Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:34:34 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Max Watman :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Max+Watman istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/big-browns-loss-staves-off-naysayers/79575/ Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST At the start of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, I expected to see Da' Tara out front, but that was the last thing that unfolded according to plan. I did not expect to see him in front at the wire (and at the longest odds on the board, it's a pari-mutuel certainty that I was not alone in that assumption). I did not expect to see Big Brown shoved up into horses, bottle on the inside, and rank. I did not expect to see Kent Desormeaux asking him for his run and getting nothing. I did not expect to... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/big-brown-fails-test-of-champions-da-tara-takes/79502/ Sat, 7 Jun 2008 22:26:13 EST Thirty-eight to one longshot Da' Tara, trained by Nick Zito and owned by Robert LaPenta, jumped to the front of the Belmont Stakes, as expected. Less predictably, he stayed there, taking the race gate to wire, winning by 5 1/4 lengths, and clocking a final time of 2:29.65. Big Brown, making a bid to become the 12th Triple Crown-winner in American horse racing, finished dead last. It was Da' Tara's second win in eight starts, and as the longest shot on the board he paid $79 for a $2 win ticket... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/12-furlongs-from-eternal-glory/79465/ Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Horse racing is a gambling sport, and gambling is an act of faith. You have to put it on the line, and you have to believe. Saturday, when the biggest event in New York racing goes off at Belmont Park, will be a celebration of faith, a ritual parade replete with uniforms, flags, and a blast of bugles. Every dollar pushed through the betting windows is a prayer for the future. The majority of bettors will be laying their prayers on the undefeated bay colt named Big Brown, but every horse in the... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/post-draw-puts-brown-on-the-rail/79361/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In a short ceremony over scrambled eggs and steaming cups of coffee at Belmont Park, the post positions for the Belmont Stakes were drawn yesterday. It must be done; horses have to start from somewhere. With only 10 horses in the gate, position is not as crucial as it is in the crowded Kentucky Derby. The run to the first turn is long, as is the race. There's time to sort it all out. At the same time, the inside spot is not ideal for Triple Crown contender Big Brown. As the horses settle in to... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/can-big-brown-avoid-the-fate-of-smarty-jones/78961/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST It's been four years since we clung to the idea that Smarty Jones would take the Triple Crown in 2004. Four years since we last confronted the exciting possibility that we were about to end the drought since Affirmed, 30 years ago. I was certain Smarty would take it. Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat in the most smashing Belmont victory anyone will every see, promised us that Smarty would win the race by 25 lengths. Everyone was around the bend. We were a nation in love. A friend of mine... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/mighty-steed-big-brown-set-for-the-belmont/76582/ Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Many will say it can't be done, that horses arrive in New York at the threshold of greatness and find the race, which is run at a mile and a half, 5/16 of a mile longer than the Preakness, too long. But Big Brown looked like he could have run a lap around the track before the other horses started and still won. He looked like he was ready to run the Preakness again right after it was done. He will make the distance. Big Brown rolled into Baltimore undefeated and rolled through the Preakness... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/bettors-box-2008-05-16/76545/ Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 EST This year I'm pitting my (seemingly negligible) handicapping skills against my 2-year-old son, West. I'm sorry to say that the Watman Family Handicapping contest moves on to the next stage of the Triple Crown thoroughly embarrassed, without a ticket to cash among us. In years past, like when competing against gravity by throwing balls of paper with the runners' names on them out a window and seeing which landed closest to an appropriate commemorative glass, I at least felt no conflict of... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/big-brown-now-races-against-his-own-reputation/76574/ Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 EST In Saturday's run for a million dollars in Baltimore, the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, I'm going to go out on a very stout limb and suggest that I am not the only racing writer in America who feels that Big Brown is going to win. I'm also not the only guy in town who thinks that Big Brown has a chance to take the Triple Crown. In fact, I've read that some sports books are giving odds as low as even money that he'll do just that. But a chance and even money are two different... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/despite-belless-death-preakness-must-go/76114/ Fri, 9 May 2008 00:00:00 EST We're eight days away from the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Maryland, the second leg of the Triple Crown, run at 1 3/16 miles. Still, it seems the pall of the death of filly Eight Belles is falling over the racing scene. It is one of the strange and simple truths of horse racing that it moves along for both the fortunate and the forlorn. A trainer on his way to the biggest race of his life, whatever it may be, will still have a barn full of horses. Just because you've got a big horse headed... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/for-whom-eight-belles-tolled/75782/ Mon, 5 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The cameras cut away, looking for something, anything else to show, but it was hard to justify even a shot of the winner of America's greatest horse race as Eight Belles lay on the track in the last few moments of her life with both her ankles broken. Her death was abrupt. There was none of the lingering hope that accompanied Barbaro's injury just two years ago. There will be no get-well cards, no banners. Bundles of flowers, perhaps, but to where? For what? Had she run herself to death?... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/two-minutes-20-horses-one-champion/75776/ Fri, 2 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Ladies and Gentlemen: the Kentucky Derby. Three years ago, these 20 horses hit the ground, newborns, literally wet behind the ears. They were born in February, March, April, and May, and it's short odds that in the tradition of farm life everywhere, they were born in the dark morning hours. Someone stood near, their Wellingtons wet with dew, and watched as the young foal wobbled up on his spindly legs and tested his knobby knees. At that very moment, someone heard the bugle blow the call to the... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/bettors-box-2008-05-02/75741/ Fri, 2 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Those of you who have followed our coverage in this paper over the years will remember that I engage in what some might call frivolous handicapping contests against children and forces of nature. Two years ago, I put my handicapping savvy to the test against a 4-year-old neighbor. When the final counts were tallied, I was up 50 cents, and she was in ruin, down $33.25. Last year, before each of the Triple Crown races, I rolled up slips of paper with the runners' names on them and tossed them out... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/eight-belles-draws-spot-in-gate-with-the-big-boys/75649/ Thu, 1 May 2008 00:00:00 EST For all the hand-wringing of the trainers and the owners, for all the theorizing among the hacks and the handicappers, it must be said that where a horse landed last night in the draw to decide the post positions in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby is much less important than what he does after the gates clang open. A horse can win the derby the way Street Sense did last year from any spot in the gate. Street Sense relaxed, dropped back as far as 19th while all the other horses smashed... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/racings-impossible-irresistible-wager/75352/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The most popular horse race in America, the Kentucky Derby, is just a week away. Certainly people love the wonderful accoutrements — the hats, the juleps — and there is serious history to the race, and it's worth a lot of money. It's also an incredibly fun race to bet on. The Derby is the handicapper's crooked mountain peak — impossible and irresistible at the same time. Irresistible because it's the biggest thing going, because people watch it on television, and because the best horses from... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/triple-crown-contenders-to-clash-at-aqueduct/74210/ Fri, 4 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The ruby-throated hummingbirds have not yet returned to fly about the yard and drink nectar, but spring migration is underway nonetheless. The largest North American migratory beast is clanking northward, up the highways on a rolling bed of straw, nervously perched, eyes ablaze, twitching as the air gets cooler with every mile. The surest sign of spring is the arrival of the racehorses at Aqueduct. All the big horses have been south for the winter, pasturing and racing in balmy environs such as... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/cleaning-up-at-the-breeders/65314/ Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The Breeders' Cup was first run in 1984 at Hollywood Park, and it changed the face of racing. Until then, autumn had been a graceful progression of races at Keeneland and Belmont, and the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. Suddenly, everything was compressed. With this traveling marquee event, racing had another "greatest day" and most of the divisional championships would be decided at one track, over the course of one day. Races such as the Jockey Club Gold Cup have intrinsic ties to the track at... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/nine-running-the-classic/65351/ Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST 1. LAWYER RON Trainer: Todd Pletcher Jockey: John R. Velazquez Morning Line Odds: 5–2 This race is for 3-year-olds and up. Lawyer Ron falls into the "and up" part of that, and that's why he's the favorite. He's professional, and he's won 12 of 25. He used to have a hard time settling into a race, but he seems to have put that behind him and grown into a horse that knows how to run and won't be easily flapped. He's in a tough spot on the inside. He doesn't want the pace; he wants to shadow the... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/rags-returns-to-the-track-that-made-her-famous/62663/ Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST By all rights, the 112th running of the Grade 1 Gazelle on Saturday at Belmont Park should be a walk in the park for Rags to Riches. The last Grade 1 race she won, after all, was also at Belmont Park. That day she faced down 3-year-old colts to take the win money in the $1 million, 1 1 /2 mile Belmont Stakes. Going 1 1 /8 against fillies for $250,000? No problem, right? But it won't be so cut and dry. She's been in and out of training, she's missed two of the races trainer Todd Pletcher was... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/at-the-travers-its-street-senses-race-to-lose/61232/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST There are seven entrants for Saturday's $1 million Travers at Saratoga. The overwhelming favorite will be Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, and he deserves it. The race is his to lose. Since his romping victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to close his 2-year-old career, he has lost only two races, one by a head, and the other by a nose. Both of those were respectable losses — at Keeneland in the Bluegrass he drifted out in that mess of horses that crossed the finish more or less together... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/six-horses-try-to-defy-the-odds/61250/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST 1 HELSINKI Jockey Trainer Morning Line Odds Julien Leparoux Nicholas Zito 20–1 Helsinki's coming into this race off of an underwhelming finish in the Lemon Drop Kid Stakes at Saratoga. He's managed to get on the board in half of his starts, but his two wins were his March 18 maiden at Pimlico and a non-winners-of-1 allowance at Delaware. Typically, this is when one would write that he's in over his head in Grade 1 company, but that doesn't really apply to this race. Still, he'd have to take a... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/his-eye-is-on-the-haskell/59782/ Fri, 3 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Although it is clear that race fans should long for the direct, toe-to-toe, battle-it-out spirit that motivated the rivalry between horses such as Alydar and Affirmed, the measured chess game that is unfolding this year — with the next move made on the Jersey Shore this Sunday at the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park — is nothing less than thrilling. The thrill is slow and heavy, but it is building. Here's the play: These talented 3-year-olds, certainly the elite among them, will... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/jim-dandy-whitney-get-saratoga-off-to-fast-start/59317/ Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST The horse racing year can be roughly mapped out in a five act structure: We begin in the warm states with horses building their reputations and establishing themselves in the exposition. The second act comprises the early summer classics — for three-year-olds it's the Triple Crown. There's an awkward, early intermission, and then we hit the last week of July: The climax announced by the cry "and they're off at Saratoga!" and accompanied by the delicious scent of potato chips frying to a crisp... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/unlikely-underdog-rags-grabs-the-crown/56266/ Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST The sky out at Belmont on Saturday wasn't exactly a brilliant blue, sunshine, in fact, was scarce. But if one looked closely, there was a ray of sunlight shining squarely on Todd Pletcher's barn. Rags to Riches, trained by Pletcher, became third filly to win the Belmont Stakes, the first since Tanya took it in 1905, and the only filly to win over the current distance of 1 1/2 miles. She beat Preakness winner Curlin by a head, clocking 2:28.74 and paying $10.80 on a $2 bet. Although it took Todd... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/1-1-2-miles-will-define-curlin/56132/ Fri, 8 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Can it be? Are we here already? The summer solstice may be June 21, but for race fans, the bugler's call to the post at the Belmont Stakes is the harbinger of summer. Spring ends Saturday, about 2:25 minutes after they load seven horses into the gate for the Test of Champions, the 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes. After the Preakness Stakes, in which Curlin dug in after being passed on the turn and wore down Street Sense on the stretch to win it in the last steps, his jockey Robby Albarado said that... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/seven-horses-one-filly-one-huge-track/56169/ Fri, 8 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST 1. IMAWILDANDCRAZYGUY JOCKEY TRAINER MORNING LINE ODDS Mark Guidry Bill Kaplan 20–1 I have yet to understand what this horse is doing in Grade 1 company. He lollygagged in last place for most of the Derby and then managed to stroll up into fourth after the turn. In the stretch, he swung out and seemed to pick up the pace a little bit, having found himself alone out there on the outside fence. There's a way of analyzing races that accounts for how far off the rail the horse was running: If you... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/test-of-champions/56025/ Thu, 7 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Yesterday morning the lots were drawn and the post positions assigned for the 139th running of the 1.5 mile, $1 million Belmont Stakes — the third jewel of the Triple Crown, the high point of Belmont's spring and summer season, and the most difficult and challenging race any 3-year-old will ever run. I've written more than once this year that post-position is the most overrated variable in horse racing. It's the horse in the gate, not the gate. If your pony can overcome then you're going to win... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/fans-lose-as-street-sense-skips-belmont/55669/ Fri, 1 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST At a morning press conference at Churchill Downs yesterday, Carl Nafzger, the trainer of Kentucky Derby winner and last year's 2-year-old of the year Street Sense, said that he and owner James Tafel had made their decision, and that the horse would not run in the Belmont. "Let's don't chase spilled water," Nafzger said. "We got beat and we got outran. So that's behind us, and our decision now is to regroup." This is just one of the worst examples of what is becoming a torrent of unsportsmanlike... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/will-we-get-a-rematch-at-belmont/54861/ Mon, 21 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Everyone expected Curlin to grow up, but few expected the precocious winner of three of four starts to grow up quite so fast or quite so strong. Certainly no one expected the horse to transform in the middle of the Preakness Stakes. Curlin, having been passed on the turn as if he were standing still by Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, dug in hard and rallied back to get the nod. It was not an easy ride. Curlin stumbled out of the gate. Robby Albarado, up in the irons, steered the horse... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/at-preakness-a-second-act-for-street-sense/54796/ Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Nine horses will be called to the post tomorrow to race 1 3/16 miles for $1 million in the 132nd running of the Preakness. Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense is the Big Horse, the favorite, and the horse to beat. With a smaller field and a shorter distance, the Preakness is a more straightforward race than the Derby. (Or the forthcoming Belmont Stakes.) But it's not easy. It's a million-dollar Grade 1 classic with its own problems, the biggest of which is timing: The Preakness is two weeks... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/bettors-box/54771/ Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 EST As a gambler, there are things one just does not do. You do not chase the pot attempting to make up for previous losses, you do not plunge on the basis of 'tips,' no matter how reputable their provenance, and you do not ever, ever gloat. Now, we're all guilty of a little gloating — remember me lording it over my 4-year-old neighbor last year? That was in fun. The maneuvers of this paper, however, are of a different stripe. In praising me and Geoffrey Foster, who edits this page, in our... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/nine-run-for-the-black-eyed-susans/54787/ Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 EST 1 MINT SLEWLEP TRAINER: W. Robert Bailes JOCKEY: Alan Garcia MORNING LINE ODDS: 30-1 His one try around two turns was on the tight little bull ring inner track at Aqueduct, and he didn't like it much, finishing 7 1/4 lengths up the track in fifth. There's not a lot of horses in the gate here, and clearly, it's nice to run a horse in the Preakness, so why not. But it must be said that if he's going get anywhere near the money tomorrow, it's going to take more than the so-called rally that moved... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/as-the-preakness-nears-all-eyes-on-street-sense/54256/ Fri, 11 May 2007 00:00:00 EST With the Preakness just more than a week away, all eyes are turned to Kentucky Derby victor Street Sense and the Triple Crown. This year, the general consensus seems to be that the Preakness will be a rematch between Street Sense and the Derby pacesetter and runner-up, Hard Spun. Given the Derby both of them ran, that's not a hard sell. The rest of the 3-year-olds in the country are a long way up the track behind those two. However, it is always worth remembering, as a gambler and a fan, that... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/poseurs-separated-from-players-in-two-minutes/53951/ Mon, 7 May 2007 00:00:00 EST It's hard to believe Derby 133 is over. For months we worry and we plan, we theorize and we calculate, we hope and we gamble, and then: "Riders up!" The bugler blows his call to the post. Twenty horses are walking the post-parade to the Kentucky Derby. The bets are in, and the training is over. Conjecture is on a collision course with reality, and it transpires in front of the queen of England, under the blue Kentucky sky. The race was beautiful. Street Sense came from well off the pace to take... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/crowning-achievement-2007-05-04/53847/ Fri, 4 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Ladies and Gentlemen: the Kentucky Derby. Back when the earth was still hoary and the sky gray, we looked to Florida, to Arkansas, to California, and occasionally to icy Aqueduct to watch a young crop of colts begin the march toward the first Saturday in May. They were young and unpredictable, and we were straining to see if they would live up to or exceed their juvenile reputations, or if they would, like so many prodigies, disappoint as maturity neared. In each case, the jury remains out. The... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/horses-are-at-the-gate/53816/ Fri, 4 May 2007 00:00:00 EST 1 SEDGEFIELD TRAINER JOCKEY MORNING LINE ODDS Darrin Miller Julien Leparoux 50–1 Well, he's run on grass, and he won once there, and he's run on polytrack, and he won once there, and his last win was a 40K allowance four races back, yeah, that sounds like Derby to me. Wait, does sarcasm come through on newsprint? 2 CURLIN Steve Asmussen Robby Albarado 7–2 Curlin's maiden at Gulfstream was eye popping. He took control of that race right out of the box and owned it all the way through. He... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/kentucky-derby-time-means-open-thy-wallet/53699/ Thu, 3 May 2007 00:00:00 EST Three things were accomplished yesterday at the draw to decide the post positions for the final 20 entries in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Most important, the connections draw lots and select where in the gate their horses will start their runs. Heavy strategy is involved: Speed horses, rabbits, and closers all have different needs and different strategies and they are all, um, jockeying for whatever advantage they can get. For the most part, I've come to think it's hot air. There are two kinds... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/barbaro-legacy-stretches-past-a-glorious-day/47635/ Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Yesterday morning, with pain inevitable and recovery all but impossible, 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized. He had been in intensive care for eight months. Twenty minutes before the horses were called to the post for last May's Preakness Stakes, the second act of the Triple Crown races, a friend text-messaged me from an OTB and asked me for my picks. I can't remember what plays I gave him, but I do remember that I closed with "Barbaro wins Trip C." Not only did turf hacks... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/spirit-of-the-isles/37642/ Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST It takes a while for my crew to appear in the pages of "And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in 10 Cocktails" (Crown, 294 pages, $24) by Wayne Curtis. Although we are nameless when we do show up, we are there, with our "faux primitive statues, the blowfish lamps, the netting, the thatch over the home tiki bar, the Martin Denny albums." Indeed, that was the scene at a friend's house in the 1990s. He was a fine bartender — he did it professionally on the weekends as a second job, even... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/barbaros-legacy-will-extend-far-beyond-churchill/36067/ Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST It's been 17 years since the malady of the hoof known as laminitis made headlines, when Secretariat was put down at Claiborne farm in Kentucky at the age of 19 to assuage his unbearable pain. At press time, the Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is hanging on to his life by a fragile thread.The undefeated winner of six races in a row broke down in May, just yards out of the starting gate at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. He had been the favorite for the Preakness stakes that day, the second leg of... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/jazil-jara-point-the-way-to-summer/34230/ Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST For horseplayers and race fans, Spring merges into Summer in the days following the Belmont Stakes. There's lots of good racing left at Belmont every Wednesday through Sunday, and some explosive stakes races are scheduled for the weekend of July 4th (the Dwyer & the Mother Goose), as well as the July 22nd Coaching Club American Oaks. In reality, it's still ages before we pack up our kits and head north for Saratoga. But we can see the summer races taking shape - the 3-year-old colts have... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/triple-crown-trail-leads-to-belmont/34142/ Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST New York racing's biggest day is upon us. Out at the big park in Elmont, there's a buzz in the air and a bounce in people's steps. Once again, the flowers have been freshened, the grass clipped, the bunting hung. Saturday morning, the trains will roll in, the fans will line up, and the Clydesdales will start marching, resplendent and proud. There's $1 million in the pot for the 138th running of the Belmont Stakes, and another page of racing history to be written. Which byline will head that... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/on-the-track-at-belmont/34182/ Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST If you curl up with the racing form tonight, you'll be that much better prepared for the races on Saturday. Here's what I'll be thinking about as I obsessively search the past performances for the big overlooked score. For the shut-ins among you, unable to take the trip out to Belmont Park, the stakes are televised on ABC,which is airing coverage from 5:30 p.m. to 7 pm. ESPN has the whole undercard starting at noon. 1. PLATINUM COUPLE TRAINER JOCKEY Joseph Lostritto Jose Espinoza LAST RACE ODDS... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/belmont-bettors-box/34186/ Fri, 9 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Inspired by the fact that the only win ticket I knew on the 50-1 shot Giacomo in last year's Derby was the one chosen by a six year old daughter of a friend of mine, I figured I'd rope a young neighbor, 4-year-old Raina, into choosing horses with me for the Triple Crown. We've bet the Derby and the Preakness together, making pretend $5 straight bets - win, place, and show - on our picks. Raina has yet to cash a ticket, she's $30 down going into this race, and I have cashed two tickets so far... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/belmont-draw-short-on-names-long-on-talent/34087/ Thu, 8 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST As spring stretches toward summer, we come to the third act of the annual Triple Crown trail. It's been rough traveling this year, with each of the first two races providing dramatic, action packed, uplifting, and heart wrenching stories. We started in Kentucky on the first Saturday in May with a generation of incredibly promising colts, easily the most competitive Derby field in years, and we came out of it thinking that we had a superhorse. It was a glorious moment for racing - the sun was... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/horse-racing-takes-a-u-turn-down-the-stretch/33413/ Fri, 26 May 2006 00:00:00 EST Coming out of the prep season and into the Kentucky Derby this spring, it was easy to think that we were going to be propelled through the Triple Crown season in a kind of jet car roller coaster that would pop us out the other side in mid June with a flurry of memories: Hard won battles down the stretch, regional rivalries,150,000 fans at the Belmont Stakes, and high stakes gambles on a profoundly talented generation of 3-year-old colts. After the Kentucky Derby, we added to the mix the... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/arts/band-that-defined-heavy-metal/33220/ Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 EST To understand the three Motφrhead records that were recently re-released on the Sanctuary label, you have to rewind to the summer of 1969, when a band named Hawkwind emerged from London's underground scene. Hawkwind sang a lot about outer space. They played weird instruments. They had an interpretive dancer named Stacia, who often took the stage naked. They played a lot for free, setting up outdoors with an anarchistic freak-out band called the Pink Fairies. Their most lasting hit was a song... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/world-awaits-news-of-barbaro-after-his-surgery/33129/ Mon, 22 May 2006 00:00:00 EST It took roughly a dozen seconds for the horse racing story of the year - if not the decade - to change tenor and flip from bubbly and bright to tragic. As is well-known by now, undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro misstepped early in the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes and fractured his right hind leg. Dr. Dean Richardson, Chief of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center described the injury in a statement, reporting that Barbaro suffered three fractures: one in... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/so-far-so-good-for-barbaro/33099/ Sun, 21 May 2006 22:00:08 EST It took roughly a dozen seconds for the horseracing story of the year — if not the decade — to change tenor and flip from bubbly and bright to tragic. As is well known by now, undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro mis-stepped early in the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes and fractured his right hind leg. Dr. Dean Richardson, Chief of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center described the injury in a statement, reporting that Barbaro suffered three fractures: one in... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/preakness-stunned-as-barbaro-is-pulled-up-with/33096/ Sat, 20 May 2006 20:52:42 EST In a startling and unfortunate twist on the Triple Crown trail, heavy favorite, Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was pulled up by jockey Edgar Prado in front of the grandstand just a few hundred yards into the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes with an injury to his right hind leg. As of this writing, we await news of his health. It seems clear that he'll never race again. It is tempting to see his prerace shenanigans, his hotblooded jump through the gate onto the track before the start, as a... MAX WATMAN http://www.nysun.com/sports/with-half-his-rivals-gone-barbaro-eyes-preakness/33008/ Fri, 19 May 2006 00:00:00 EST With Barbaro, Brother Derek, Sweetnorthernsaint, and the newcomers all ready to roll in Saturday's 131st Preakness Stakes, there is only one question to ask: How many miles to go until fantasy confronts reality? Two weeks ago, we saw Barbaro win the Derby by the largest margin in six decades. He looked like he had more to give. He wasn't lucky. The race didn't fall apart. It was a well-earned, commanding victory over the cream off the top of a strong generation of colts. And so the buzz began...