Gallop France

Hard Way!!!

grarick — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:33:13 +0000

OK, so this is old news by now, but in our defense, we celebrated for three days, de-toxed for three days, then I had to go to Ireland to look at horses, then the breeze-up sales, then Longchamp, but now, finally, the story of the miraculous comeback of Hard Way!

Let’s not bury the lead . . . → Read More: Hard Way!!!

Stirrings across the pond

grarick — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:27:32 +0000

Today could be an important day for U.S. racing. Joe Drape and company published the second part of the New York Times series on fatalities in racing, coinciding with a Congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs in horses. This article looks quite a bit more well-researched, and consequently quite a bit more damning, than the first . . . → Read More: Stirrings across the pond

Great run from Deep Ocean

grarick — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:58:39 +0000

Deep Ocean went to Longchamp yesterday with just about everything against him: He had picked up four kilos in the handicap, which meant he had to run against open company rather than in a limited handicap; the track was very heavy, and Deep also would have to negotiate the famous “descente”, the downhill slope into . . . → Read More: Great run from Deep Ocean

Stuck on 5th

grarick — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:01:21 +0000

Fifth place seems to be our spot for the moment. Hard Way went back to Lisieux on April 15th for a second warm-up gallop and snagged a tiny check in the process, finishing fifth. He seemed to have a good time, and certainly took our amateur jockey for a rodeo ride going down to the . . . → Read More: Stuck on 5th

Milly wins, and Hard Way is back!

grarick — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:08:51 +0000

Little Milly is a maiden no more; she won this past Sunday in Lisieux, battling to keep a neck in front of 13 other runners, all of whom considerably bigger than she is! Lisieux is a country track in Normandy, decently designed and with a tape start rather than starting gates. Milly (Surrey Storm) handled . . . → Read More: Milly wins, and Hard Way is back!

A big bad spotlight on U.S. racing

grarick — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:35:25 +0000

I have had my differences over the years with the New York Times, my former employer via the International Herald Tribune, but there are some things they still do well. While the old gray lady seems to prefer to spend money on lavish executive bonuses rather than gathering and reporting the news, they still have . . . → Read More: A big bad spotlight on U.S. racing

Deep comes through!

grarick — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:08:56 +0000

Deep Ocean won easily in Lyon yesterday, paying an incomprehensible 26-1. I had thought he would have a good chance, but all of the handicappers in the media put us in the “outsider” category. No matter; people who know the horse (or read my blog) had themselves a nice bet.

Deep had everything going for . . . → Read More: Deep comes through!

Shoveling

grarick — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:32:36 +0000

It seems I’ve had my head down shoveling lots of things since Cagnes, settling back in and getting ready for spring. We’ve had a bit of racing, but nothing too exciting yet. Elbow Beach ran 5th in Deauville, and is now having a bit of an easy recovery time because she worked hard through Cagnes . . . → Read More: Shoveling

Closing Cagnes

grarick — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:19:49 +0000

I left the sun behind and headed back to Maisons-Laffitte yesterday, finishing up racing in Cagnes on Wednesday with a nice third from Droit Devant. I didn’t get a win down there, unfortunately, but so far this year I have eight places from 16 runners, which is a decent percentage. Hopefully the win column will . . . → Read More: Closing Cagnes

Cagnes: Week 4

grarick — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:24:14 +0000

We’re turning into the home stretch here, with some horses running their final races this week. The last few runs have been disappointing, but there have been some good reasons. Deep Ocean ran a handicap on Saturday in which he should have had every chance to win, but it was on the turf, which . . . → Read More: Cagnes: Week 4