When six-year-old Irish Thoroughbred St Nicholas Abbey, one of the most celebrated racehorses on the planet, broke his pastern while training in July, the prognosis was bleak. But not to fear, if a horse is valuable enough – and with…
This from California’s Del Mar on August 24th: “Shortly after the third race was run the Stewards received notification from Safety Steward Luis Jauregui that when he was pulling up in front of the Receiving Barn he noticed an individual…
With Saratoga 2013 at an end, the summary is (mostly) bad with some good. First, the obvious: Eight beautiful, sentient creatures were sacrificed so that men could gamble and chase pots of gold… 7/18…Black Rhino 8/11…Charmed Hour 8/17…Heading to Toga…
Scott Jagow of the Paulick Report filed this “video postcard from Saratoga”… From racing patrons in the video: “And it’s just something so special, that you can take your kids out in the ‘backyard’ with a cooler and have a…
Finding material for this blog is never difficult. Besides the obvious – naughty trainers, routine breakdowns, slaughtered retirees – practically every time a racing insider opens his mouth, gifts (for me) fly out. On 8/26/13, the Paulick Report relayed the…
In addition to Sarava’s Dancer, Kris Royal, and Saginaw, a two-year-old filly named Ocean Breeze also broke down and died last week in Saratoga. But because the child-horse was only training, attention was noticeably lacking. Still, I believe the Times…
When a racehorse breaks down, especially one as popular as former-claimer-turned-stakes-winner Saginaw, the garbage starts to flow. In the Times Union account of Friday’s death in the 3rd race at Saratoga, jockey Junior Alvarado said, with “tears in his eyes,”…
Shedrow Secrets, Installment 4 Brave Miner By Joy Aten and Jo Anne Normile (author of “Saving Baby”) I first saw Brave Miner in 1999. It was opening year of Thoroughbred racing at Great Lakes Downs in Muskegon, Michigan, and having…
Tim Wilkin is a fine sportswriter, even if one of his duties is to cover horseracing for the Albany Times Union. (Of course, horseracing is as out of place on the Sports pages as blowing away Whitetails in autumn.) But…
“Today was just so quiet. Looking over at the turf remembering that’s the spot where it happened and it’s all mangled up.” (Maxine Correa, exercise rider for trainer Nick Zito, Daily Racing Form, 8/27/13) Ms. Correa’s somber tone comes from…
Four-year-old Sarava’s Dancer and five-year-old Kris Royal each fractured a leg yesterday in Saratoga. In the same race. Both were euthanized on-track. Watch Sarava’s Dancer (#7), leading at the half-mile mark, “pulling up.” And then, within a matter of seconds,…
Wisdom Seeker, yet another seven-year-old forgotten claimer at Finger Lakes Deathtrack, has been euthanized after suffering an undisclosed injury on August 12th. Running in a $4,500 claiming race – the highest level she attained in her 3 1/2-year “career” –…
