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(Editor’s note: Originally published in last week’s edition of The Irish Field) It’s late in the Saratoga meet. One final issue of The Saratoga Special. Waiting for the big one. The Stable Tour with Bill Mott. Plant the seed. Walk away. Mention it again. Drift away. Come back tomorrow. The next day. The day after. … 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
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
Four years. Four long years. Different this year. Very different. A tear or two welled into my eyes as I hugged Candida Baker. And then George Baker. Outside Terminal 2 at Heathrow on a beautiful sun-filled Sunday morning. Four beautiful days at Cheltenham in the books (the liver and the bank, too). “You have made … Read more
Congratulations to jockey James Graham for winning his 3,000th career race this weekend. The Irish native guided Vortex to win at Fair Grounds Sunday. “It’s quite emotional actually. I came here in 2002 and all I ever wanted was a shot,” Graham said. “I wish my mum was still alive to see this. Thank you … Read more
I wrote the Cup of Coffee tepidly, unsure if it was the right thing to do or not. It was about George Weaver and his wife Cindy after a racetrack accident that rocked all of us last summer. Eleven months later, George and Cindy stood in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot after Crimson Advocate … Read more
The curtain falls on the Cheltenham Festival. Four days. Twenty-eight races. A million moments. Highs and lows. Upsets and certainties. Stars and scars. Dreams achieved. Dreams shattered. Pints downed. Kings crowned. As always, it’s delivered. The perfect goodbye from Honeysuckle. The return of Envoi Allen. The subtle brilliance of Rachael. The domination by Willie. The … Read more
Two down, two to go. Halftime at Cheltenham. Stars firmly in the sky. Stars still to come. On Wednesday…Impairre Et Paisse toyed with rivals in the Ballymore. Sam Twiston-Davies engineered a gem from The Real Whacker to hold off Gerri Colombe in the Brown Advisory. The plotted-up Langer Dan won a three-horse photo in the … Read more
Constitution Hill. Honeysuckle. A meteor in full flight. A star with her last swing. Hello, champion. Goodbye, champion. Two races. Two legends. One day. One hour. Cheltenham, the sport, at its breathtaking best. That was yesterday, a day that will live forever in pubs and parishes. As for today… Race 1. 9:30. The Ballymore Novices’ … Read more
I’m not there. OK. I said it. I have accepted it. Life’s challenges are still challenging us, so Cheltenham has been shelved for the third consecutive year. I was proud of my first streak, 2002-2015 and then another, 2017-2020. Yes, I made it four months after Miles was born, I made it the Covid year … Read more
