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This week, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra came together in a strange sort of way.  On Wednesday evening, a framed photo of the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, her halter and jockey’s autograph sold for $10,200 at the Belmont Child Care Association’s dinner and auction.  On Thursday afternoon, only 15 hours later, the reigning Horse of the ...

How about a Saratoga suggestion box?  It should be easy to implement because NYRA has a Web site for everything.  Then the people in Sections H of the clubhouse could ask the authorities to relocate the garbage bins from under the simulcast television sets to a hideaway where the flies and the odor aren’t a nuisance.Stan Marcinkowski of ...

Todd Pletcher, his assistant Mike McCarthy, agent Ron Anderson, and clocker/bloodstock agent Gary Young were having dinner at a Mexican restaurant back in November of 2007, when Pletcher turned to Young and said, “I need to buy a horse who will absolutely win the next time I run it.” Pletcher was looking for a horse for Candy DeBartolo, wife of ...

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This year's Perfect Trip Award will recognize a Breeders' Cup Challenge race winner from this season's North American races that best exemplifies a ''Perfect Trip''. The winner will be selected from a panel of racing experts and will have the opportunity to experience his or her own ''Perfect Trip'' through Sentient Jet, with ...

Originally published in the August 28, 2010 issue of The Blood-Horse magazine. Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions at the bottom of the column.)   By Evan Hammonds  Earlier this summer, during the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, the racing community discovered that not enough data have ...

There’s not much of the Saratoga experience left when non-stop rain ruins the picnicking and the racing is hit hard by scratches. The epitome of a let-down occurred when Sunday’s featured $150,000 stakes went forth with only three horses. But with 28 horses taken out and 61 left in, Monday’s card was prolonged agony. Turf racing was cancelled. The ...

There is nothing blind or lucky about Blind Luck. When it comes to seeing the finish line she has 20/20 vision, and despite her running style, she makes her own luck. In Blind Luck and her California compatriot, Evening Jewel, respective winners of the grade I Alabama and Del Mar Oaks, you have a pair of fierce fillies with a flair for ...

Back when Saratoga raced 24 days, each of its four weekend Saturdays was marked by a Grade 1 stakes race.  Sundays were dark days. The Whitney came first, then the Alabama, followed by the Travers and, ultimately, the Hopeful.  For many horse racing fans, the Alabama Stakes was as meaningful as the Midsummer Derby.What was great about ...

The backstretch at 6:00 am is the only place and time where a man can find quiet. Those post card images of horses working – the steam coming from their nostrils like the smoke from a locomotive – are still seeable, provided you’re willing to wake up early.  By 8:30 am, it seems like a convention’s been called at the Morning Line for coffee ...