The Racing Hub : NY Times

The Great Days Are Now

cdawahare — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:31:00 GMT

By Alfred G. Vanderbilt, courtesy of NYTimes.com

These are the delicious days, the days of debate and doubt as we wait for the Belmont Stakes, the toughest race to win in the United States and the last leg of the Triple Crown. There is no better time to be a horse racing fan.

Now the questions begin. How many horses will have enough sand to face Big Brown’s power and the Belmont’s grueling distance? Optimists are what stuff the gate in the Derby. The Preakness is for those still clinging to hope. The beautiful racetrack on Long Island is a place for cynics and realists. Cynics assume Big Brown can’t be as good as he looks. Realists believe they’ve got a shot at taking second-, third- or fourth-place money.

The Belmont is a mile and a half in front of everybody who matters, and as the horses come through the tunnel and step onto the track, the roar of the crowd can knock off your glasses, cap and shoes. It’s not the sound of tourists from the Midwest calling out the names of their favorites. It’s the Animal, the Apple, whose voice is like the lion.

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To the Swift - Red Smith on Alydar

cdawahare — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:13:00 GMT

By The New York Times

The following column, “He Was Named for Aly, Darling,” by Red Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, appeared in The New York Times on March 24, 1978, and is from “To the Swift: Classic Triple Crown Horses and Their Race for Glory” (St. Martin’s Press), edited by Joe Drape.

HIALEAH, Fla. — The tack boxes spaced along the shedrow at Barn AA are painted red and blue, the devil’s red and deep blue of Calumet Farm’s racing silks. These are the colors Whirlaway and Citation carried when they swept the Triple Crown races of 1941 and 1948. They are the colors flown by Pensive and Ponder and Hill Gail and Iron Liege and Tim Tam when those good ones dashed home first in the Kentucky Derby.

The red and blue silks have never disappeared from the winner’s circle, but after a disqualification made by Forward Pass the farm’s eighth Derby winner, they were seen there less and less frequently until last year. In 1977, Calumet’s Our Mims was the best 3-year-old filly in the country and her young stablemate, Alydar, just missed out as the champion 2-year-old. Beaten out by Affirmed in that election, the colt came back this year to win Hialeah’s Flamingo Stakes like breaking sticks, and—with Affirmed spending the winter in California—consolidated his position as the Eastern favorite for the Derby. He will hold that rank until April 1, at least, that being the date of the Florida Derby at Gulfstream, his next assignment.

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Great Horse?

cdawahare — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:53:00 GMT

By Joe Drape, NYTimes.com

BALTIMORE — It’s hard to find fault in Big Brown’s performance here in the Preakness. He was barely asked to run by the jockey Kent Desormeaux and buried an overmatched field.

Still, between now and the Belmont Stakes, we’re going to hear a great deal about whom Big Brown has beaten, and whether or not he is merely a superior horse in a mediocre crop of 3-year-olds. I ran into Robby Albarado Saturday night — he’s the regular rider for Curlin, the reigning Horse of the Year, and finished fourth in Saturday’s Preakness aboard Racecar Rhapsody.

Albarado laughed when asked if Big Brown was in Curlin’s league.

“It’s the difference between men and boys, and hopefully we’ll get to see that in the fall if they meet in the Gold Cup or Breeders’ Cup,” Albarado said. “Frankly, there were at least four 3-year-olds last year who were as good as Big Brown if not better. Street Sense, Hard Spun, Any Given Saturday and Curlin.”

No Method, Just Madness

cdawahare — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:10:00 GMT

By Joe Drape, NYTimes.com

Rick Dutrow doesn’t mince words.

“I think that it’s our race to lose,” Dutrow said. “I think that he is the best horse in the race and I think if he breaks with the field, he’ll win the race.”

He also is right. I’m rooting for Big Brown to pull into Belmont with a shot at a Triple Crown and immortality. Still, there are a couple in here who have a remote shot at upsetting if Big Brown is off his game. At the least, this trio of 30-1 shots should be considered in the exotics.

My younger colleague Melissa boldly picks Icabad Crane on top. This is an improving colt with a win over the racetrack in the Tesio. He caught Mint Lane at the wire, and Mint Lane returned to run second in the Peter Pan to Casino Drive, the very large and talented colt in from Japan and aiming for the Belmont Stakes.

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Don't Get Burned - Pick Pyro

cdawahare — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Courtesy of The New York Times

Dean Keppler, author of Betting the Kentucky Derby: How to Wager and Win on America’s Biggest Horse Race from DRF Press, discussed his approach to betting the Derby earlier this week. Now with the post positions set, he gives us his picks:

1) PYRO
2) ADRIANO
3) Z FORTUNE

For his reasoning and more on how to bet the race,
9-PYRO (6/1) Steve Asmussen’s Pulpit colt was dreadful in his first experience on Keeneland’s Polytrack a little over three weeks ago. He took a trouncing from his 11 other rivals and ran up the track in the Blue Grass at even money. He smoldered a lot of public money that miserable afternoon (including blowing up a pick-four ticket from yours truly) and never lifted a hoof. I’m gambling he makes a complete form reversal Saturday returning to the main dirt track and finally runs back to his impressive Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Belmont Park Champagne Beyer speed figures (105 and 100 respectively) from last year. His two Derby preps in Louisiana before his Blue Grass debacle were visually impressive, and I’m confident he will be rallying strongly down the long Churchill stretch, showing his traditional push-button acceleration under the confident handling of Sean Bridgmohan.

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World's Most Expensive Mint Julep Cup

cdawahare — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:26:00 GMT

By Peter Blair, NYTimes.com

If you watched the Kentucky Derby post position draw Wednesday on ESPN2, perhaps you caught a glimpse of the internationally famous sports artist LeRoy Neiman — how could you miss his mustache? — scribbling away in the crowd.

Neiman’s artwork will be an important part of Derby day.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Secretariat’s victory in Kentucky Derby 99, Woodford Reserve is selling “the world’s most expensive mint julep cup” (99 of them, in fact), containing Neiman’s artwork, precious jewels and 24-karat-gold plating. Yours for only $1,000 (a relative bargain when you include the oak box lined with a replica of Secretariat’s silks and learn that the proceeds will benefit The Secretariat Foundation).

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Q&A: Joe Drape from Churchill Downs

cdawahare — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:22:00 GMT

The Rail invites readers to submit questions for Joe Drape, The New York Times’s Eclipse Award-winning horse racing writer.

To submit a question, add a comment below. Joe will be checking in from Churchill Downs throughout the day Thursday to talk about the Derby field, the draw, workouts and anything else readers want to know about.

Have a question about synthetic surfaces? Want to know more about Big Brown’s glue-on shoes? Just ask.

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