ninth by career earnings approaching the second half of 2020. (Originally published in May 23 edition of The 2020 Special)

Saturday’s feature at Santa Anita Park, the 51st edition of the Charles Whittingham Handicap honors the late Hall of Fame trainer who won the race seven times in his legendary career. 

It’s the third Saturday in May in Baltimore, the self-proclaimed Greatest City in America. It’s noon, I’ve consumed a little coffee, and not enough food or water. It’s 75 and sunny, in stark contrast to the last few third Saturdays in May. The last Preakness Day with no recorded rainfall was 2014. The BWI weather station has recorded a total of 1.11 inches of rain over the last five third Saturdays in May (which is stupid, because I don’t know anybody who lives at the airport). What a Preakness Day it could have been.

From the Alibi Breakfast to the blanket of handmade Black-Eyed Susans to the painting of the infield cupola’s weathervane in the colors of its winner, the Preakness Stakes is an event that revels in tradition.

It was just his second time at the Preakness, a race the future Hall of Fame trainer would later come to own, so pardon Bob Baffert if he was a little confused by the idiosyncrasies that come with being the second-oldest racetrack in the United States.