I have never taken a puff of a cigar, but the smell is intoxicating, bringing me back to my childhood and Ebbetts Fields and my Uncle Sam's cigars, and then later Yankee Stadium and then the old Madison Square Garden on 50th Street. Those were the special places of my youth where the smell of cigar smoke blended so perfectly with the smell of beer and mustard. Soon those three aromas would come together in the grandstand of Aqueduct Racetrack, which was only eight years old when I first inhabited it in 1967....
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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....
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Fifty Years. Half a century. A lifetime ago. Seems like yesterday. There is something about anniversaries, excluding weddings and births, that make us remember events we normally don't give that much thought to. When you reach way back and pull out a 50th anniversary, it brings your life into perspective. There is no year in memory that evokes more nostalgia and brings back historical events than 1969...
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Everyone knew the world record was in jeopardy as soon as Nerud announced his plans to ship to Arlington, despite Dr. Fager being assigned 134 pounds....
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Could it be that we actually saw the Travers winner, or at least a major threat in the Midsummer Derby, compete on Saturday?...
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If only he had been given the opportunity, how fast could Dr. Fager have run that day?...
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I was cheering the most for Damascus' rare accomplishment of going over the $1 million mark in earnings, becoming only the eighth millionaire in racing history....
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Before the Keeneland September yearling sale became the mother of all sales, there was the Keeneland July yearling sale....
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One would think that analyzing the pedigrees for the Belmont Stakes hopefuls would be fairly easy, considering the extreme distance of the race and the lack of true mile and a half horses. It should be pretty obvious who the stayers are and which horses are going into the race on the proverbial wing and a prayer....
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What do the following horses have in common? Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, Affirmed, Damascus, Buckpasser, Easy Goer, Riva Ridge, Holy Bull, Spend a Buck, and Swale?...
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