BloodHorse.com

In the last several years before he retired from serving as emcee of the Daily Racing Form’s morning handicapping show at Siro’s, Harvey Pack used to retry old gems on pet topics. Regarding The Jockey Club Round Table, Pack would say it’s the same old guys promising change and never delivering it.  Pack’s hackneyed comment might not be true ...

Three of Saratoga’s best five hot dogs are found on or near the racecourse grounds.  The other two are only a short drive away – one to the west of the racecourse at the end of Nelson Avenue and the other in the opposite direction where East Avenue turns into Excelsior. PJ’s Barbecue, now called Bar-B-QSA, abandoned most things Buffalo, N.Y. ...

It hit me between 2:30 and 3 in the morning. Having fallen asleep on the couch as usual, I awoke to a mellifluous voice flowing from the TV. The voice spoke of horses and racing, and after a few seconds of unscrambling my brain, I remembered that I had been watching one of my favorite racing shows, “Against the Odds,” on HRTV and must have dozed ...

As has been customary the last several seasons, a standing room only audience gathered in Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney pavilion for the Hall of Fall induction ceremony on Friday morning.  Sam the Bugler, wearing an outfit that was not what you’d expect─his red coachman’s coat and top hat─but a black polo shirt with the uneven tails ...

One of the meet’s best innovations has been having jockeys sign autographs and pose for photos on Thursday mornings at breakfast on the Clubhouse Porch. Considering the good that the program serves all people involved, you would hope that NYRA could figure out how to get it in an extra day or two a week. “We’ll do even better when more ...

The name Medaglia d’Oro has become elite in breeding circles, as the sire of the great Rachel Alexandria and the highest-priced yearling ($1,575,000) at the recent Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sales. In short, Medaglia d’Oro has emerged as a powerful force -- in the breeding shed and the sales ring. This was a natural progression from a successful ...

Breeders' Cup announced it will hold its two-day championship event at Santa Anita Park in 2013, for the second year in a row. Nothing against Santa Anita, but as a fan, I liked the Breeders' Cup a lot more when it rotated its venue every year. The rotation that went California-New York-Kentucky-Random Track was perfect. Every ...

Triassic, the dam So You Think, in April 2012 I recently had the opportunity to interview Cecile Smith, owner of Piper Farm and co-breeder of Australian champion and 10-time group I winner So You Think (NZ) (TrueNicks). Cecile owns So You Think's dam, the 22-year-old Tights mare Triassic, who is currently in foal to Medaglia d'Oro ...

Mechanicville, N.Y. has 5,000 residents. One in 10 attended Ray Price’s 15th annual “Stakes at Saratoga” party in the backyard of Saratoga Racecourse.   “I started with 10 people,” Price explained. “By the third year I had enough people coming that I began to make tee-shirts.”   Tee-shirts commemorating Ray Price's party hang between ...

The media took about a nanosecond to realize that both trainer Roger Attfield and jockey John Velazquez, who teamed up to win Monday’s feature race with Kissable, were about to enter the Hall of Fame on Friday.  Attfield sent Kissable down from Woodbine for the 1 ½-mile, $100,000 Richmor Aviation Waya Stakes. He proved to be more than a man ...