Michael Dubb

Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso's Doctor Jeff (Street Boss), a first-out winner in a six-furlong off-turf maiden special weight at Belmont Park July 10, will step right up to graded company as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special S. The chestnut colt earned a Special field-high 78 Beyer Speed Figure for his 2 1/4-length debut win and he has recorded three breezes over the main track at Saratoga, including a bullet five-furlong work in :59.61 Sunday, for trainer Rudy Rodriguez. "I'm just very happy with the way...

Tribhuvan channeled his inner Presious Passion--a winner of this event in both 2008 and 2009--to effectively employ catch-me-if-you-can tactics and reach the highest level. Opening up as many as five lengths while appearing well within himself through splits of :24.01, :49.32, 1:15.47 and 1:40.16. Foes stacked up behind him leaving the final turn, but Flavien Prat was still sitting chilly and as son as he gave Tribhuvan his cue in upper stretch it was clear he couldn't be caught. "We had a good trip," said California-based Prat, who is increasingly...

by Michael Dubb. Editor's note: The following letter appeared in the March 28, 2021 print editions of the Saratogian and Troy Record, and is reprinted here with their permission. While the pandemic irrevocably changed each and every one of us, perhaps no one will be impacted more significantly in the long term than our children. Mental health and education experts are just starting to reckon with the fallout of this unprecedented "lost year", which resulted in remote learning and isolation from friends and extended family. Most experts agree, however, that...

Jockey Eric Cancel tied a NYRA record with six wins Sunday to propel himself to a first riding title on closing day of Aqueduct's 2020-21 Aqueduct winter meet. The 24-year-old finished the meet with 78 winners--two ahead of Kendrick Carmouche. "I've been trying to take everything in a good way and try to make every step better and better," said Cancel, who was 2015's leading apprentice by earnings and a finalist for that year's Outstanding Apprentice Eclipse Award. "I think right now, I'm on my top game. I know the...

Excellent Timing rewarded his new connections with a dominant front-running score in the Damon Runyon S. for New York-breds Sunday. Second on debut at Belmont as the chalk Oct. 18, the dark bay ran up the score to 7 1/4 lengths and earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure going a sixteenth shorter here Dec. 10 for Happy Face Racing Stable and Charlton Baker. He subsequently changed hands privately, and was heavily favored to handle the next test. Right to the front, Excellent Timing doled out soft splits of :24.49 and...

A new childcare center serving families and children of the backstretch community at Saratoga Race Course is scheduled to open in summer 2021, the Belmont Child Care Association, Inc. (BCCA) has announced. The 4,300-square-foot childcare center will be located on the Oklahoma side of the Saratoga backstretch. Funded by Michael and Lee Dubb, the facility will be named Faith's House in honor of Faith Dubb, mother of BCCA founder and board chairman Michael Dubb. Faith's House will provide child care and early education programs for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children....

After Uni (GB) (More Than Ready)'s five-year-old campaign which concluded in the Champion Turf Female award, bloodstock advisors suggested to the partners in her ownership group that it might be time to retire and sell her. After all, the owners had probably already gotten more than they had bargained for: they  had campaigned her at 3, 4, and 5, and watched her win three Grade I stakes as well as Grade II, Grade III and Listed events. But, "Sol and I are and Bobby are racing guys," said Michael Dubb...

Plum Ali remained undefeated and picked up her second straight stakes win with a convincing score in Sunday's GII Miss Grillo S. on the Belmont turf. Unveiled going two turns over the Saratoga lawn July 23, the $65,000 Keeneland September buy rallied to a two-length success. Shipped south to Kentucky Downs for the Mint Juvenile Fillies S. Sept. 7, the chestnut overcame a troubled start and uncorked a powerful late run to score going away by 2 3/4 lengths. Hammered down late to even-money favoritism, Plum Ali traveled last of...

Duly favored after an easy two-length win going 1 1/16 miles at Saratoga on debut July 23, she made the jump up to black-type company look easy at Kentucky Downs Monday. Well off the pace while saving ground against the fence, she continued to rate patiently at the half-mile mark in :48.23. Set down for the drive and shifted out to the center of the course through the long Kentucky Downs stretch, the chestnut seized command inside the final 300 yards and quickly put the race to bed, winning with...

What Mike Caruso missed most when his collegiate wrestling career was over was the competition, the fierce desire to win and the nervous excitement that would build up in him before every match. It wasn't just that he was good, it was that he felt he had to win every time. Forty-three years after he last wrestled and wrapped up his third NCAA championship, Caruso has recaptured those feelings, discovering them in horse racing. "I get butterflies in my stomach before every race," he said. "That means it is meaningful....

Reigning champion turf mare Uni (GB) (More Than Ready), who finished third in her seasonal debut in the June 27 GI Just A Game S., may make her next start against colts in the GI Fourstardave S. Aug. 22 at Saratoga Race Course. The Chad Brown trainee, who suffered her only loss of 2019 in last year's Fourstardave, wrapped up her championship-earning season by taking the GI First Lady S. at Keeneland in course-record time and the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita. "The only Grade I going a...

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) is set to reopen its Belmont Park daycare center Anna House June 22 with strict new safety protocols in place. The childcare and early-childhood education facility designed for the families of backstretch workers, most of whom are based at Belmont Park, has been closed since Mar. 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers and staff at the facility are currently undergoing training on the new protocols, which will utilize the health guidance established by the New York State Department of Health, the U.S. Centers...