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Kentucky Derby Day . . . Belmont Stakes Day when a Triple Crown is on the line . . . and Breeders’ Cup Weekend. These are the days – other than those a self-inflicted controversy of some sort – when you feel a little less like a unicorn to be involved in Thoroughbred racing. Your neighbor knows … Read more
Years ago, in the heyday of steeplechase star McDynamo, somebody asked what he meant to the game. Watching McDynamo, I said, felt like going to church. I was back in a pew Saturday. And had company. Snap Decision, the best horse on the National Steeplechase Association circuit for four (maybe five) years, won the Grade … Read more
Inspired by an unscheduled wakeup call on a non-deadline day morning, here are some loose rules and suggestions to follow during your stay in Saratoga Springs. Yes, it’s Saratoga Springs on first reference. Just Saratoga on the second will suffice. That’s the start. Here are some others. Speaking of unscheduled. Leaf blowers. They should be … Read more
Late in a handicapping seminar at the Keeneland Library this spring – three days before the 150th Kentucky Derby – a hand went up during the allotted question-and-answer session. Seated a couple rows from the front among the 75 or so who turned out for the simply named event, “Handicapping the Derby with Tom Law,” … Read more
Clifford Nass says multitasking is a fallacy. But yet we try. Nothing tests the Stanford professor’s theory like working in racing. And working from home. Still in Virginia, I worked from the home office – the family room couch – Friday. Deadline Friday. It starts early. And will surely end late. I nail Wordle in four … Read more
Saturday, I spent my day with Whitebeam, Mo Plex and a card full of Saratoga stars. Today, I spent it with Kissin Conquest, Just Blue, Apse and Eagle Poise. Two career maidens, a Saratoga hurdle winner and a Grade 3 flat winner. On a farm in Virginia. Our Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. Bred by John Franks, … Read more
Opinion, The Outside Rail The bay horse stared out the back window of his stall on a hot, muggy afternoon. If he wondered where he was, he didn’t act like it. His mid-July view – for the first time in seven years – featured birdhouses instead of walking rings, trees instead of tractors, deer (if they … Read more
“I thought I was going to die.” Phil Bauer forced those seven words Friday morning when asked about a plane crash on Lizard Island off the northeast coast of Australia Jan. 8. All 10 on the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan thought the same thing, felt the same thing, as the plane’s engine over-torqued early in … Read more
Todd Wyatt was on his way home from the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. The four-day racing festival in June had come and gone. It was everything that was good in racing. Engaged fans. Competitive racing. At a venue that never disappoints. Wyatt, predominately a steeplechase trainer, had come to town with his wife, Blair, their … Read more
Walking through the entrance gates at Churchill Downs Friday felt in stark contrast to what it was like back on May 2, 1998. That day marked Kentucky Derby No. 1 and helped fulfill a personal goal to be on the scene of America’s greatest race. How it came about has been well told, especially so … Read more
