Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Many young adults outside the region where Gabriella Brown and Matt Pappis live probably would not appreciate just how special their internships were at Saratoga Race Course this past summer. 

If you told most unknowing high school and college students that Matt and Gabi spent the summer in the press box of the Yankees or Red Sox or that they had provided support to the media covering the NFL,…

Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Those who earn their livings on the backside of thoroughbred racing invest countless hours of hard work every day, and if they are fortunate they experience moments of reward on some afternoons throughout the year.  On the afternoon when a victory is achieved on the track everyone in the stable of the winning horse, from the trainer to the person who mucks stalls, shares that moment of achievement only…

Bob Hill
Staff writer

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The vote for top three-year-old male should be very interesting when ballots are cast in December.  Stay Thirsty’s win in the Grade 1 Travers means that there still is no double Grade 1 winner in 2011 among male thoroughbreds foaled in 2008.  The title of top male colt in this group most likely will be determined by what happens as some of them race against older horses this fall.  There are…

Bob Hill
Staff Writer
Tracksideview.com

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The  annual Saratoga fun is about to begin, and this year we are here for the final two weekends of the meet and the final full week that falls between those two weekends.  If seeing the Travers, King’s Bishop, Woodward and Hopeful was not reason enough to be filled with anticipation there is an added dimension to the start of our time here this year. 

 Hurricane Irene is bearing…

Bob Hill
Staff Writer
Tracksideview.com

Most of us refer to the one day in August of each year when Arlington Park, located in suburban Chicago, hosts the Grade 2 Secretariat, the Grade 1 Beverly D., and the Grade 1 Arlington Million as Million Day.  The official name for the day is the International Festival of Racing, but that is a mouthful easily shortened to our reference to the first race to ever offer up a purse of a…

Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

It is fair to guess that most serious horse players found the final eight races on the Belmont Stakes card frustrating and challenging.  The Pick 6 started with the upset of the best three-year-old filly sprinter by a somewhat improbable filly that got the jump on the field on a day that horses passing one another in the final sixteenth of a mile were as rare as my winning tickets.  From there, the…

Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

In the pre-race build up before the Wood Memorial the announcers on TVG placed the over/under on the number of lengths of victory for Uncle Mo and eight, and most agreed they would take the over.  Once again the lesson about the sport is that the races are run on the track and not on paper.  If we look at the internal fractions of the race and can suspend for a few moments…

Linda Fraembs
(Special to Tracksideview.com)

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – It’s been a week, and I’m still not over the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But I’m in good company.

That’s the race in which Zenyatta, queen of horse racing, undefeated in 19 starts, was supposed to thrill her fans for one last time with a dramatic win over the country’s most talented boys.

Alas, life is not a Disney movie. Despite an incredible run in the home stretch, Zenyatta lost by less…

Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Smith is brave enough to get aboard thoroughbred race horses almost every day of his life.  It is dangerous business that requires athleticism, strength, courage and skill.  When he broke into tears in the press room following the heart stopping Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs he shed tears for all of us who love the sport he represents.  He realized how close he had been to being part…

Bob Hill
Staff writer

It’s not often that much is reported about $25,000 claiming races, but when a horse wins twice within a span of 68 hours a story is made.  El Real Madrid, a five-year-old son of Boundary, actually raced three times within eight days, finishing second in the first race of the trio on the grass down at Monmouth Park on Aug. 18.  That race, contested at a mile and 70 yards, was a $22,000 claiming contest. …