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Three years ago, on May 7, 2022, only five horses went to the gate for the Grade 3 Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park. The odds-on favorite was Cody’s Wish, ridden by Junior Alvarado. It had been 337 days since the Venezuelan-born jockey sat on the back of the massive son of Curlin, a Godolphin homebred … Read more
Veritable cornucopia. I remember those two words like Chuck Stone said them yesterday. I was in a feature/column writing class at the University of Delaware in, oh 1986 or ’87, and Stone was my professor. No doubt dressed in a bow tie and a suit, he used those two words to emphasize the point that … Read more
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame welcomed its newest member yesterday. Smarty Jones. The Pennsylvania wunderkind. Moments like this make you wade into the archives, all the way back to his Triple Crown run. Twenty-years ago. The Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. Trainer John Servis gave Stewart Elliott a leg up on Smarty Jones for … Read more
The 12-day-old foal was led out of her stall at Stonerside Farm in Paris, in the heart of Kentucky horse country. Never straying too far from her mother, the broodmare In Step, with a Godolphin Flying Start trainee holding a rope shank, she sized up the 11-year-old girl standing in front of her. Kylie Dorman … Read more
Leaving the Cotswolds Saturday morning, wedged into the back of a red Range Rover on the most roundabout way to Heathrow ever choreographed. Waze would not approve. Not that I notice, or care. Hat boxes, croissant wrappers, rolling bags, overcoats, dog-eared racecards, a betting slip or 10, empty ginger shot bottles, hole-punched badges, a pile … Read more
There are six emails from Ed Bowen in my inbox. First off, the jockeyclub.com address – still in service long after he retired – made me smile every time I saw it. Second, the emails span nearly 10 years. The first came in January 2014, the last in December 2024. I probably deleted a few … Read more
By Molly Jane St. Clair The debate over Horse of the Year has been a loud one, especially in the weeks leading up to the 2024 Breeders’ Cup. The betting favorite for Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna, ran in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Fierceness, one of the primary competitors for the title, ran in … Read more
From the Aug. 28, 2024 edition of The Saratoga Special newspaper. Halfway through a six-and-a-half-minute walk up the Saratoga Race Course stretch late Saturday evening, Juan Aguayo and Byron Lopez high-fived each other over Fierceness’ wet neck. In a single moment of peace, joy and pride among near-bedlam, they smiled, laughed, patted their horse and … Read more
From the Aug. 31, 2024 edition of The Saratoga Special newspaper. As a hustling young jockey, Vince Bracciale Jr. made the morning rounds. Some trainers gave him horses to breeze, some booked him for an afternoon mount, others sent him packing. Fifty years ago, Frank Whiteley Jr. put him on a legend. “Every morning when … Read more
You never know where a story will take you, but when Tom Law sent the assignment to cover the 2022 Forego Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, it would have been unfathomable to envision that leading to a trip see the sea lions in La Jolla Cove two years later. Yet, there we were Thursday morning … Read more
