JC / Railbird - Thoroughbred racing news and notes

I met Marc Subia today and he told me the story of his amazing autograph jacket. "It's my most prized possession." Marc started coming to Del Mar with his dad in the 1970s. It's his home track. And he's been collecting jockey autographs for decades ...

Grand Jete keeping an eye on me as I take a picture of Rushing Fall's #BC17 garland. #thoroughbred #horseracing #delmar

Another #treasurefromthearchive — this UPI collage for Secretariat vs. Sham. #inthearchives #thoroughbred #horseracing

Thanks, Arlington. Let's do this again next year. #Million35

That's a helmet. #BC16 #thoroughbred #horseracing #jockeys

Lady Eli on the muscle. #BC16 @santaanitapark #breederscup #thoroughbred #horseracing

Headlines: January 27

– Rockport Harbor worked five furlongs at Oaklawn yesterday. The workout was the undefeated colt’s first since suffering an injury in the Remsen Stakes last November. (Inq.)
– Midas Eyes looks like the favorite in this Saturday’s Sunshine Millions Classic. (ESPN)
– More than 5,000 turned out for Laurel’s “soft” reopening on Wednesday. The official reopening is set for Saturday. (Sun)
– Send links, comments to railbird at jessicachapel dot com

Posted by JC in Miscellany on 01/27/2005 @ 10:15 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter

Scandal = Increased Handle

At least by $2 on a recent Saturday. A racetrack newbie dazzled by news of the race-fixing indictments two weeks ago visits Aqueduct in search of a seedy good time. “Intrigue! Drugs! The mob! Now this was a reason to gamble.” (New York Press) [Link found on the newly-begun and already excellent racing blog, Left at the Gate — definitely worth repeat visits, if not a spot on your bookmark list.]

Posted by JC in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on 01/26/2005 @ 12:10 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter

All Over the Place

In case you haven’t had your fill of Eclipse Awards coverage yet, do check out Jay Hovdey’s account of the awards cereremony. “For a moment, it was 1952 all over again, and Richard Nixon was trying to save his political hide by playing down slush fund allegations and diverting attention with references to his wife’s ‘good Republican cloth coat’ and his daughter’s dog, Checkers. A few beats later, Merv Griffin appeared from out of a misty cloud of talk show nostalgia … Then, at some point John Wayne entered the hall, closely followed by Will Rogers, who between them provided a bedrock, down-home reality that felt like the whole place had suddenly become Kansas, circa 1948.” (Daily Racing Form)
Also: Photos, courtesy of the Blood-Horse.
Ken Ramsey’s apology for attempting to bribe another owner to scratch a horse from a race, an infraction he was punished for by the Kentucky racing board last week, reminded Bill Christine “that parties without party-poopers are hard to find.” (LA Times)
Bill Finley reports on the outcome of the Ghostzapper-Smarty Jones HOTY contest, and suggests that some votes for Ghostzapper may have been cast as payback for Smarty’s disappearance from the track. “Some voters might have chosen Ghostzapper because of the circumstances of Smarty Jones’s retirement after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.” Some voters? I wonder who Finley’s talking about. (New York Times)

Posted by JC in HOF/Awards on 01/26/2005 @ 11:55 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter

← Before After →