Opinion

I think it was my idea and it went something like this: “Hey, remember that My Fantasy Stable game ad we ran in Saratoga? Why don’t we play? Start a league, get the boys and a few other people. It will be fun.” Now look. I’m in sixth place in a contest led by an … Read more

We pull out the tweed. Analyze the card. We stuff handkerchiefs in lapel pockets. We shine our shoes. Check our badges. Buy the Racing Post. A Cheltenham radio. Souvenirs for home. Play the Place Pot. We meet at Guinness Village. We bemoan a tough trip. Celebrate a crafty ride. Gather at the winner’s enclosure. Cheer for the winners. Turn the page, 27 times in four days. Loving every moment. Celebrating the brilliance of the occasion. We conjure up words like bliss, ethereal, scintillating. Cauldron, Mecca, gladiatorial.

The third-to-last of the Queen Mother. The bedlam of the crowd so far away. Silence. Peaceful. Hoof beats in a vacuum. 

Hurricane Fly balked. Hesitated. Waited. Ruby Walsh grabbed his ear, which had been flat back for most of the Champion Hurdle, and gave it a good-natured shake. The horse walked forward. The crowd erupted. It was the only hesitation from the champion, who regained his crown in a gallant performance at Cheltenham Tuesday.

And suddenly, unbelievably, a year has gone. It is Cheltenham again. As my grandmother, Nora Clancy, used to say, “When I was young, the days were short and the years were long. As I got older, the days are long and the years are short.” Indeed, the years seem so short. Imagine, a year has passed since we were last at Prestbury Park, rooting home Rock On Ruby, Finian’s Rainbow, Big Buck’s and Synchronized.

If you don’t have a concussion before you take the imPACT test, you might feel like you have one afterward. The 20-minute session tests your memory, your reaction time, your ability to recall seemingly basic facts like shapes, numbers and words. But it’s not easy. To get a feel for what jockeys will deal with … Read more

Crammed in the National Express bus, aiming for Woking. Clif Bar for breakfast, my kingdom for a cup of tea. Tight quarters, I can’t bend my elbow well enough to hit the Y on the keyboard. Free wi-fi, on a bus, not bad. Technology is amazing, I remember searching for international access phone numbers for … Read more

In four hours, I’ll be standing in front of a University of Delaware senior-level business class talking about change in the media. How did the Internet affect your business? What shall I say? I’ll be tempted to start with saying how the last three days of emails I sent never actually got to their destination and … Read more

In celebration of Lure’s nomination to the Hall of Fame, I checked “The Best of The Special,” our five-year anniversary book of The Saratoga Special, and found Shug McGaughey’s take on the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner. We conducted 32 individual conversations with the Hall of Fame trainer, just a trainer talking about a horse. Sitting in Shug’s tack room at Saratoga and listening to his memories would be near the top (probably right behind the golf cart rides with the Chief) of anything I’ve written.