The National Turf Writers Association re-elected one individual to the organization's board of directors, elected two others to the board, and approved the membership for seven other individuals during its semi-annual meeting on April 30 at Churchill Downs.
The Schenectady (New York) Gazette has selected a book about the Travers Stakes as one of its top 10 books of 2008. The newspaper's annual listing, released Dec, 28, included "The History and Art of 25 Travers" by Vic Zast, a regular contributor to The Blood-Horse and other publications.
Hirapour, the 10-year-old gelding with designs on a second Eclipse Award as the country's top steeplechase horse, displayed his versatility in winning the A.P. Smithwick Handicap (NSA-II) earlier this meet.
Suzie O'Cain, the popular owner of Highcliff Farm in Delanson, N.Y., is trying to get horse owners to dress their jockeys in pink.
On Sunday, Saratoga ran its Ballerina Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. I) for fillies and mares. But it was the woman known as the "Sticker Nazi," tip-toeing through the lower regions of the clubhouse, who riveted the fans' attention.
One thing the cool nights have brought is the coffee table book haze that hangs over the track during morning workouts.
For two hours on Sunday, retired jockey Jerry Bailey signed autographs at the racetrack to benefit the Belmont Child Care Association, and for two hours before he started, Sandra Misiun, a parking enforcement officer from Turners Falls, Massachusetts, waited on line with her $5 donation to get one.
Twenty years between winners for a trainer is a long time. But that's about how long it's taken Saratoga Springs homeowner Roger Laurin, the trainer of the first-ever Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) champion Chief's Crown, to get back to work.
By Victor Zast - To men who are true horseplayers, racing is a daily passion that starts with a scan of the entries and ends with a reading of the results.
By Victor Zast - Why has Thoroughbred racing decided to put its future into the hands of a public relations agency?
By Victor E. Zast -- The NTRA should purchase a stable of horses that will be worthy of public attention, that will be the "stuff" of what effective advertising is made, that will race in the races it puts on TV, that will campaign for as long as their legs have some run in them--a dynasty of horses that will become as accomplished over time as the New York Yankees or as familiar to the man in the street as Funny Cide was this spring.
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