Just a few days until the annual rite of julep-quaffing, hat-wearing, C-list celebrity elbow-rubbing, and horse-gawking known as the Kentucky Derby arrives.
My wife and I have gone intermittently to the Derby, but we won’t be in attendance this year. This means that — at least in theory — my losses for the day should [...]
Meet Irish Colony.
He’s a gelded, eight year-old son of Larrupin’ who’s been kicking around the mid-Atlantic racing scene since the middle of 2003. Because of an extraordinarily varied career, he’s also the perfect horse to demonstrate the complexities of responsibility in the racing world.
Of course, owners and trainers are responsible for the health and [...]
The other day at Pimlico, track handicapper Frank Carulli announced that owner Michael Gill had claimed 56 horses in Maryland in the space of about one month, spending north of half a million dollars — and possibly pretty far north — in the process.
Which, for those of you keeping score at home, is a lot [...]
Spring has sprung on the mid-Atlantic region, which means, among other things, the Pimlico spring meet is upon us. Good news for racing fans, indeed.
The Pimlico spring meet is Maryland’s marquee racing meet, a stakes-stuffed two-month stand which will, for a time, command the attention of the racing world. The Preakness (May 17), [...]
In my last post, I proposed the use of standings at each track as a way to reorganize the condition book, broaden racing’s appeal to the casual fan, and reward local horsemen for supporting the local product.
I was thinking, as I wrote that, primarily about local standings for local tracks — that is, each track [...]
The other day, while watching our horse, Untamed Hero, finish third in a $25,000 never-two-lifetime claimer (details here), I got to thinking about all the buzz and energy that surround the Triple Crown trail — and the total lack of buzz and energy surrounding the rest of the racing season. Which led me to [...]
