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The Outside Rail

Contributions from TIHR co-founder, editor and writer Joe Clancy.

Absent Friends

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January 16, 2020
Joe Clancy

To four men, a newspaper company, lives well lived and people reached by all.

Looking back at McDynamo from 2007

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December 11, 2019
Joe Clancy

The following is from the December 2007 edition of Steeplechase Times, and covered the retirement of McDynamo after a loss in the Colonial Cup on the season's final day. With the news of his death Dec. 1, it seemed fitting to dive back in. There won't be another like him.

Wicklow Brave

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October 20, 2019
Joe Clancy

Irish trainer Willie Mullins answered his phone on the third ring. Maybe the second. I was impressed. A late-afternoon call from America was probably not high on his list of things to manage last Thursday, but he answered and we talked for 10 minutes.

If we hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t feel so bad today.

Thirty: Fisher chases training record

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September 30, 2019
Joe Clancy

That’s 30. Trainer Jack Fisher won two races Saturday at Shawan Downs to reach 30 steeplechase wins on the season. He’s dominated all year, but maybe now is the time to start talking about records.

Little Big Time

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August 1, 2019
Joe Clancy

Friday, Luis Carvajal Jr. had three runners at his New Jersey base, Monmouth Park, and needed to be there. He also needed to be at Saratoga to watch stable star Imperial Hint put in his final training session for Saturday’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes – so he did both.

True Calling

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July 12, 2019
Joe Clancy

They don’t make horses like Quick Call anymore, but that’s OK. The one they did make might just live forever. The 35-year-old gelding is the senior resident of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Second Chances farm at the Wallkill Correctional Facility in Wallkill, N.Y.

Fair Hill's Coggins race honors loyal supporter

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May 23, 2019
Joe Clancy

When eight female hurdle horses line up for Saturday’s Iris Ann Coggins Memorial Stakes at Fair Hill, they’ll help honor someone who saw their value. Coggins, who died in 2015, was a loyal volunteer at Fair Hill and a staunch supporter of opportunities for fillies and mares on the racetrack.

Carroll finds right mix with Casse, War Of Will

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May 20, 2019
Joe Clancy

At the press conference after War Of Will’s Preakness Stakes win Saturday, trainer Mark Casse answered all the questions – even one from an infield lax bro who clearly wasn’t with the media – but also made sure to make a point about someone who wasn’t there.

Thinking about 1984, the Tesio, the Preakness & family

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May 18, 2019
Joe Clancy

April 14, 1984 makes it more than 35 years ago now. A crowded Pimlico Race Course winner’s circle in the rain. Muddy chestnut horse. Fourteen people. Mom, Dad, Sheila, Sean, Fee the Iranian van driver, owner George Strawbridge, his wife Nina, their kids Sanna and Stewart, super fan Reddy Stewart, super groom Lonnie Fuller, jockey Paul Nicol Jr. and a mostly hidden valet.

More..

  1. Ten minutes with a horse
  2. Thanks Buck. Kisor leaves steeplechase memories
  3. ‘The life of kings’: Akindale will miss Evening Attire
  4. Real Horse Power
  5. Newspapers, tragedy, life
  6. Gene Weymouth, one of a kind
  7. Greatness from out of the Past
  8. One interview with Tubby Raymond
  9. Jump into the Eclipse vote
  10. Calendar time, and calendar people
  11. Better Talk Now's people
  12. Voss and the Hall of Fame
  13. Ben at Rest
  14. Go for a run for Jake, Lee Lee, Paddy
  15. Fasig-Tipton's Bennett recovering from heart surgery
  16. Irish War Cry delivers an answer in Wood
  17. Stopping by the farm
  18. It's Your Nickel scores for breeder Wigmore
  19. Remembering Jim Stevenson
  20. Many Clouds made me think
  21. Pegasus takes flight
  22. So you want a new website...
  23. Welcome To Santa Anita
  24. Remembering Johnny Griggs