I never met Dr. Feelgood, and I’m mad about it. The dark gray gelding was everything right about the Thoroughbred – fast, tough, smart, game, friendly, classy, cool. The December magazine covered his victory in the Dash for Cash on the West Virginia Breeders Classics card in October.
And now I’m writing his obituary.
Call it the 77-percent rule. In November, New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Dr. Scott Palmer noted that 77 percent of the more than 100 Thoroughbreds formerly in the barns of trainers indicted this spring for the use of performance enhancing substances tested positive for the medication clenbuterol.
Kegasus. The guy who tried to fight Artax. Infield lacrosse games. Afleet Alex and Scrappy T. Infield concerts. Genuine Risk and Codex. Infield races on the rooftops of portable toilets. Secretariat’s timer malfunction. Shopping-cart hustlers. Bodexpress. Park Heights front-lawn chicken barbeques.
One day this winter, in between covering races at Laurel Park, I got a phone call from Georganne Hale. Could I come to the office of track president Sal Sinatra? It felt a little like getting summoned to the principal’s office, and my first reaction was to wonder if I’d written something Sinatra didn’t appreciate.
The horse just stood there with his head over the yoke screen in a five-stall barn on a Pennsylvania afternoon. Bay, old, plain, but regal, wise. Something said class, like he’d been places and done things.
Then his halter nameplate came into proper view.
How’s your summer going? If you’re reading this, you’ve probably experienced a little bit of every-thing – success, failure, status quo, good news, bad news, darkness, bright lights, confidence, doubt . . . The list of 2020 experiences for Thoroughbred racing could go in any direction imaginable – and unimaginable.
Go ahead and admit it. This feels different, right? This magazine, is it smaller? New? Old? Something changed, right? Well, yes and no. The magazine pages are the same size – 8.125 inches by 10.875 inches – there are just fewer of them.
But we don’t think you’ll mind.
Erich Zimny could barely contain himself. The thought of Charles Town Races, where he is the vice president of racing and sports operations, being the only pari-mutuel wagering option in the United States on Thursday, May 14 provoked pure glee, giddiness even.
