Ride on, American Pharoah

June 6, 2015

Saturday, June 6 is D Day in more ways than one. American Pharoah will attempt to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. Post time is 5:50 p.m. on NBC, though coverage begins at 3:30 p.m.

The odds, the experts say, are not with the Pharoah. There will be fresh horses – Frosted and Materiality, among them – gunning for him. Belmont Park, with the longest of the three Triple Crown tracks at 1 ½ miles, is not his home track as it was in the 1970s for Affirmed, Seattle Slew and Secretariat, the last three Triple Crown winners. Horses are bred today for speed not endurance. Yada, yada, yada. ...

Deflategate keeps a lot of balls in the air

May 20, 2015

From the spongy balls that the gentle American Pharoah wears as earplugs to race (poor baby) to the fuzzy tennis balls of the Italian and French opens, we turn our attention back to the squishy balls of Deflategate – a subject that is a writer’s dream, because it just keeps on giving.

The latest is that New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft won’t appeal the $1 million fine and loss of two draft picks that resulted from the Pats’ more probably than not deflating their footballs before the A.F.C. Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

"Although I might disagree what is decided, I do have respect for [commissioner Roger Goodell] and believe that he's doing what he perceives to be in the best interests of [all 32 teams]," Kraft said, while speaking to the media at the NFL owners meetings. "So in that spirit, I don't want to continue the rhetoric that's gone on for the last four months.”

Translation: The NFL has got us by the squishy balls, and the jig is up. ...

American Pharoah and Novak Djokovic: Of Thoroughbreds – and Thoroughbred temperaments

May 18, 2015

And so it begins again, the quest for two of the Holy Grails of sports, as sure signs of spring as cherry blossoms and roses.

American Pharoah will attempt to become only the 12th horse – and the first since my beloved Affirmed in 1978 – to win horse racing’s Triple Crown when he competes at the Belmont Stakes June 6, D Day in more ways than one.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic will attempt to unseat nine-time champion Rafael Nadal for the French Open title, which will be contested at Roland-Garros in Paris May 24 through June 7. Should Nole win, he would be halfway to doing what no man – not even Roger Federer – has done since Rod Laver in 1969 and that is win the Grand Slam in a calendar year.

These are pretty big Ifs. Can AP and Nole do it? Of course. They have the talent. But what makes life a horse race is that talent is not enough. You have to have luck, fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it, on your side. And, more important, you – or, in AP’s case, his handlers as well – have got to believe not just that you can win but that you will. And that’s not easy when you’re a Thoroughbred – or have the high temperament of one. ...

Equine love – the Preakness and Old Salem Farm’s Spring Horse Shows

May 13, 2015

Well, what a weekend for horse lovers. The main event is, of course, the running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg in the Triple Crown, at Pimlico in Baltimore on Saturday, May 16. NBC will be going live at 4:30 p.m. EDT, with post-time set for 6:20 p.m.

Will American Pharoah become the first horse since my beloved Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown? Or will Firing Line and Dortmund, his Kentucky Derby rivals, overtake him in the run for the black-eyed Susans? Or will it be the proverbial dark horse?

We can’t say for sure. That’s what makes it a horse race, as they say – and an inspiration for “Criterion,” the third planned novel in my series “The Games Men Play.”

The 6:20 post-time gives folks in the New York metro area plenty of time to enjoy the elegant yin to horse racing’s thunderous yang – the Spring Horse Shows at Old Salem Farm in North Salem, which conclude Sunday, May 17. ...

Down at the (Old Salem) Farm: The Spring Horse Shows

May 6, 2015

It’s always a good time down at Old Salem Farm. One of the loveliest ways to spend the Mother’s Day weekend is with the Spring Horse Shows at Old Salem Farm in North Salem. The Spring Shows, which will award nearly $500,000 in prize money, feature professional and junior riders in hunter competitions, which judge the horse’s form over the kind of lower obstacles you might encounter on a hunt; jumper events, which focus on speed and accuracy; and equitation, which considers the rider’s performance. (Only jumping is an Olympic sport.)

“I like to say jumper is like hockey while hunter is like figure skating,” says Michel Vaillancourt, who won an individual silver medal in his home country at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The former chef d’équipe, or coach, of the Canadian Equestrian Team, Vaillancourt has been charged with designing the jumper course for the first week of the Spring Shows, which concludes Sunday. The second week runs May 12-17.

But you don’t have to know a paddock from a pasture to enjoy the graceful partnership of rider and horse or the chance to watch the action with family, friends and pets on the rolling grass or the various vendors, mostly artists and artisans doing equine-themed work. ...

The rose and the whip: American Pharoah and the ambivalence to horse racing

May 4, 2015

With American Pharoah taking the Kentucky Derby all the way from the 16th post – and not the 17th as I earlier, erroneously reported – the dream of the Triple Crown is renewed and so is my uneasiness with my enthusiasm.

On the one hand, it was a terrific race with Pharoah – the misspelling is not a mistake – coming up from behind down the stretch to overtake Firing Line and Dortmund. There is something visceral about the power of these animals. I was jumping up and down in the living room, willing Pharoah to go.

On the other hand, jockey Victor Espinoza applied the whip many times in the stretch at the Run for the Roses to the point where you couldn’t help but think, Poor thing, A.P.’s already giving it his all. ...

A pharaonic Kentucky Derby

May 3, 2015

Congrats to American Pharoah – and yes, it is spelled the wrong way – for winning a thrilling 141st Kentucky Derby, coming down the stretch to overtake Dortmund, the third place finisher, and hold off Firing Line, who finished second.

It was the third Derby win and second in a row for jockey Victor Espinoza, who rode beloved California Chrome last year; the fourth win for trainer Bob Baffert; and the first win in four attempts for Egyptian-born owner Ahmed Zayat, who said he has no fears for the Preakness, which will be run May 16 at Pimilco in troubled Baltimore.

With the first leg of the Triple Crown concluded, the other race begins – the one that has for 37 years has been defined by dashed hopes. Can American Pharoah do what no horse has done since Affirmed in 1978 and win the Triple Crown? His talent says yes and history says no, the experts say.

I say it’s such a pharaonic challenge as to be both an irresistible dream – and subject. (“Criterion,” the planned third novel in my series “The Games Men Play,” is told in part from the viewpoint of the title racehorse, who’s trying to win the Triple Crown.)

Part of the fun of Derby Day is, of course, the fashion, and not just at Churchill Downs. In my guise as editor of WAG magazine, I was among the judges (with WVOX Radio’s John Marino and jockey Tyler Buter) of the Derby Hat Contest at Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway. ...