Sean Clancy

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

The Iroquois. Just watch.

And just like that, the Ferris wheel reaches the top. The spring season hits its zenith and starts its descent with the 84th running of the Iroquois Steeplechase. The bullseye, the fulcrum, the main event. Seven races worth $730,000. I’m watching Sportscenter and trying to decide when I need to … Read More

Six runners at the Iroquois. Two runners at Willowdale. The spring season – possibly the whole season – can be made in an afternoon. It could be the best card in American steeplechase history. Seven competitive races with full fields, including a split novice with the same purse ($125,000) in each … Read More

Wow, another big Saturday. Pudding Lane continued a streak of stakes, winning the $50,000 4-year-old Stakes at the Virginia Gold Cup Saturday. Zabeel Champion upsetting the Temple Gwathmey, Cyber Ninja rallying in the Daniel Van Clief and Pudding Lane dominting in the Smithwick. Three weekends, three stakes. On to Nashville. … Read More

Two wins. Two seconds. Two thirds. Two countries. In six starts. What a day. Rupert The Prince started it the day with a third in a 2-mile flat race at Ripon. And, yes, I watched it from the Sheetz parking lot. A solid effort and a big improvement from a … Read More

Still basking from a big weekend. Wins with Zabeel Champion and Jhirsch. Seconds with De La Cruz, Wilma Flintshire and Include It. We were 4 lengths from winning five. Now that would have been something. Tuddenham Green returned to the races with a win at Loudoun Point-to-Point Sunday. Now where … Read More