Archive for 2006

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Sunday, January 15th, 2006Hourly Rates

As I was watching the jubilant Carolina Hurricanes taking turns hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup over their heads and skating around the arena to the joy of their raucous fans, I was reminded of thegreatestgame.com logo. It is a little known fact that the image that has made our program famous was fashioned from a photograph of trainer Bob Baffert hoisting his Kentucky Derby (G1) trophy over his head…

Saturday, January 14th, 2006Notes on the Stephen Foster (G1) Program

This is the Saturday racing Thoroughbred racing aficionados live for. With six stakes at Churchill Downs and a National Pick Four there is tons of money on the line for horsemen and horseplayers – every race a great handicapping puzzle…

Friday, January 13th, 2006Belmont Sweetser

My friend Rob Sweetser is a real racetrack character. He can be seen at racing emporiums all over the country, wearing a natty sport coat, his signature bow tie and a baseball cap. When he worked for the NTRA, the baseball cap was always sponsor-related; now, any horse racing themed cap will suffice…

Thursday, January 12th, 2006Pray For Barbaro

Virtually every American sports fan is familiar with the line that made ABC’s Wide World of Sports famous – “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”…

Wednesday, January 11th, 2006The Young Ladies of Lael

There they were. A bevy of beautiful young girls standing in the front row of their third-floor box, dressed like Easter Sunday and sporting their Derby hats…

Tuesday, January 10th, 2006Oaks and Derby Racing Roundup

Barbaro came into the Kentucky Derby undefeated, but with a lot of questions…

Monday, January 9th, 2006Greenbacks and Green Monkeys

On the last day of February this year, international bloodstock agent Demi O’Byrne raised the bar at Thoroughbred auctions by winning a bidding war…

Sunday, January 8th, 2006Keeneland to Amerman to Keeneland

Every September, for the last five years, Team Amerman boards a NetJet in California, bound for Lexington. Upon arrival, they check into the Embassy Suites on Newtown Pike and get a good night’s sleep, because their assault on Keeneland begins at breakfast time…

Saturday, January 7th, 2006Kentucky Derby Short List

The Derby train has rolled through Lexington picking up “steam” in the Keeneland pressbox…

Friday, January 6th, 2006Horsefeathers

United States citizens are usually guilty of thinking that the “world” extends from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Statue of Liberty and from Mount Rushmore to Bourbon Street…

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