Pick up your notebook and dump it into the newspaper. My old college professor didn’t exactly use those words, but the E-307 (introduction to journalism) lectures did include instructions to that effect.
So here goes.
– Rusty Arnold ran It’s Tea Time in the slop Sunday and she rewarded her trainer with a stakes victory in the Woodford Reserve Lake Placid. It wasn’t a Grade II turf stakes like it was supposed to be, but the race still paid owner/breeder Alex Campbell $90,000 and rewarded Arnold with his third win of the meet.
The triple (so far) sure out-does last year’s winless campaign. Arnold’s horses lost every race they ran at Saratoga in 2009, but added to the frustration by placing second nine times.
Ouch. Based in Kentucky for much of the year, Arnold didn’t kick his dog when he got home but probably couldn’t wait for Saratoga 2010 to come around.
“Winning races sure beats not winning one, but if you do this long enough it happens to you,” Arnold said.
The change in luck made Arnold think about his first season in Saratoga. Summer 1987, the year of Iran-Contra, the year the Dow Jones passed 2,000 for the first time, the year Channing Hill was born.
Arnold got stalls in Saratoga for the first time and went full of expectations.
“I wanted to win a race, I wanted to look good and I had one 2-year-old filly that could really run,” said Arnold. “I thought she’d win a maiden race. I bring her up here, get her in a maiden race, they run it and she’s third, probably beaten 10 lengths.”
Arnold walked out of the track, muttering.
“She’s the best filly I got and she got beat 10 lengths? What do I do now? I thought I had her ready.”
Arnold’s filly, Bippus, turned out to be OK (she won a few races, anyway) – but she had an excuse in her debut loss.
Winning Colors, who won the Kentucky Derby the next year, won the race. Epitome, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies that fall, finished second.
“I got beat by two champions in the same race,” Arnold said. “Welcome to Saratoga.”
– By now you might know Steve Asmussen watches many of his charges’ races from the grandstand apron. He stands in front of Section M or so – down by the eighth pole, at the fence, watching his stable stars streak past.
No box seat, no big screen TV in the clubhouse, no racing-office couch. Why? He likes the view from there.
“You ever see (the movie) Casey’s Shadow?” Asmussen asked after he wandered into the winner’s circle after taking the Saratoga Special with Kantharos Aug. 15. “I grew up watching races at Ruidoso and when you walked out of the paddock, the horsemen’s stand was right there, about the eighth pole. Just a huge habit, that’s where I want to watch the race from. I’ve thought about it before, it’s where I grew up watching races and I guess I’m stuck to it.”
My father used to do the same thing, but it had nothing to do with Ruidoso. Dad liked to get away from his kids, his owners, the pressures and typically watched the races from far down the grandstand. Fourmatt, Rollicking Run, Money By Orleans, Hawaiki, Tattieboggle, they weren’t Kantharos, Majesticperfection or Rachel Alexandra but the point was the same – he just wanted to see his horses run without all the fuss.
– Did you see the results of Woodbine’s Sky Classic Stakes Sunday? Marsh Side, who was at Saratoga about a week ago, won the Canadian Grade I.
Trained by Neil Drysdale for Robert Evans, the turf veteran shipped from California in search of soft turf. Drysdale looked at the Sword Dancer; it didn’t rain. He looked at the Arlington Million; it didn’t rain enough. He chose Canada, where Marsh Side and Edgar Prado won easily.
While waiting, Marsh Side spent a night at Clare Court, a few more at John Hertler’s barn on the Oklahoma side and galloped around the Oklahoma track.
– Spring Street Deli, D’Andrea’s Pizza, the Stadium Cafes, Uncommon Grounds, Saratoga Coffee Traders, the Bread Basket, Scallions, the Wishing Well, . . . Lil Red’s Coffee Stand, The Fire House, DeRossi’s.
The Special and the Clancys go way back when it comes to Saratoga food, but we may have finally arrived in 2010. Isabel’s Bistro and the Cupcake Lab, our neighbor at 517 Broadway (actually best accessed via Long Alley), named two menu items after us. Can you believe it?
The Clancy is an egg and cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on homemade French bread. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The Saratoga Special Salad is a combination of the restaurant’s three favorite menu items – Mesclun greens salad, chopped walnuts, craisins and gorgonzola with portions of house-made hummus and fresh Albacore tuna salad on the side.
See you in the dining room.
