JC / Railbird

Aqueduct

Congratulations

To Ramon Dominguez: The rider reached a milestone on Friday, earning win #4000 aboard Fortyninegeorgest in the second race at Aqueduct. Dominguez, who began riding in 1996, spent his first full season at Saratoga in 2007, and moved his tack full-time to New York in 2009, won an astounding 376 races on the circuit last year, sweeping every riding title. Should he keep up that torrid pace, Dominguez can look forward to hitting win #5000 by 2013.

To Rosie Napravnik: The 21-year-old jockey scored her first graded stakes win in the Cicada Stakes on Liam’s Dream at Aqueduct on Saturday.

To the NTRA: After the embarrassing fizzle that was the March 13 launch of NTRA Live!, the organization rebounded on Saturday with a near-flawless webcast of the Florida Derby, which was displayed on a clutter-free page with clear, helpful links above and a live chat running alongside. NTRA vice president Keith Chamblin told the Thoroughbred Times that the NTRA “added some servers” and did additional site testing in advance of yesterday’s show. The NTRA also apparently removed the requirement to register or login before viewing (perhaps they took Superfecta’s advice?), as it was possible to pull up the page without being prompted to do either. Although demand was probably lower for the Florida Derby webcast than it was for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, the steps the NTRA took to bolster their capacity to host viewers surely helped make Saturday’s live video a success. Well done!

Posted in Racing on March 21, 2010 / Tagged Aqueduct, Jockeys, Milestones, NTRA, Ramon Dominguez, Rosie Napravnik

Odds and Ends

From an interview in TDN with David Milch, on “Luck,” his new show for HBO:

I hope it’s going to be an awful lot of fun, but I am realistic enough to know that not every day at the racetrack ends with people skipping happily through the flowers. With anything that is a passion, I think it’s a passion because it accomodates a whole range of feelings, some of which are mutually exclusive. It’s both love and pain. I would hope this will render the full spectrum of emotions. If you ask me whether I’m looking forward to it, I’m absolutely looking forward to it. Do I expect it to be fun? I’m not sure.

Milch knows the darker side of racing and gambling well. Via o_crunk, a profile of the writer that includes a fascinating scene revolving around a tip.

A look can say so much:

The only anxious moment came heading into the first turn, when it appeared that Bunker Hill, under Chuck Lopez, would challenge Understatement on the front end. Following a glance from Cohen, Lopez backed off.

“I gave him a look like ‘Come on man, don’t do that to me,'” Cohen said. “Save that for the next race.”

Bunker Hill finished last in the Evening Attire Stakes, won by favored Understatement in 1:42.94 with unchallenged ease on Saturday at Aqueduct.

Zenyatta will race in 2010! Reactions to the thrilling news gathered here.

Posted in Racing on January 17, 2010 / Tagged Aqueduct, David Cohen, David Milch, Evening Attire Stakes, HBO, Jockeys, Luck, TV, Zenyatta