The weather today in Kentucky feels nothing like it will-or shall we say hopefully will-in about two months time but Turfway Park will have at least a symbolic feel of spring for the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes. A dozen entered the Battaglia, the last serious local prep for the $550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes later this month.
The countdown is on.
After three weeks in Ocala, which dubs itself the Horse Capital of the World, it was time to return to Lexington, which also hails as the Horse Capital of the World. That somewhat comical and sometimes heated debate is a story for another day. Let’s get back to the matter at hand.
The countdown is seriously on.
The last race I covered at Saratoga Race Course was a dead heat in the Amsterdam between Mint and Secret Firm. It was 1998, and three days later I started a job as a staff writer at Thoroughbred Times.
It’s just a book, right? And center field at Fenway Park is just grass. The Kentucky Derby blanket of roses is just a bunch of flowers. The Stanley Cup is just a trophy. This Was Racing, by Joe Palmer, was published in 1953. It’s so good, Red Smith edited it and wrote the foreword. The … Read more
Do you yell at a computer? Watching horses who oftentimes run at places where I can’t attend, I find myself standing in front of a computer, watching, imploring, cajoling and wrestling with the urge to yell. Live, you can’t help it, you jump out of your chair, scream, yell, throw your program, slap your friends … Read more
