Opinion

The coldest November on record around these parts – at least I think I heard some weather talking head about that the other day – finally brought the powdery white stuff that truly makes it feel like winter here in the Northeast. It snowed overnight and into this morning, the first (real) snow of the season.

I wrote the following preview before the Colonial Cup. It was meant to be part of a Friday feature. It never saw the light of day, somehow lost between Middleburg and Camden, computer and website. Saturday, a champion will be crowned. Divine Fortune will take them on the same merry dance he took them on … Read more

Off to Camden in a few hours for the Colonial Cup. Prime Prospector runs in the Hobkirk Hill. Promised Destiny runs on the flat. The former aims for his third win of the year, while stepping up against the likes of All Together and other more established horses. The latter aims for his third win … Read more

You never know what you’re going to get via email.

Two weeks ago, waiting for the Elkton High football game to start, it was Groupie Doll being pointed to the Cigar Mile. Tonight, just after finishing a slice of pizza (mushroom, tomato and feta) from Tony’s Café after swim practice, it was Royal Delta. Like everybody else, I learned she was being retired and even saw a photo on Twitter of Bill Mott leading her to the van earlier in the day. The email release, like the one about Groupie Doll it came from The Bell Group, spelled out the two-time (soon to be three-time?) champion’s future.

The question came from a reader responding to a post on the Facebook page for This Is Horse Racing promoting an article about the final day of training last week at the Oklahoma Training Track here in Saratoga Springs.

“What is a horse going to do for me?” That’s what Gordon asks in a recent documentary on Saratoga WarHorse. Great question. I’ve been involved with horses for so long, the question came to my mind as well. What’s a horse going to do for a veteran? Then I met Rob, Sean, Troy, Adam…they talked … Read more

Wish all you want, racing fans, but owners are always going to make economic decisions when it comes to their horses’ racing careers. Racing is a business, even if it’s often played by people who don’t really need it to be.

And whether your name is Phipps, Janney, Ramsey, Whitney or Smith, Clancy or Muckenfuss, money matters. Roughly, an in-training racehorse costs $100 a day. That’s $36,500 and doesn’t cover everything. Granted, Orb had a chance to earn considerably more in 2014, but his earnings as a stallion should approach $3 million next year. Without setting foot on a racetrack, where it would take an exceptional campaign to get close to that number. A revenue line of $3 million will pay a lot of training bills for a racing stable.

Roald Dahl called himself a disciplined writer, writing every day from a small hut at the bottom of his garden. He sat in his mother’s old armchair, rested his feet on an old leather trunk, slid his legs into a sleeping bag, propped a felt-covered board across the arms of the chair and with paper … Read more

If you’ve ever played Monopoly – and who hasn’t really – then you certainly know St. Charles Place.

It’s the mountains. Ryan Clancy, 20, on his first trip to Santa Anita walked around the grandstand at Clocker’s Corner and stopped. Part gasp, close to a wow, but not really a word. An audible but indecipherable reaction. Certainly, an un-typable response, as he looked up and saw the San Gabriel Mountains for the first time. Painted with one precise stroke, a perfect swish, across the skyline, they stand ethereal across the sky. Back lit. Looming.