By Teresa Genaro of Brooklyn Backstretch This Ones for Phil's victory at Gulfstream in the Sunshine Millions Dash over the weekend has occasioned much conversation about the horse's massive improvement. How could this horse have run this race? What's with the trainer change? Oh, that Dutrow again-look...

Courtesy of Teresa Genaro, Brooklyn Backstretch Last August, Jessica Chapel of Railbird and I were invited by Seth Merrow of Equidaily to appear on his show on Capital OTB to discuss how the Internet is affecting the relationship between racing and its fans. Among the questions he asked: "Do you consider...

Teresa Genaro, Brooklyn Backstretch I live in a city that takes unabashed glee in the evisceration of its physical history. Tourist and natives alike are hard-pressed to discover any remnants of the Dutch and British settlements that settled Manhattan; little is left of the glory of the Gilded Age; and...

By Teresa Genaro of Brooklyn Backstretch Race fans are a flagellating group; click on almost any racing website, open almost any trade publication, and you’ll find a host of people dissatisfied with some element of the sport: the betting opportunities; the medication rules; the trends away from the track...

By Teresa Genaro of Brooklyn Backstretch I'm pretty sure that my local card store has already put out their Christmas cards, and while overall I am about as near to thinking about Christmas as I am to thinking about retirement (and that would be not nearly near enough), a recent e-mail from the Belmont...

By Teresa Genaro, Brooklyn Backstretch What agony to be a fan of the distaff side in November of 1988. Root for the undefeated Personal Ensign, who had beaten colts in the Whitney two months earlier? Or root for the Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors? How to choose? Each time I watch the race (available...

By Teresa Genaro, Brooklyn Backstretch This Saturday is New York Showcase Day at Belmont; seven New York-bred stakes races will be run for more than a million dollar in purses, and a variety of family-friendly activities are planned, including hay rides, face painting, and pumpkin carving. The prevalence...

By Teresa Genaro Racing faces the daunting task of marketing an identical product to two disparate audiences: the gambler and the fan. Racing can't exist without the former, and it shouldn't exist without the latter. Figuring out how to get more gambling dollars through the windows (or over the bandwidth...

Courtesy of Teresa Genaro The history of racing in this country reveals a curiously ambivalent attitude towards its female equine athletes. The Old Gray (trotting) Mare may have been racing's first equine star, and from racing's beginnings in this country, colts and fillies regularly raced against each...