Sean's Blog

George Grey needed a job. A long way from his Alabama home, he couldn’t pick cotton like he did when he was a kid. Living in Elmont, working his way through school, raised by a single mother, money was tight. The 14-year-old got a visitor’s pass at the Belmont Park … Read More

Questions. Oh, so many questions. While we travel to and from Saratoga, while we amble the backstretch in the morning, while we host a podcast at Whitman, while we decompress at the office after a deadline, we ask a lot of questions, think of a lot of questions. Here are … Read More

Clifford Nass says multitasking is a fallacy. But yet we try.  Nothing tests the Stanford professor’s theory like working in racing. And working from home. Still in Virginia, I worked from the home office – the family room couch – Friday. Deadline Friday. It starts early. And will surely end late.  … Read More

Picking up checks. Palio made his American debut in the maiden hurdle at Colonial Downs Thursday. The 4-year-old found a comfortable spot in the middle, between horses, jumped well, traveled well. Turning for home, duck inside and pounce. Well, he didn’t pounce, finishing third. Looked like he just got tired … Read More

Saturday, I spent my day with Whitebeam, Mo Plex and a card full of Saratoga stars. Today, I spent it with Kissin Conquest, Just Blue, Apse and Eagle Poise. Two career maidens, a Saratoga hurdle winner and a Grade 3 flat winner. On a farm in Virginia. Our Thoroughbred Retirement … Read More

“I thought I was going to die.” Phil Bauer forced those seven words Friday morning when asked about a plane crash on Lizard Island off the northeast coast of Australia Jan. 8.  All 10 on the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan thought the same thing, felt the same thing, as the … Read More

Todd Wyatt was on his way home from the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga. The four-day racing festival in June had come and gone. It was everything that was good in racing. Engaged fans. Competitive racing. At a venue that never disappoints. Wyatt, predominately a steeplechase trainer, had come to town … Read More

On my first assignment out of the steeplechase world, The Blood Horse put me on the 1997 Preakness and the Belmont beat. What a beat – Silver Charm, Free House, Captain Bodgit, Touch Gold… Ah, Touch Gold, the vanquisher. And his trainer, David Hofmans. Late in the week of the Belmont, … Read More

Steeplechase meetings all day. No, not the ones with horses and courses, sport and spectators, hills and thrills. Today’s were the ones in preparation for all those things. Raising purses. Restructuring boards. Figuring out the fields. Working out the cards. Steeplechase lifers trying to figure out the next best step. … Read More

Home. Watching the fifth at Roscommon. Looking at the form for the fifth at Stratford. Checking the scratches for the first at Presque Isle. Waiting for the ninth at Parx where Brie’s Mission makes his debut for Matt Groff and Jack Fisher. A Clancy Bloodstock purchase. Time ticks as Saratoga … Read More