Just read that about Spurious Precision. So sad.
Photos via the Saratoga Special FB page…
Easiest to tack this onto the Saratoga thread …
Barbara Livingston on Oct 1, 2012 did a photography flashback to 1987’s Saratoga meet
Things do change but in large part they don’t thankfully.
Thanks for posting this Glimmer
I haven’t been to many farflung corners of this Earth, but I doubt many of them could top Saratoga! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. The pics of Alysheba and Java Gold gave me chills!
As ever, Barbara Livingston captures the life and spirit of horseracing like nobody else!
Parking this here as Nick suspects that when Jackson Bend was T-boned and knocked down for five minutes on the Oklahoma Training Track at Spa August 18, 2012 he never was the same …
DRF Oct 11, 2012: “Jackson Bend, multiple Grade 1 winner, retired at 5”
Zito said that Fred Brei [breeders & co-owner] called him on Wednesday and said that he didn’t feel Jackson Bend’s mental attitude was where it needed to be to return to racing.
“It’s an emotional thing for me,” Zito said by phone from Saratoga. “You can’t put a price on what that horse has given us over the years, all the big races he’s taken us too. He would have been right there in the Forego if that accident didn’t happen. I guess it took its toll mentally. Fred said it’s like a concussion for an athlete. He knows the horse pretty good.”
Thanks for posting this, GG. As much as they said he seemed OK, I didn’t trust he’d be 100% - that sounded like such a horrific collision. Loved him - he always seemed so gutsy. (Apologies to Funny Cide…)
Hope he has a very happy and successful retirement.
Likely just as interesting (if it is to anyone else) to stick this one onto the last year’s thread …
Times Union Mar 4, 2013: “It takes money to get a box at Saratoga Race Course”
The NYRA data show 240 seasonal boxes were held by individuals and entities charged a maximum of $9,044 for the 42-day meet. Most boxes come with five seats. NYRA collected nearly $1.6 million from those who paid.
NYRA charged nothing for 25 boxes last year, two of which went to the state Racing & Wagering Board. Another was for charities, and one was for the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which is run by NYRA trustee Rick Violette. He said tracks across the country tend to provide complimentary boxes for their horse owners’ groups.
Sixteen sponsors received boxes at no cost in 2012. So did Scott Johnson, mayor of the host city, and the county’s Board of Supervisors, although NYRA tried to break that string last year. But the bills to the government leaders arrived well after the meet started, and Johnson and the board members said there were no funds in the public budget or in their private accounts for the expense. So the bills went unpaid.
Who does have a box (and pays for them) - a few names
The highest-priced seats align with the finish line and at the front of the box section. They are controlled by former trustee Ogden Mills Phipps. He has two boxes, one in his name and the other in the name of Phipps Stables. It’s near the box of Marylou Whitney, wife of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s special adviser on the NYRA board, John Hendrickson.
Also among the boxholders are former pro football coach Bill Parcells and Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson Jr., TV personality David Cassidy and producer David Milch, and Hall of Fame horse trainer Nick Zito. A free box was provided to NYRA’s president, chairman and vice chairman. Several media organizations paid for boxes, including the Saratogian, the Daily Gazette, WNYT and WTEN. George Hearst, publisher of the Times Union, paid for one.
