It was the summer of '69, I was in Saratoga, and my future could wait. What better place to put your life on hold than glorious Saratoga, where the rest of the world seemed so distant and removed?...
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Very often it is not the Kentucky Derby itself that provides the greatest memories as much as the road leading to the Derby....
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Four days after the Derby, a race was run at Aqueduct that seemed to have no bearing whatsoever on the Triple Crown, as a striking golden chestnut colt with a white blaze owned by Greentree Stable named Stage Door Johnny broke his maiden in his fourth attempt, romping by six lengths in a sharp 1:35 1/5 for the mile. ...
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Boy, do we have some amazing 50th anniversaries in Thoroughbred racing to look forward to in 2018; anniversaries of some of the greatest horses in history, some of the most amazing performances, and certainly one of the most controversial stories of the century. Many of these will be addressed in columns throughout the year....
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Why spend a million dollars on an untried yearling with an uncertain future when you can buy a piece of history that will endure forever? We're not talking just any piece of history, but items that represent three superstars of The Turf, Secretariat, Dr. Fager, and Arts and Letters. ...
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What made Elliott Burch such a great trainer is the fact that his seemingly audacious moves usually worked, resulting in numerous championships and three Horse of the Year titles, as well as his own election into the Hall of Fame and thwarting two Triple Crown attempts....
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But even after all these years, I still treasure those early scrapbooks that helped to preserve my memories of a time when you could actually feel those stories in your hand and protect them from time and the elements as you would a fragile plant or that intricate model of Old Ironsides, with its hundreds of pieces, that it took you weeks to glue together....
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These are just some of my Belmont Stakes memories. The Triple Crown trilogy is completed; flashbacks of a life on the racetrack to be savored and cherished....
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I hate getting personal, but somehow I am unable to avoid it when thinking, talking, and writing about Saratoga. It has been a state of feeling for 45 years, a place around which my entire life has revolved, and now it is time yet again for my annual pilgrimage to this Mecca of Thoroughbred racing....
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