Dr. Fager

It's been almost 55 years since Dr. Fager set a world record for the mile distance when winning the 1968 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park in 1:32 1/5, a record that has yet to be broken. In 1973, Secretariat won the GI Kentucky Derby, covering the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 2/5, a record that still stands 49 years later. There are other examples, all leading to the same conclusion--the Thoroughbred racehorse is not getting any faster. Some believe that horses have gotten as fast as they can get,...

The FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes will return to Gulfstream Park with a series of races for 2-year-olds sired by accredited stallions standing in Florida from late summer through early fall. The $100,000 Dr. Fager, a six-furlong sprint, and the $100,000 Desert Vixen, a six-furlong dash for fillies, will kick off the 2022 FSS series Aug. 6. The $200,000 Affirmed will be contested at seven-furlongs Sept. 3, the same day as the $200,000 Susan's Girl for fillies. The $400,000 In Reality and the $400,000 My Dear Girl for fillies, the 1...

Never mind a Fountain of Youth. Right now we find ourselves in need of a rather more pressing therapy. Without wishing to be impertinent, in Europe it does feel as though the insidious economic peril of coronavirus--quite apart from its biological impact, deadly as that can be--has been grasped rather more urgently on one side of the Atlantic than the other. That's perfectly understandable, given its unexplained foothold in Italy at a time when the U.S. President could still declare that domestic cases would "within a couple of days... be...

by Reg Lansberry Tommy Trotter, whose 56-year career encompassed decades as one of the sport's most acclaimed racing secretaries, died Sunday in Aventura, FL, after a brief illness. In addition to his renown as a racing secretary, he was a widely respected handicapper who stamped the immortal careers of Kelso, Forego and other champions by assigning them forbidding amounts of handicap weight that served to certify their greatness. "When I think of Tommy Trotter, I think of Jimmy Kilroe," said Tom Robbins, executive vice president for racing at Del Mar....

Historians are most likely to agree that the 1850s were probably the true beginning of the immigration era in the United States. Not only was this the decade in which the Irish made their first forays to this these shores due to the potato famine, but also the Germans began to flock here to be followed by the Italians, Polish, Greeks, Hungarians-representing the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish religions. This went on to the 1920s when assimilation took hold and the modern American character was developed. Why bring this up? Well,...