The Inside Rail

Racing Weekend. Feels good to print out the form, find the NSA hang tag, the horseman buttons, the binoculars, polish the boots, check the weather forecast, gas up the car and fire up Waze. Limited attendance and definitely a different vibe, but it’s a start, a restart of our lives. Our racing lives. Grand National … Read more

Hammers hammer. Diggers dig. Truckers truck. House renovation. The ultimate personality shaker, relationship tester, is underway.  Today we talked about amps to and from the generator, brush strokes in the fireplace mortar, plastic-sheet walls, gas-line ditches, code and against code, junction box to the switch box to the fuse box. To name a few topics…issues, … Read more

Sorry, lost a few days. Just gone. Poof.  Waded into the rest of Loudoun County Sunday for our vaccine. Past an indoor skydiving venue, a two-tiered driving range, past condos and apartments made out of ticky-tacky and organic, farm-raised, free-range sustainable grocery stores, a brewery or four, through roundabouts and past exit ramps, past the … Read more

Rachael Blackmore, you are as good as I’ve ever seen. On the back of an imperious Cheltenham Festival, the 31-year-old Irish jump jockey won today’s Grand National aboard Minella Times. Tactically brilliant and stylishly strong,  Blackmore has it all. She has earned her accolades, attaining the most coveted attribute of a hard-nosed sport, the respect … Read more

It’s my birthday. I’m going for a run. An afternoon, forget-your-problems run around the 5-mile block. For more from The Inside Rail, check out the blog’s main page.

I like James Graham. I like his work ethic. I like his attitude. I like his spirit. I like his driving finish when money is on the line. The 41-year-old changed his life when toiling as a jockey in Ireland, came here for a fresh start, a new look, a different vibe, and has made … Read more

Fans on the turnouts. Thinking about clipping one or all. The ground is tight. Spring seems fleeting, at times.  Baseball tonight. Tigers vs. Angels. First game.  Aintree tomorrow.  The Grand National Saturday. Vaccine Sunday.  For more from The Inside Rail, check out the blog’s main page.

Been a few days… Racing Saturdays and other projects will do that to you.  Now, that was a day at the races. Ten races, maybe more, I lost count, everything from stakes horses prepping in the open hurdle to side saddle flat to Virginia-bred flat in the natural bowl of the iconic Old Dominion racecourse … Read more

A belated Happy Birthday to my big brother, Joey. I got lucky there. I wonder sometimes, what would I have done without him. He was the writer. He was the rock. Steeplechase Times would not have happened, could not have happened without him, hell, it was in his and Sam’s basement where it started. The … Read more

Sidetracked with other writing gigs, mostly features on finalists for the New York Thoroughbred Breeders awards program, which leaves me spent when it comes to this page. As famed sportswriter Dave Kindred said the other day on 60 Minutes when asked why he was writing about a girl’s high school basketball team, well past retirement, … Read more