Good-bye Saratoga
Horse racing has a pulse, and that pulse beats strongest at Saratoga. We felt it Saturday in the roar of the crowd for Rachel Alexandra. We felt it th…
Almost done
It hits me on the first cool morning of the season, a nip in the air and the scent of fall. We're almost done. I try to ignore it. I avoid the inevit…
Running for second
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin evaluated the field for the 56th running of the Woodward like this: there's Rachel, and then there's everybody else. New Yo…
'King's' for a day
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Alan Garcia stood near the scales in the winner's circle, the dirt and the heat of competition still plastered across his glo…
Time for a change
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Travers looms tomorrow, questions to be answered on a somewhat hazy 3-year-old season. Yesterday's focus, however, was on th…
Working
Trainers work horses at different times for different reasons. Early morning, cover of darkness, trying to slip past the clockers and keep a lid on po…
Longshots
Longshots aren't supposed to win. But they do. That's the beauty of the racetrack. A trainer picks his spots judiciously. Then races come up deep. So…
For Smith, it's all Zen
Mike Smith popped by Saratoga Race Course on Thursday to hop aboard 2-year-old Tiny Woods in the Saratoga Special. The colt finished seventh after dis…
Sportsman shmortsman
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- On May 21, my esteemed colleague Bill Finley wrote the following in an article requesting Rachel Alexandra's start in the Be…
Fans
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- We've hit the mid-meet stagger. Summer, muggy haze. The rush of days blending together in a blur of morning works, afternoon…