News

Rowdy Werner clutched the cover of Thursday’s Saratoga Special (the paper), moments after the Saratoga Special (the race).

Pat Reynolds stood outside the gap to the Oklahoma training track Thursday morning and thought back to Backseat Rhythm’s first two career starts here last August – a pair of off-the-board finishes sprinting on the main track.

Ron Kirk had to take off his sportcoat in the Trustees’ Room. Soaked to the bone in sweat, Kirk apologized and draped his coat over the back of a chair. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook like a Labrador Retriever after a river swim.

Mike Ryan and Niall Brennan stick to a sales philosophy – everything’s for sale but the kids. They tried to sell Mani Bhavan twice and failed. The daughter of Storm Boot is  still for sale, but now she’s a Grade II winner after wiping out seven rivals in the 92nd renewal of the Adirondack Wednesday afternoon. 

They called it the Annex.

 Horses, kids, ponies, doughnuts, mud, bicycles, betting, red metal barrels boiling water, corn on the cob, Scotty’s Coffee Stand, cookouts, schooling in the morning, racing in the afternoon, Bubba, Jerome, Jimmy, Steeplechase Day, Saratoga Lake on off days, the quarry, the Rafters for those in the know . . .

Tom Bush peered into Banrock’s stall Saturday night and expected to see a tired horse. Banrock dived into his hay and kicked the wall.

Count to seven. One, one-thousand. Two, one-thousand. Three, one-thousand . . .

Seven seconds takes a long time.

Todd Pletcher had one eye on the big screen television and another on a reporter who asked him about Fairbanks returning from a brief respite to win the Duke of Magenta Saturday.

Mike Hernandez set up shop early Saturday morning at his barn on the Oklahoma training track and settled into the day. The trainer thumbed through the condition book, talked shop with a few jockey’s agents, entertained well-wishers and gave instructions to a bevy of exercise riders.

About eight years ago, western New York horseman Aaron Donnan stood in the test barn at Finger Lakes as a strapping gray horse walked past. The big gray, a New York-bred 4-year-old with lots of miles and not much success, turned Donnan’s head.