Opinion

Sometimes I find stuff on my computer, labeled, “Extras.” Today, trying to find something else, I found “LoPresti Extras” in the Saratoga 2012 archives on my desktop. This a story Charlie LoPresti told me about Morton Fink’s homebred Wise Dan after the eventual Horse of the year won the Fourstardave at Saratoga last summer. We were somewhere in the caverns of the Saratoga grandstand, heading to the test barn and LoPresti was on a roll about the horse’s life.

In anticipation of Wise Dan’s attempt to push his win streak to seven when he lines up in the Firecracker at Churchill Downs Saturday…

The jabs were light but predictable. Hard really to call them jabs, considering the source.

They always came at an awkward time. Close to the end of visits. Not the last day, but not the beginning either. So essentially timed perfectly.

Not much weight behind them, yet packing powerful meaning. Again considering the source.

Sitting on a couch, an ocean away, it all unfolded slowly, you could actually see it happening. I might have been the only American watching the white silks, the white cheek pieces, the bay horse slicing and dicing, cutting and diving through the far pack, clearly in front of the near pack. I don’t use surreal very often. This was surreal.

All I could think was I wish we had done this for the Dubai World Cup back in March. The community of Fair Hill met at Bruce Jackson’s equine therapy center Tuesday morning to watch Animal Kingdom run, one more time. The crowd included grooms, hot walkers, exercise riders, assistant trainers, college students (one in … Read more

“Where did he go for all those years?” Somebody asked me that question Saturday after Mike Smith won another classic, the Belmont Stakes on Palace Malice. Where did Smith go? Where did he go for those years between Holy Bull and Zenyatta? Well, there was Azeri and some others, but he did seem to go somewhere. Across the country, to the sidelines…wherever he went, he’s back. Somehow, the Hall of Famer has become one of the sport’s go-to riders – again. Zenyatta, Royal Delta, Drosselmeyer, Mizdirection, Princess Of Sylmar, Game On Dude, Palace Malice…

Sir Henry Cecil, trainer of Frankel and all the rest, has died. I’ve read about him, seen him from afar, watched his exploits, respected his style, cherished his legacy. Oh, I wish I had a story, an anecdote, a moment with the man. The closest I ever came to the legendary trainer was getting Cecil to personalize three Frankel books – one for a friend who searches for a Frankel, one for my sister-in-law who fell in love with Frankel from afar and one for my father who ingrained the notion of Frankel when I was a kid. Cecil’s signature curls across the page. I guess, I should have gotten one for myself.

The 2013 Triple Crown is in the books and already the same played out, repeated year-after-year and unoriginal thoughts are being bandied about in print, on television or the radio. Probably on social networking, too.

Belmont Stakes Day. A bucket sits in the hallway, still catching part of yesterday’s deluge, Styrofoam coffee cups and Friday’s programs suspended in the detritus. The track dries, tractors scraping and squeezing, surfaces director Glen Kozak hoping/expecting a fast track by evening. No doubt, this year’s Triple Crown will be played on three completely different surfaces. Think the beach and the difference between first step off the boardwalk and last step before the waves. The Derby, closer to the ocean. The Preakness, closer to the boardwalk. Today, there are hours still to go.

Digging through the notebooks and recorder from May. Been meaning to get to this one since before the Preakness. Shug McGaughey talks about the last time he rode a horse. I don’t think the guy actually meant it the way it sounded but a reporter asked this question to Shug McGaughey at Pimlico during Preakness … Read more

Two things stand out from this year’s three-week gap between the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Well, a lot of things stand out, but two are a little higher on the noticeable scale and both get me a little riled up.