Mr. Smith goes to Charles Town
Mike Smith paused, then summed up his thoughts about Game On Dude tackling three tight turns in Saturday night’s Charles Town Classic. “As long as he’ll go around there, I’ll go with him.”
Jumps: Handicapping a Triple Header
Ready or not, the steeplechase season finds a higher gear this weekend with a triple header of meets – in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. There are races of all types and puzzlers for the fearless handicappers. Keeping score at home? Joe (10) leads the way by one over Tom with Sean third at seven wins, but it all could change Saturday.
Big field arrives for Gwathmey jump stakes
Saturday’s Temple Gwathmey steeplechase stakes drew a big field of 11, but it might be better known for who’s not running.
Vyjack puts in half-mile work, eyes Kentucky
Vyjack and trainer Rudy Rodriguez mis-timed their arrival to the Fair Hill Training Center dirt track Friday morning, but got an easy half-mile breeze just right once the tractors cleared.
Coldwater Kid’ ready for another Woodbine opener
John Cardella remembers the days when racing in Ontario was run at five racetracks and hearing news that a new facility, in the Township of Etobicoke out in the Toronto suburbs was being built. Cardella also remembers when that track was built, a state-of-the-art facility on 780 acres known as New Woodbine Racetrack. He remembers Secretariat making his final career start there, in the 1973 Canadian International on the turf.
Remembering Mike Freeman
Bernadette Clayton went home for lunch, fed up with her job, and decided to make a change. She didn’t know what she was going to do, just knew the current situation was not going to work.
Getting Wise
Charlie LoPresti stared at the legs of Wise Dan. Fans clapped. Connections smiled. Bettors headed to the windows. LoPresti continued to stare, like a like a kid who dropped his ice cream cone on a summer sidewalk.
Vyjack finds respite at Fair Hill
Fifteen minutes after another gallop on another weekday, Vyjack groaned and grumbled, hunkered himself into the sand of a round pen and rolled – looking every bit like a happy Labrador Retriever in a yard on a sunny day. Only he’s no dog.
World Traveler: Motion catches up to Animal Kingdom
Graham Motion’s world tour continued this week as he left Maryland Sunday night for Lambourn, England to see his stable star Animal Kingdom for the first time since they stood in the winner’s circle after the world’s richest horse race.
Cyber Secret delivers for believers
Cyber Secret was starting to look like a good sale, but maybe not the best buy. The kind old owners don’t regret selling and the kind new owners wish they didn’t buy.
