In which we ramble disjointedly from topic to topic…
The top local racing story — by a landslide — was Maryland voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment to allow slot machines in the Free State. Maryland racing will now, at long last, have the tools to compete on equal footing with slots-enriched tracks in Delaware, Pennsylvania, [...]
With the approach of year’s end, our thoughts turn to some of the people and horses who have meant the most to us in 2008. So we say a thanks to:
All those who have been friends or supporters of That’s Amore Stable in 2008. Whatever success we have enjoyed is because of you.
The good folks [...]
CONTINUING A YULETIDE TRADITION (begun here), AND WITH APOLOGIES TO FRANCIS PHARCELLUS CHURCH AND THE NEW YORK SUN
As a well-known* blogger, I receive frequent** communiques from folks large and small seeking information or advice. While typically I ignore them, I found the following question so heartfelt, so plaintive that I couldn’t help but respond.
(well-known* — [...]
Item: According to our friends at the Paulick Report (here), the Washington Post has decided that it will no longer cover horse racing.
Item: Our friend Teresa over at Brooklyn Backstretch (here) observes reporters at work following the death of two horses at Aqueduct and suggests that bloggers — valuable as they are — are no [...]
With the holidays arriving quicker than a speed horse breaking from the gate — and a pervasive sense of doom and gloom hovering over the racing blogosphere — I decided to spare a thought or two for the horses who make the game special.
Now, this won’t be a Christmas poem, despite the seeming leading-on of [...]
A bloodbath.
That’s how one long-time observer of and participant in the thoroughbred scene described yesterday’s Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic sale to me. And in truth, he probably wasn’t exaggerating.
It became apparent early in the day that selling a horse — any horse at all — was a real accomplishment. By mid-day, the auction callers’ voices — with [...]
Ran into my pal the usher the other day at Laurel.
That is, the ex-usher.
Because Laurel — besieged by nearby tracks with slots-infused purses and battling the collapsing national economy — no longer needs ushers on normal days. And so my friend is an ex-usher. After 50 years.
Once, a track like Laurel employed a small army [...]
