2023 Another Impressive Year for Riverdee

It was a throwaway line, a token gesture. If you need anything, I’m around.  I sent it to Emme Fullilove, who was helping with Jack Fisher’s runners for Wednesday’s Beverly R. Steinman Stakes at Saratoga. A longtime steeplechase ally, Fullilove has a full-time job galloping flat horses for trainer Tom … Read More

Welcome to Saratoga. The Saratoga Special returns for its third and final run as the Belmont Special. First edition Thursday morning. Four in a row. Fourteen-race cards Friday and Saturday. Head home Sunday. Read The Special. Rocket One could make the week, the meet. The 7-year-old makes his Grade 1 … Read More

Funnel cake. Foamy beer. Hot tips. Hotter afternoons. Long skinny trifecta tickets. Short exacta tickets. Sheila and I picking them up off the confetti-strewn blacktop, wish we still had them. Hunt meet bookies on the other side of the windows. Joey and his boys selling tip sheets and ruining the … Read More

It’s Jonathan Sheppard’s spot. It will always be Jonathan Sheppard’s spot. At the crest of the hill. Heartbreak Hill. In a natural nook, to the side of the last hurdle. A patrol judge, a couple of photographers, a veterinarian, a man with a shovel and a bucket of dirt. That’s it. … Read More

Still floating after our day Saturday. Watching Rocket One soar over the last to win the Marcellus Frost. A big, beautiful, proud horse who looked promising before missing almost two years. To win a novice stakes at Iroquois, any race at the Iroquois, take a big, deep breath and know … Read More