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Nyquist has been to 33 of the last 36 Preaknesses. He’ll make it 34 of 37 Saturday. He’s even been to several runnings of the Belmont Stakes to try (and usually fail) to see history – Big Brown let him down; American Pharoah came through. Nyquist went to a few Breeders’ Cups at Santa Anita and was at Keeneland for Thoroughbred racing’s championship day last year.
So, where were we?
A lot of water under the bridge (horses over fences) since we last spoke. For me, it was Aintree, Iroquois, Churchill Downs, Claiborne, Calumet, Mill Ridge and Riverdee – either in person or on my computer.
As the Maryland Jockey Club’s Dave Joseph put it, “Lots of good writing today, right? You’ve got the mist and all that.”
Right. Mist. Atmosphere. And one pretty cool horse.
The Kentucky Derby is over. The Iroquois Steeplechase is looming. The Preakness gate is locked and ready. Saratoga is on the horizon.
Time flies.
There were three naked, hot, wet women in my car Sunday. If that doesn’t make you keep reading, nothing will. But, sorry, that’s as risqué as this gets. The women – Sam Clancy, Julie DeFelice and Cathy Roelke – ran Philadelphia’s Broad Street Run Sunday morning in the rain and cold and rain and cold and rain and cold.
It’s 2:23 on the last Saturday of April in Maryland’s Worthington Valley just north of Baltimore. In less than an hour, the 13 horses in the Maryland Hunt Cup will leave for the paddock. Let’s walk the shedrow.
Post time: 9:00. A long awaited coup about to be unleashed. Gamblers, pundits, fans and scribes wait for the moment. The Saturday moment. The race of the day.
Can you hang black bunting on an auto-repair shop? That’s what I think about every time I drive past Fair Hill Auto, the local place where cars get fixed and stories get told.
Things learned, questioned and pondered at the Middleburg Spring Races Saturday…
The 2015 Triple Crown is nearly a year in the books, the 2016 edition now only days away.
There’s a new cast of characters and plenty of familiar names associated with the current crop of 3-year-old stars. There’s an undefeated colt with connections who came close to the sweep not that long ago, others trained by past horsemen who’ve succeeded on America’s biggest stage, too. There is interest in the new but make no mistake, there’s still plenty of American Pharoah fever to go around in the Bluegrass.
