Bob Duncan

Frank Calvarese, who held the position of head starter at the NYRA tracks from 1984 through 1993, passed away Thursday at his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 96. He died of heart failure. "He was a great horseman and a great man," said his wife, Lisa. "He was ill for about a month, but during the last year he had been on the decline. But he looked so young. He looked great. He still had his black hair and he grew a goatee. He even looked great...

On Thursday in Palm Beach, Bob Duncan was honored with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence acknowledging his contribution to the sport of horse racing through his work at the starting gate. I loudly applaud the NTRA, DRF and National Turf Writers & Broadcasters for recognizing Bob's unique talent and gift to racing with this award. I applaud Bob himself for his approach to his craft and the shining example he has set in handling horses with respect as partners in winning races. Bob and his craft are known...

Bob Duncan, whose career spans better than 50 years at the tracks of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), will be honored with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence during the Resolute Racing Eclipse Award ceremonies at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, Jan. 22. The award recognizes Duncan's horsemanship and his work to foster the human-equine relationship at the starting gate. Duncan, who grew up in Elmont, NY, began working at the NYRA tracks in 1967-1968 and returned from a stint in the U.S. Army in...

There's nothing a horse can tell Bob Duncan about the terrors of a confined space. He was already on the gate crew, back in 1968, when he went to visit his parents at Laurel, where his dad was training a small string. After an evening at a nearby bar, his buddy threw him the keys. Different car, different handling. Coming to a railroad bridge, he suddenly realized that he wasn't going to make the turn. "We hit these cement pilings, plunged over the side," Duncan recalls. "We had waist belts...

Officially, SMALL is a one-man show, written and performed by Robert (Bobby) Montano, the story of his years-long attempt to maintain riding weight and the lengths he went to in order to do so. But it would be more appropriately described as a show with over a dozen roles, all played by Montano. Over 85 minutes, Montano slides in and out of different characters that all of us in racing will recognize, from Bob and Sue Duncan to Robert Pineda to Mickey Preger to stereotypical assistant trainers and fellow exercise...

In Tuesday's TDN, we ran part I of Diana Pikulski's interview with Robert (Bob) Duncan (click here to read). This two-part piece is the first in a series called Equine Ethics, which examines ways in which racing can exist in the most ethical way possible. RD: My next ah-ha moment occurred with horse trainer Pat Parelli. After my visit with Monty, I started exploring the internet for more horse related info. The name that kept popping up was Pat Parelli of Parelli Natural Horsemanship. I was then lucky enough to...

Editor's note: This column is the first in our new series about the strides horse racing is making to advance the ethical treatment of racehorses. On many levels, those in horse racing and breeding are working to ensure the sport is humane and ethical. New studies and standards about track surfaces, stress, medications, diagnostics and more, shed light on how to ensure the safety and comfort of racehorses. Enforcement of anti-doping regulations has reached a new level with better use of surveillance, hotlines and other anti-crime tactics. And in the...

Note from the publisher: If you're like many of us, you have been assailed by friends, family and members of your community as you have gone about your daily life for the past two weeks. "Was the horse drugged? Was it the cream?" I never thought I'd be discussing picograms at pickleball, but here we are. Sunday brought a new wave of texts and emails with the publication of an op/ed from the New York Times editorial board, and a devastating article in the New Yorker. People I haven't heard...