Go For Wand

Sunday dawned emotionally overcast for a racing world still trying to process Saturday's stunning, life-ending injury to the unbeaten New York-bred filly Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), who was steps from victory in the GI Test S. at Saratoga when she crashed to the track with a catastrophic injury to her right foreleg. She was euthanized on the spot, while jockey Joel Rosario escaped serious injury (three lip stitches) and was off his Sunday mounts. The very public, deep-stretch tragedy on a huge day of racing is comparable to the...

I am a man comprised of many parts. Certainly among them: sports fan. Yes, the big three--basketball, football, baseball--but also soccer, hockey, and, of course, horse racing. I've attended a Summer Olympics, where I witnessed amazing track and field, swimming, and boxing. I also saw two sports for the first (and last) time--judo and team handball. My father, before the interstate was even finished, would drive my siblings and I to Crosley Field in Cincinnati to watch our beloved Reds. As a youngster he took us to Kentucky football and...

Sharp Starr (Munnings) became the second New York-bred to defeat open company in a graded event at Aqueduct Saturday, defeating her elders in the GIII Go for Wand H. Co-favored at 6-5, the Barry Schwartz homebred pressed from second, glued to the outside hip of leader Portal Creek (Shanghai Bobby) through opening splits of :23.26 and :46.72. Scrubbed on by Jose Ortiz turning for home, the bay was the only one chasing after Portal Creek in the stretch as they pulled well clear of the others. Sharp Starr dug deep...