JC / Railbird

Miscellany Archive

Noted: November 2

– Frank Deford wants Afleet Alex named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year: “Afleet Alex is the true people’s choice – small, not well-bred, and dead game. Apart from all his victories, what he did in the Preakness was the single most amazing feat in athletics this year. Knocked down to his knees at the top of the stretch, he pulls himself up and roars to victory. Then comes back and runs away with the Belmont. This is the stuff of legend.” Right on.
– Churchill Downs is carding an entire day of races for two-year-olds. The special program is scheduled for this Saturday, November 5, and will include two graded stakes.
– Hollywood Park announced on Tuesday that turf racing was cancelled for the entire fall meet, owing to problems with the course. Horsemen are a little upset: “What am I supposed to do, go on vacation? … Not counting the 2-year-olds, about 80% of my stable is grass horses,” said trainer Bobby Frankel, who has divisions in California and New York and was planning to run Australian turf specialist Alinghi at the track.

Posted in Miscellany on November 2, 2005

Posting …

Posting has been light lately and may be so for a couple more days. I should be back Wednesday with some comments on the congressional hearing into jockeys’ insurance and a Breeders’ Cup preview …

Posted in Miscellany on October 16, 2005

Catching Up

Well, I returned home to Boston from Saratoga more than a week ago, but it’s only the past couple of days that I’ve finally begun to get out of vacation mode, back to work and old routines — like posting to Railbird. And just in time too, since the Breeders’ Cup is only six weeks away.
I see on the Daily Racing Form site that trainer Tim Ritchey isn’t ruling Afleet Alex out of the Classic. Ritchey says the colt could be training as soon as Friday, depending on Dr. Larry Bramlage’s assessment of recent x-rays taken of the hairline fracture he’s been recovering from this summer. Should Dr. Bramlage give the ok, Alex will gallop a couple of times, breeze, and then, says Ritchey, “I want to get a prep into him, either a sprint at six or seven furlongs on dirt, or even a mile on grass, to get him to the Classic. I could wait until as close as two weeks out.” It sounds a bit crazy, but then, recall the spring and Afleet Alex’s comeback from the lung infection that caused his last place Rebel Stakes finish and how he actually seemed to improve race to race during the Triple Crown season. Maybe he could run in the Classic …
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If you look at the list of blog links to the right, you’ll notice two additions: Triple Crown Racing and Turf Luck. Both are still fairly new, but off to fantastic starts. Do visit.
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For the first week home, I went nearly cold turkey on racing — no TVG, no visits to Suffolk Downs, only the briefest of glances at the Daily Racing Form’s front page — and so missed two milestones for Suffolk jockeys. Rider Winston Thompson, who has led Suffolk’s jockey standings for most of the meet, won his 2,500th race on Tuesday (Blood-Horse). Dyn Panell, another of Suffolk’s leading riders, earned his 1,000th win (Lowell Sun). [This post initially reported that Panell’s 1,000th win came early in September, but that was an error. Panell actually earned his 1,000th win in October. For details, follow the link.]
More: “Winston forgot about one thing. When his career is over, he will also have the respect of every racing fan in New England. Come to think about it, he has that already.” Paul Daley profiles Winston Thompson in the Lowell Sun.

Posted in Miscellany on September 15, 2005