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Happy Birthday, Sheila. Thanks for always being in my corner. Still digging and thawing out from the winter storm – snow, ice, wind, melt, freeze, snow, ice, wind, melt, freeze…it’s more like a winter menace than a winter storm. Tiring but nature at its best, I guess. Light day on the racing front, a few races … Read more
Tackroom is full of water, maybe a pipeline broke That’s how the day started. It’s 7:07 on a cold, icy, windy Martin Luther King Day morning. Minutes later, I step and splash into the tackroom. My instinct is to call someone. Call anyone. Charles, the handiest handyman I know. Annie, she’s good in a crisis. … Read more
Brutal out there, 13 degrees. Rising to 24 by noon. Snow to commence at 1:00. Temperature will rise to 30 by 6 p.m. and strangely climb to 42 by midnight, snow is meant to turn to ice and then subside by tomorrow afternoon. In the spring, summer and fall, we talk about how we need … Read more
The New York Racing Association announced that they’re rebuilding the Wilson Chute at Saratoga. I wish I could ask Allen Jerkens what he thinks. I do remember it being revitalized in the early 90s and it didn’t work very well. Rough races. Short fields. If I remember correctly. Will a mile option continue the demise … Read more
Here it comes. Sunday. Low, 14. High, 39. Snow, 100%. Winter Storm Watch. Heavy snow mixed precipitation possible. Total snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches are most likely, with up to 8 inches. Ice accumulations of one to two tenths of an inch are possible. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Snow … Read more
Keeneland January rolling along. I had about seven on my short list, one failed a scope, two were lacking scope and size, two weren’t good enough on second look, one went for $210,000, one went for $700,000… At Fasig-Tipton July, Doug Cauthen turned to me after being outgunned on another potential purchase, “People don’t understand … Read more
Working from home. I went to see what Charles was doing. For solidarity’s sake. It had something to do with a broken chain harrow, scrap metal. He showed me his new wagon. Future scrap metal. We started to clear the fence line. Burn pile. We found another chain harrow buried under a pile of brush. … Read more
Still cold. Still January. The long, arduous, trying, doldrum days of winter. Hard news coming from Ireland with the death of Snowfall. A broken pelvis took the life of the triple Oaks winner. Remember her win in the Oaks at Epsom? A 16-length demolition job. I remember watching it in awe, awed. Tough game. As … Read more
Virgil Tibbs. Homer Smith. Dr. John Prentice. We watched Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner a few nights ago. Miles, Annie and I on the couch, immersed, mesmerized by Hepburn, Tracy and of course Poitier. The first black actor to win an Oscar in 1964. The next was 2002. Rest in Peace Sidney Poitier. Watch this … Read more
Steaming cup of Barry’s Tea, bags found yesterday in a teaming Harris Teeter in Purcellville, and a slice of fresh homemade coffee cake from the farm stand at the School Hill Garden in Round Hill, pay at the honor box. Quiet Sunday morning, another round of snow, more like flurries for now. Winter training. Saranac … Read more
