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The Five-Cross Files is back from a lengthy sabbatical. I promise many fun and informative posts will again steal your attention for a few minutes a couple of times each week -- but I wanted to start out with something considerably more serious. As you've probably read, 27 horses were killed in a barn fire Labor Day morning at a property adjacent ...

Last summer, just before he went into Saratoga Hospital to have a hip repaired, Dr. Leo Hoge, local racing historian and former medical practitioner, recounted his memories of Secretariat to library assistant Victoria Garza. Hoge and Garza met by chance beneath the colorful WPA frescoes that decorate the main entrance to the Post Office. “I took a ...

Jeff Rosen of East Meadow, NY said “the lines for the tee-shirts were six furlongs long.”  NYRA should go into the apparel business, if the deal for the Aqueduct casino doesn’t happen. An editorial in The Saratogian warned readers on Sunday that the politicians are still fumbling around with the details. “What are details but the bad ends of ...

The meet’s been a tough go for Kent Desormeaux. “The Kid” rode well but the facts don’t show it.  His acknowledgement that he had a drinking problem came on the first day.  Breaking a bone in his neck when a horse had a heart attack was the way it all finished. In the fourth race, Cornelio Velasquez rode a winner that the Hall of Fame ...

For a Friday that was billed as a ''Party at the Spa,'' things got off to a traumatic start. A horse was euthanized after breaking down in the first race. A horse had a heart attack and died in the second. Jockey Kent Desormeaux broke a bone in his neck.Only six New York-bred fillies partook in the $70,000 Saratoga Dew. The stake was supposed to ...

Undefeated in 19 starts, Peppers Pride won 14 stakes and was a four-time champion in New Mexico. Bred and raced by Joseph Allen, Peppers Pride raced at four different tracks in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. She was trained by Joel Marr.   A fan favorite, Peppers Pride was retired after her last race in December, 2008. The mare ...

Complimentary Hypothetical Mating Reports The following farms have made TrueNicks reports available at no charge to broodmare owners. You may purchase hypothetical mating reports for other stallions on the Products page. Running a Complimentary TrueNicks Report It's easy to run a hypothetical mating report crossing your mare with any stallion ...

You guys know me well enough by now to know I don't like to play favorites very often. Trying to beat favorites has cost me a lot of money over the years, but it's in my blood; I can't help it. This weekend is a rare exception. I like all four morning-line favorites in the Saratoga grade I races. I'm not happy about it, but what can I do? For ...

Among the promising newcomers that this Saratoga season has produced are Stay Thirsty, Valiant Passion, Uncle Mo and Nicole Russo. Only Russo’s a human.  She’s the 23-year-old turf writer from the Rochester, NY area who has caught on at The Pink Sheet. Russo’s daily reports on the two-year-olds continue to constitute a reading ...

Fall is the busiest time of year for sports in the U.S.  Football dominates the sports landscape for sure, but baseball continues well into the fall, and the basketball season cranks up early in November.  There’s hockey on the calendar, too.  Horse racing also has a major place on the sports calendar in the fall.  The last ...