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Veteran jockey Mario Pino recently became the 64th winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Voted by his peers, the 51-year-old jockey won the award over four finalists, Javier Castellano, Perry Compton, David Flores and Rodney Prescott.
Editor’s Note: Maggie Kimmitt goes way back with Chris Antley, the mercurial jockey who was recently named a 2013 finalist for the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. Antley won 3,480 races and dazzled the sport; he also battled demons and died too young…
One of the first things you notice pulling through the main gates and past the row of signs near the guard house and near the outer rail of the training track at Crupi’s New Castle Farm is an eagle.
People say the darndest things. Worth Repeatings are some of our favorite things to include in print, online, wherever. Here are a few from this week that made us smile, even laugh out loud.
Thisishorseracing.com? Sure, it’s a big name, and a big idea. It’s also a lot to live up to, and something we’re excited about. But it’s not intended to be everything to all people or even everything to horse racing.
Jose Espinoza made three trips from the area near the winner’s circle back to the jock’s room Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, each trek seeming more significant than the previous even though the one sandwiched in the middle was worth the most.
The signature blue post-and-rail fences are long gone-save for a small segment left behind as a tribute-and so too are the nearly 500 horses that once called the place home. An old blacksmith shop’s windows are dark, and the farm’s movie theater and dining hall are long demolished.
The dust was long settled from the Superstar Saturday some 50 miles to the south down the Florida Turnpike at Gulfstream Park and the atmosphere was still buzzing early Sunday morning at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach.
Conor Murphy already hit one big life-changing jackpot. He’s not greedy, but he’s got designs on another, albeit on a slightly different level and with an understated approach that reflects his heritage.
From the February Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred
When the calendar clicked over to Jan. 1 and the great steeplechaser Flatterer turned 34, I had to go see him. To say hello, to say thanks, to honor him, to apologize. I took care of all four.
