California Chrome will always have his huge legion of fans, who call themselves Chromies and worship the handsome chestnut with the same kind of fervor we saw with Zenyatta and Barbaro fans. But his place in history may have even escaped many of his fans....
Read More
With the passing of Morton Fink, I am reprinting a column I wrote the day of Wise Dan's emotional return from surgery in the Bernard Baruch. It culminates with me watching the race with the Finks, two of the most wonderful people you will ever meet....
Read More
All of us are deeply affected whenever a horse is seriously or fatally injured in a race. Sometimes it happens in a major race witnessed by a national audience, that without the incident, would be a race watched over and over and enjoyed for its impact on the sport. I have never watched a replay of the Ruffian-Foolish Pleasure match race or the Go For Wand-Bayakoa Distaff or Big Brown's Kentucky Derby...
Read More
No one likes getting old, especially when you still think of yourself as a kid--in my case growing up in Brooklyn and having my world revolve around sports. That spark of youth still burns brightly no matter how old you get. And you even miss the naivety that comes with being young. We looked at everything, especially sports, with a good deal of innocence because we simply didn't know any better. That's why it was fun....
Read More
It was 10 years ago today, on Nov. 7, that the mighty Zenyatta put on the show of shows. I am reprinting my recap of that special event in order to relive all the magic and excitement....
Read More
On Future Stars Friday of 2019, will those watching the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on television remember the gutsy performance by 45-1 Storm the Court as he led a parade of longshots to the finish line or the image of trainer Peter Eurton's daughter Britney, covering the race for NBC, watching the finish in disbelief as she became overwhelmed with emotion. This was no longer about a longshot winning, but about the love and the heart-filled pride of a daughter for her father....
Read More
The most fascinating aspect of 2019 is trying to envision how historians are going to treat this unique crop of 3-year-olds, whose adventures read something like an Agatha Christie novel, with twists and turns on every page. You just never know what is going to happen next. Not even Christie's super sleuth Hercule Poirot could decipher all the bizarre events that have unfolded this year. But no matter...
Read More
There are times when you just can't help root for a horse, a trainer, or an owner. When you look at trainer Carlos Martin about to embark on the Breeders' Cup trail with the brilliant filly Come Dancing, there are a number of thoughts that run through your head, at least if you have any sense of history and are impressed with hard work and an astute knowledge of horses, racing, and breeding....
Read More
As we prepare for the upcoming 2-year-old stakes to determine who the big horses will be for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and even get a long-range look at the Kentucky Derby, there is a good deal of optimism regarding this crop, especially with the combination of brilliance and class exhibited so far. And unlike some other years, most of this year's promising juveniles have pedigrees to suggest they are potential Derby horses....
Read More
It is appropriate that the New York Racing Association moved the Kelso Handicap from its fall Super Saturday card, where it was pretty much lost, to its own weekend. Now the focus is not only on those versatile horses prepping for either the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile or the Classic, but on one of the all-time great Thoroughbreds for whom the race is named....
Read More
With owner Pat Chapman and two handlers leading him down the stretch from the barn area and into the walking ring; Smarty walked several times around, reacting to the cheers of the huge crowd in attendance by pricking his ears and bouncing along on his toes as if he were running in the next race, aptly named the Smarty Jones Stakes....
Read More
This Saturday will mark the 10th anniversary of Rachel Alexandra's gut-wrenching victory in the Woodward Stakes that culminated arguably the most remarkable season ever by a 3-year-old filly. The race would prove costly not only to Rachel but those who tested her in one of the emotionally charged races ever run at Saratoga. To commemorate that amazing race I am reprinting my recap (with several additions and statistics) to relive all the drama and excitement of a race that will most definitely withstand the test of time....
Read More
My interview with the late Bobby Frankel today on his former assistant Chad Brown? It would go something like this: SH: So Bobby, what do you make of your boy Chad Brown? Could you have envisioned the amazing success he's had? BF: Why do you think I had him saddle Ginger Punch in the Breeders' Cup Distaff when the love of my life, Happy, was dying and I couldn't leave her? You think I would have trusted...
Read More
History has proven that it is extremely difficult for a Triple Crown race winner to maintain his form and capture the Travers. That is, except the Belmont Stakes for some reason....
Read More
On August 11 at the Reading Room in Saratoga, Cot Campbell's family and friends will celebrate the life of the man who changed the face of Thoroughbred racing....
Read More
King Lear, MacBeth, Henry IV, Maximum Security. The more Maximum Security races the more Shakespearean his career becomes. ...
Read More
For racing's aristocracy, the tycoons of business and pillars of society who ruled the Sport of Kings back in the early to mid-1900s, it was all about the sport and the glory and seeing horses they bred and raised carry their famed colors to victory. These moguls knew how to win, and more important, they knew how to lose....
Read More
That is not the purpose of this column. As I mentioned, this column is personal, but it reflects the love owners and trainers and everyone connected with the horses have for these noble creatures. The horses are their life, and unless you can witness firsthand the affection and camaraderie between the horses and the people who sacrifice so much to care for them seven days a week, 365 days a year, you had best reserve your disdain for the sport until you are more knowledgeable on the subject....
Read More
It was April 2, 1974. It should have been April 1, for what better April Fool’s joke than telling someone that a filly who had just finished second in a four-furlong maiden race at Fonner Park, a five-furlong bullring track in Grand Island, Nebraska would one day be crowned a champion and elected into the Hall of Fame....
Read More
With Saratoga about to open, you can bet there will be new stories added to the lore of this hallowed racetrack that is so steeped in history, dating back to the Civil War....
Read More
When was the last time you used weight among your criteria for greatness?...
Read More
The whole concept of Off the Track Thoroughbreds has created new stories and new love affairs between people and horses....
Read More
When the younger generation of racing fans see this headline they naturally would think the column is about Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra. But most of them probably have no conception of what it was like back in 1966 when Buckpasser and Graustark appeared to be on a collision course that would lead to a much-anticipated showdown in the Kentucky Derby....
Read More
It was only a matter of time that we had a Belmont winner infused with the blood of the Gainesway Farm stallion Afleet Alex. It was 14 years ago that Alex's Cinderella story touched the heart of the nation, culminating with a rousing seven-length romp in the "Test of the Champion."...
Read More
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, I am reprinting a story from 2013 when Rick Porter had Normandy Invasion in the Kentucky Derby and brought several survivors of the invasion to Churchill Downs, taking them to the backstretch one morning to meet his horse where they all told stories, still with vivid recollection, of their adventures and heroics....
Read More
