Ballston Spa graduate Bryce Tuohy continues his chase of a horse racing career after receiving one of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. scholarships

Bryce Tuohy is no stranger to the Winner’s Circle at Saratoga Race Course.

Something that started in collecting jockey autographs and getting an unforgettable fist-bump from a Hall of Fame trainer has evolved into helping to present trophy presentations while learning the horse racing industry.

The Ballston Spa graduate who is attending the University of Louisville’s Equine Industry program made another trip to the Winner’s Circle on Friday. This time, he was the recipient of the Debby Malloy Winkler Scholarship presented by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.

The scholarship, named after the late daughter of Thoroughbred breeder and owner Vivien Malloy, recognizes full-time students who are committed to the future of Thoroughbred racing based on their academic work and industry involvement.

For Tuohy, the award reflects more than a summer spent working for the New York Racing Association and gaining experience on the backstretch.

“It means so much,” he said. “I’m so involved because I work to get there. I’m going to an out-of-state school to study a program and pursue the career of my dreams. This scholarship gives me a chance to be able to attend there and not have as much of a financial burden.”

That career goal combines two lifelong interests: business and horse racing.

Tuohy’s interest in business stems from his family background with both his father and grandfather as accountants. Inspired by their career, he followed a similar path.

“A lot of people in my family studied business and worked on the numbers side of business,” he said. “They really planned out their lives in a way where everything made sense financially. Everything in life is a business, if you think about it. My dad told me that from a young age.”

With his focus on entrepreneurship and business, Tuohy participated in the New York State Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) program through the partnership between Ballston Spa High School and Hudson Valley Community College. Taking classes at the TEC-SMART campus in Malta, as well as his AP courses, Tuohy earned 54 college credits that transferred to Louisville.

“That was really a great program,” he said about P-TECH. “I thought the curriculum was interesting. I thought it was different from the high school or the group work setting.”

At Louisville, Tuohy wanted to build past his New York experiences and connections in the Equine Industry Program, the only undergraduate equine program worldwide to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. 

“I wanted to go to the University of Louisville because they have all the networking and connections [in Kentucky],” he said. “I thought it would be a great way to get a broad understanding of how the equine business works.”

While Louisville offered an opportunity to build connections, Tuohy’s passion for horse racing began much earlier. His grandfather often went to Roosevelt Raceway and other Long Island racetracks. Even some of Tuohy’s photos feature himself as a newborn at the racetrack.

“I come from a big family that loves horse racing,” Tuohy said. “They love going to the races, watching the horses run, and picking out the horses. Growing up around the races, I fell in love with the horses and the people.”

Like many 12-year-olds seeking jockey autographs, Tuohy got something extra on the final day of the 2022 Saratoga meet. After congratulating Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, whose Backyard Money won in the middle of the Closing Day card, he received a fist-bump, an invitation to the Winner’s Circle, and an open invitation to learn more about racing. That was a life-changing moment for Tuohy.

“That really inspired me,” Tuohy said. “That really helped change my life. I want to inspire people in the same way that he inspired me by getting involved racing and becoming a part of a group that can chase their dreams instead of an outsider.”

A couple of years after that moment, Tuohy chased his dream by learning from another trainer: Gary Contessa. Fascinated by Contessa’s YouTube videos about training horses, Tuohy wanted to learn more from him. Knowing it was going to be an initial challenge, Tuohy started helping him around his Saratoga barn while learning about being a trainer.

“I started at the bottom. He didn’t think I’d keep showing up around the rainy days and the cold mornings,” Tuohy said. “He really was an open book. He taught me a lot about training, all the paperwork, everything that had to go into his operation.”

During the afternoons, Tuohy worked as an usher at bottom of the stairs near the trophy case closet for NYRA. In helping bring the Alabama trophy to the Winner’s Circle two years ago, he was assigned to assist with the trophy presentations. He now also escorts the winning connections to the Carmen H. Barrera Horsemen’s Lounge for champagne and gifts.

As an intern shadowing NYRA Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Andrew Offerman, Tuohy has learned various aspects of the racetrack: the barn stall office, the racing stewards, the track veterinarians, the paddock judge, the placing judges and the racing office.

“I would go like a different place every day and I learned how the procedures worked in each different department,” he said.

This season, Tuohy also found time to assist around the backstretch. During the five-week stretch that started on the Fourth of July Racing Festival, he assisted H. James Bond and his team in setting up the feed and tack, getting horses out of the barn and track on time, and hotwalking the horses.

Tuohy’s experience has even extended off track with his work at Mill Creek Farm. When he was a junior at Ballston Spa, Tuohy spent his weekends and school breaks to help the 120-horse farm while learning about working with foals, those on a layoff, stallions, and others.

While Tuohy plans to spend the next four years at Louisville, he plans to come back to New York, especially since he considers Saratoga his summer home.

“I’ll be back,” Tuohy said. “I’m not 100% sure what my plan is, but I am going to have a career here. I love Saratoga, so this is the place to be in the summer. This is my home.”

When Belmont Park was opened on Long Island in 1905, it was comprised of 400 acres north of the Hempstead Turnpike and 160 acres on the south side. The track designers built a passenger rail terminal on the southern acreage, where they also staged jump racing. The United Hunts Racing Association held steeplechase events there, and the proximity of the rail connection gave rise to the name Belmont Park Terminal Course. 

John McEntee Bowman became the President of United Hunts Racing Association in 1922. Mr. Bowman was one of the best rags-to-riches stories in turf history, from immigrant stable groom to multi-millionaire owner and track operator, while developing a successful national business brand, the Biltmore Hotel chain. He truly was the personification of the “American Dream.”

Following the death of August Belmont, the succeeding track management re-evaluated priorities and decided to convert all the land surrounding the rail terminal into a housing development. United Hunts conducted their last meet over the Belmont Park Terminal Course in the spring of 1927.

Mr. Bowman was building a luxury resort north of Manhattan in Rye, New York, a few years before the cessation of the Terminal track. This novel facility encompassed several hundred acres, and the construction taking place was setting a new standard for accommodation and resident services.

John Bowman decided this location, in Westchester County, would provide a solution for United Hunts losing their competition site in Metropolitan New York.

In early October 1927, Bowman Park, the new steeplechase course of the Westchester Biltmore Steeplechase Association, became operational. It was a complete racing plant on a tract of 125 acres, designed as a new home for sport where visitors would find every convenience and comfort.

The second season in 1928 at Bowman Park was more exciting than the first, with Amelia Earhart shooting touch-and-go’s on the polo grounds in her Avro Avian, while she resided at the Putnam residence in Rye, completing her first book (20 Hrs., 40 Min. Our Flight in the Friendship).

The inaugural running of the New York Turf Writers’ Steeplechase was added to the 1928 season stakes schedule. The conditions were four-year-olds and up, gentleman riders, for 3.5 miles over post and rail.

The scribes who labored under familiar mastheads, most of which are long gone, made a few failed attempts to organize themselves into an association in the early 1900’s. They shared a unique bond in their task, providing accurate correspondence from the press boxes of the racing world, under the pressure of a daily deadline. The New York Turf Writers Association was formed as a guild in 1923.

The first winner of the New York Turf Writers’ Steeplechase was Gold Trap, a gelding owned by Walter O. Briggs and ridden by Mr. Alexis G. “Lex” Wilson, a highly regarded amateur jump-jockey of the day.

The same owner/rider combination prevailed again in the 1929 Turf Writers’ Steeplechase with a horse named Lieutenant Seas finding his usual place out front, navigating over a sloppy course in downpouring rain. Incidentally, Mr. Briggs was the principal owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball franchise for many years.

Dry but gusty conditions predominated at Bowman Park for the 1930 New York Turf Writers’ Cup, and a nine-year-old veteran fencer named Barleycorn, in the colors of Mrs. Thomas W. Durant and ridden by Mr. Charles R. White, succeeded by nine lengths in the feature race of the day. It is nearly certain that Barleycorn would have been a “hunch-bet” for many, attending a race at Rye.

The jump racing events at Bowman Park were sanctioned by the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, presently known as the NSA, making these contests regulated and recognized by the official authority for U.S. steeplechase horse racing.

The Westchester venue enjoyed a few years of success, developing a fine reputation for Bowman Park. Some prolonged poor autumn weather and Mr. Bowman’s health became negative issues for the track, and their fifth season was unfortunately cancelled. In late October 1931, John McEntee Bowman died following complications from gallbladder surgery.

The property that comprised Bowman Park continued for many years as the still viable Blind Brook Country Club, although the track portion of the operation was converted into the PepsiCo global headquarters campus in 1967.

These unfortunate circumstances in the early 1930s put the New York Turf Writers’ Cup event into an extended hiatus, and the United Hunts Racing Association without a dedicated venue.

The New York Turf Writers revived sponsorship of their Cup Stake in 1938 at Belmont Park, under differing conditions of two miles over hurdles, a dramatic shift from four-year-olds and up, gentleman riders, for 3.5 miles over post and rail.

Wesley Faulkenberry, Curator of The National Steeplechase Museum in Camden, South Carolina conjectures that the change in race conditions could be the reason the 1928, 1929 and 1930 occurrences at Bowman Park are not included in modern accounts of the history of the present Grade 1 race, contested for many years at Saratoga Race Course as the New York Turf Writers’ Cup, and presently known as the Jonathan Sheppard Stakes.

Sean Clancy achieved championship success in the saddle, behind the keyboard, and operating a stable through patience, persistence, goals, and the support of others.

Success and becoming a champion are often the result of a methodical, sometimes slow, process.

Sean Clancy is a good example of that.

For more than 40 years, Clancy slowly evolved into a champion steeplechase jockey, then a three-time Eclipse Award-winning writer, and now a championship steeplechase owner of Riverdee Stables.

That success was reinforced as Cyber Ninja, a horse once trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, won the Michael G. Walsh Novice Steeplechase event at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 12. This was the second win for Cyber Ninja this year, and the ninth winner for Riverdee Stables from 39 starters that includes two-time graded stakes winner Zabeel Champion.

“He’s a real pro. He’s got good flat platform. So, that showed up here. I’ve got a lot of great supporters. It’s just something that has organically grown. We couldn’t do it without them. A shout out to Bill Mott for taking care of his horses and having a horse who can do great things.”

Just like with horses, much of Clancy’s three-tier championship career has naturally grown through a methodical process.

It took Clancy some time to establish himself as a steeplechase rider. After making his start in April 1986, he did not regularly ride until 1988 when he had five winners, including Riverdee, a horse own by his father Joe P. Clancy.

Clancy found moderate success on the steeplechase circuit in South Carolina, Virigina and Maryland, but Saratoga remained elusive until 1994 when won three races at the meet. Four years later, he received the National Steeplechase Association champion rider award after winning 24 races from 104 starts, including the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers’ Cup with Hokan.

“I was a pretty slow burner,” he said. “My friends were winning races. They were champion jockeys before me. I was very focused on riding races. I was handicapping the races. A month or two months out, I was calling trainers. I was very dedicated to that.

Despite continued success aboard horses like multiple graded stakes winner Pinky Swear, Clancy thought about his post-riding career. A separated shoulder, a plate in his ankle, and a screw in his wrist convinced him that training was not in his future.

“I’m smart enough to know that being a steeplechase jockey is a very short-term career. It could go at any moment,” he said. “I was looking for something that would at least give me something to do when I stopped. Most of those riders end up being trainers or assistants. It was not my thing. I love being around horses, but I was never going to be in a barn all day, every day.”

One career option Clancy often considered was communication, particularly writing, a skill he enjoyed since childhood. While playing with toy horses, he created racing programs and announced the races.

Clancy further developing his writing through to Joe Aitcheson Jr., who boarded at the family home during the steeplechase season near Delaware Park. Each letter carried the thrill of hearing from a childhood sports hero.

“I was kind of always wired that way,” Clancy said “I would write a lot of letters. I had Joe living above my kitchen. That’s like Mickey Mantle. I’d come down for breakfast and he would be sitting at the table. I was just enthralled by it.”

While pursuing a history degree at the University of Delaware, near the Fair Hill Training Center where his father had horses, Clancy balanced riding and galloping horses while surviving the academic rip current, especially around writing.

“I learned quickly that all I had to do was go to a class or two, skim a book or two, and write an essay that would tie in the one class, and something relevant of today,” he said. “I weaved some essay exam together and survived.”

Frustrated by errors about his age, injury, and being misquoted in a weekly magazine after his three-win day at Brookhill, Clancy found motivation to pursue writing with the help of his older brother Joe Clancy.

“I anxiously got that article and wanted to read it. It had three mistakes,” the younger Clancy said. “I flipped out and called my brother and said, ‘Why can’t we start a steeplechase newspaper?’”

After weighing the $5,000 cost to cover a computer and printing seven issues, Clancy and his brother launched the Steeplechase Times in Spring 1994 to coincide with the racing season. Although Clancy had never been published, his older brother, a University at Delaware graduate with newspaper experience at The Whale and Cecil Whig mentored him as a writer.

“The biggest thing that happened in my life was my older brother,” Clancy said. If it wasn’t for my older brother, I don’t know if I’d be a writer. He taught me everything. He has the skills; he has the education.”

A few years later, both Clancy and his brother started The Saratoga Special as both wrote multiple stories each day. As the publication grew, they recruited Saratoga Springs native Tom Law. Through The Saratoga Special, Clancy earned Eclipse Awards for stories on Maple Leaf Mel’s tragic breakdown (2023) and the thrilling Travers finish between Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna (2024), following his first Eclipse Award in 2008 for a Bloodhorse commentary Hall of Fame trainer Sidney Watters Jr.’s estate sale.

With the help of a few interns each year at The Saratoga Special, Clancy has more time to focus on Riverdee Stables, which he operates with his wife Anne Kontos Clancy.

Like riding and writing, Clancy built Riverdee Stables over time. After retiring in 2000, he began buying horses for Fisher, starting with Bubble Economy, a $25,000 purchase who won 14-of-59 steeplechase races and earned more than $450,000.

Other standouts include the following: Goodnight Shirt, a two-timer Eclipse Award Champion and Hall of Fame inductee; Mr. Hot Stuff, winner of the Grade 1 A. P. Smithwick Memorial; and Dawalan, the 2015 Eclipse Award Champion.

“I started getting some success and confidence, which is where that’s the biggest thing,” Clancy said. “

Riverdee Stables grew steadily after sending out its first horse, Extra Check in 2003. For more than a decade, Clancy spent years finding horses that have the pedigree, confirmation, ability, and connections such as Aspe, his first Saratoga winner in 2013; graded stakes winner Eagle Poise; Awakened, 2023 Steeplechase Eclipse Award finalist; and Rocket One, who finished first or second in 10-of-11 starts since April 2023.

Riverdee Stables reached a new level last year by winning 18-of-85 races, all with Fisher. Cool Jet led the group with three straight graded stakes wins, including the Grade 1 Commonwealth Cup Stakes, that solidified the Eclipse Award for Steeplechase Horse and Riverdee Stables for Steeplechase Owner. Clancy never hesitated to credit that success.

“My wife is awesome. She’s a great horsewoman. She knows the sport. She’s pushed us to do it,” Clancy said. “Jack Fisher is a great trainer. Then, you just get lucky.”

While supportive people, and even perhaps luck, play a part of Clancy becoming a champion jockey, writer, and owner, he believes establishing a lifelong habit of setting ambitious goals is also a factor.

“My lifetime goal was to be champion jockey,” he said. “Then, come back to be champion owner, I feel very proud of that. As a jockey, you’re trying to escape that, especially with steeplechase racing. I set goals. I can get focused on goals, so it has been really special.”

Linda Rice Wins Five in a Day,  Jose Ortiz Wins Nonstop

The late Warren Zevon once sang an impassioned plea to urgently “send lawyers, guns and money” as a solution to whatever jam he found himself in.   While I am not sure anyone sent guns, I do know that the racing industry sent both lawyers and money to convene in Saratoga Springs last week to address issues in the sport. 

Money

The money came to the annual Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sales in the form of investment dollars chasing the Triple Crown stars of 2028. Spurred on by general inflation worries, beneficial income tax treatment, the growing prevalence of well-heeled partnerships and the usual dose of bravado and ego, the sales broke all records. The numbers were astounding. Total sales were up 17% to $118 million; the average price rose to over $770,000; the median price was above $500,000 and an eye-popping 35 horses sold for more than $1 million each. 

The sales topper of $4.2 million was followed by the “runner-up” at $4.0 million. Boyd Browning Jr., president and CEO of Fasig-Tipton succinctly said, “I genuinely believe it was the greatest horse sale I’ve ever seen in my life.” Whether this is good for the sport amidst a falling foal crop and continued racetrack closures can be the subject of debate, but the added value placed on unproven horseflesh is significant and it is due, in no small part, to the successful efforts of the beleaguered Jockey Club and NTRA pushing changes to the tax code benefitting horse ownership. The top end of the sport is healthy.

Lawyers

With far less fanfare, the lawyers came to town to attend the annual Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga. The annual conference, put together by the tireless efforts of Patrick Brown, was held at the Saratoga Hilton and touched upon a wide range of gaming and racing topics, including the regulation of both, over three days.  It included racing executives, regulators, owners and horse players, 

I was proud to contribute while on a panel that discussed the legality of the poly markets mimicking sports betting on their platforms and the prospect of (and legal impediments to) those same entities encroaching upon racing’s wagering franchise on horse races. 

Other panels discussed various forms of regulation; computer assisted wagering and the economics of racehorse ownership. 

On the track

– Trainer Linda Rice won a host of races last week, including five on Saturday, tying the record for most wins by a trainer on a Saratoga racecard. One of those wins came for longtime influential owner and breeder, Chester Broman. Broman has won a race here each year for decades and decades, and it was good to see his silks in the “Winner’s Circle” once again. Rice continues to fill the entry box with her stable of horses and stands a reasonable chance of winning the training title at the meet.

– This week saw Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito win a race teaming with Katie Davis to take Friday’s nightcap. An emotional Winner’s Circle gathering and poignant interview with the ever-popular Zito was had under the darkening skies.

– The absence of jockeys Flavien Prat (suspension) and Irad Ortiz (injury) last week left the door ajar for Jose Ortiz who won with more than 75% of his mounts during a dominating stretch.  Manny Franco also continued his tremendous race meet with multiple winners. (Prat has now returned to action and Irad Ortiz is set to return August 22nd.)

– The Saratoga stakes races on grass continue to effectively act as a subsidy to European connections who routinely invade to win these races. A reassessment of the purse offered for these races should be considered. 

– Horsemen continue to complain that the track surface in the Wilson Chute (used for four races Saturday) is unsatisfactory, leading to hoof and soreness issues. The last race on Saturday saw two of the starters slip badly out of the gate with one horse being vanned off after the race.  

Other

– Racing historian Jon Sargalis put Sovereignty’s win last week in the Whitney Stakes in perspective by noting that no horse had pulled off the Kentucky Derby – Whitney Stakes double since 1938 when Triple Crown winner War Admiral did so. He further noted that Secretariat was denied that bid when he was famously upset by his older rival Onion in 1973.   (Sargalis also took a tremendous photo through the mist trackside early Saturday morning.) 

Upcoming Week

The Alabama Stakes, to be run Saturday August 22nd, has grown in popularity in recent years, and both the racetrack and the city expect huge crowds.  Westpoint Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars will seek to replicate her huge effort in the Coaching Club America Oaks by navigating the longer distance of the Alabama Stakes against a compact field. 

The day will be a long one – 12 races spanning from 12:45 to 7:16 with the Alabama Stakes run at 6:42.

During the day a talented local band will play at the gazebo next to the Dunkin Donuts stand in the backyard from 1-5 pm. The group – named NYMBIS – is led by Chuck Valentine and features keyboard and percussion by Frankie McKinney and Liz Conant and drums and bass by Brandon Waylett and Austin Nicholsen. They are a good listen, and it is a good spot to gather between races before the stakes races begin. Come by and say hello.

On a sultry summer mid-August Sunday in 1906, Frank Catrone was welcomed into the world in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1910 his father, Dominick Catrone, relocated to High Rock Avenue, and established a small grocery store on Lake Avenue, across from the Saratogian office and behind City Hall, specializing in fresh fruits and vegetables. Young Frankie, as an unpaid dependent, was an asset, carrying out every task in the store while learning to interface with the customers. 

Frank was a small child, yet that never lessened his determination and perhaps enhanced it. At a young age he became aware of the horse sport in his hometown and wanted to become part of it. He had a younger brother named Salvatore, who was equally fascinated by the racehorses arriving each summer and the excitement that augured.

The boys would follow their father around the shop and picked up the words to the traditional Italian songs he sung and hummed, which lightened his load while sharpening his timing between tasks. 

One of young Frankie’s duties was roasting peanuts in front of the shop. This irresistible aroma attracted customers to the grocery, anxious to satiate their appetites. Frank Catrone would long recall the day a small chap about his size pulled up in a big sports car, attracted by the tantalizing scent. Frankie inquired about his livelihood and learned he was a jockey. That’s for me, Frankie decided then and there.

Frank Catrone sought work along the Saratoga backside, and secured a position as a hot walker, cooling out the horses and mucking out stalls. He went on to rubbing and grooming the thoroughbreds, and because he learned quickly and adopted stable routines, he attracted the attention of one of racing’s greatest trainers, Sam Hildreth.

Trainer Hildreth had a special affinity for the Spa. He married a Saratoga girl there, the former Mary Cook, and the annual celebration of their wedding anniversary on August 4 was one of the high notes of the season. 

Mr. Hildreth always surrounded himself with good subordinates. He never had other than a first-class rider or stable foreman. He would tolerate drinkers, and explained to other trainers who questioned that, “a drunk will get sober,” the Old Master explained, “but a fool won’t get wise.” Sam Hildreth, known all over the turf world as Uncle Tom, suggested making an exercise rider of the ninety-pound teenager Frank Catrone, giving him his first leg up.

While exercising the Rancocas Stables horses that Sam Hildreth trained, Frankie sang the Italian songs he learned in the grocery, with his fellow riders calling him Caruso. He became the “third call” rider for Rancocas, behind Earl Sande and LaVerne Fator, learning from the best, and began a career that would span a lifetime.

He had several good years riding, and would proudly recall years later, “I was never a great rider, but I won my share of races.” After Sam Hildreth died in 1929, Frank Catrone rode freelance with success, bringing movie director Raoul Walsh’s Greyola home first in the Agua Caliente Derby.

Falling in a smother of dust at Saratoga in 1930 seemed minor, and Frankie went on to win a subsequent race that day. Yet, overcoming the injury from that fall led to weight gain. He gave up the saddle in 1937 and turned to training.

As a trainer, Frank Catrone was a disciple of his mentor, which served him well. Not qualifying for military service during WWII, he told the Saratogian, “I’m four feet, nine inches. At least that’s what the Army told me when they turned me down. They didn’t want me because I was too small a target.”

With the Valdina Farm of Texas, Frank Catrone enjoyed much success, and saddled two entries in the wartime 1942 Kentucky Derby, finishing third and ninth. The owners of Valdina Farm, Emerson Woodward and his wife Bessie, were tragically killed in a train/auto collision in May of 1943.

Frank Catrone moved on to train horses for Alan T. Simmons through the end of the 1940s, and later oilman William G. Helis and his son during the 1950s and into the 1960s, racing mostly in the west and the south, with only infrequent visits to Saratoga Springs.

Mid-westerners Dan and Ada Rice were bit by the thoroughbred bug, and went into racing in a big way, when the yearling sales were staged in Kentucky, as Saratoga was closed due to WWII. Operating a stock farm in Illinois and a breeding operation in Kentucky, both named with a contraction of their first names, Danada, they competed under Mrs. Rice’s name in cerise and white silks, emblazoned with her “ALR” initials.

Frank Catrone was assigned their east coast string, which included the May 1962 Danada homebred foal Lucky Debonair. Nothing came easy for Frankie, and on the first Saturday in May 1965, the Kentucky Derby was delayed 30 minutes due to a fire in the Churchill Downs grandstand. Under Willie Shoemaker, Lucky Debonair won the 91st running on his third birthday, which thrilled Dominick Catrone, watching from Saratoga.

Scribe Arthur Daley described Frankie as not so debonair, and a blocky little guy who failed to qualify as Mr. Five-By-Five, because of his height. Frank Catrone would forever be a product of Sam Hildreth’s “old school” and would criticize NYRA for conducting winter racing and was in turn criticized by Robyn Smith for not hiring lady jockeys.

The Danada Stable was dispersed after Dan Rice’s death in Autumn 1975, leading to Frank Catrone’s retirement. 

American artists and illustrators have documented events through the nation’s history, which have become a vital visual record of collective experiences. One illustrator, who can still be called upon to look back through time, was Edwin Forbes, who lived in the Long Island village of Flatbush, before it was annexed into Brooklyn, and eventually New York City. 

Mr. Forbes is best known for his work during the Civil War, where from the field with the Union Army, he provided the public with a plethora of graphic sketches from the midst of camp, march, hospital, bivouac and battlefield, through the illustrated newspapers of the day. This eyewitness to the War of Secession was only twenty-one years old when Fort Sumter erupted, and he began faithfully and sympathetically capturing all aspects of those who followed the flag.

Frank Leslie had an estate that stretched from Saratoga Lake to Lake Lonely, known as Interlaken, and published much of Forbes’ work in his Illustrated Newspaper, which enjoyed a national distribution.

Edwin Forbes was a pioneer embedded reporter in wartime, and after the war many of his fine illustrations found their way into what is considered the first sporting paper in the country, which was titled The Spirit of the Times.  The name for this respected broadsheet came from a quotation in Shakespeare’s King John, “The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” 

As an artist, Edwin Forbes took not only an interest in the animals, but also in the dynamics of racing and how events were staged. Thoroughbred racing of that era employed a person with a signal flag to hold horses in check at the start until all had reached the equitable datum of a chalk line, before they were sent on their way with the drop of the pennant. False starts were frequent, and occasionally some starters were left at the post while others were able to gain the starting line with a slight edge over their foes. In a game of inches, with money in the balance, a suspect start was an undesirable situation at any track.

Besides his art, Edwin Forbes was also a practical inventor, and in 1891 devised a starting gate which he hoped would improve the fairness of thoroughbred racing. The operation of his apparatus might be described as a mechanically re-tooled cuckoo-clock, with the notion of assisting the traditional human starter. He conceived of two upright hollow posts, on either side of the track, that supported lift arms and were joined by a rod which held a screen.  With the release of a lever by the starter, counterweighs would drop over pulleys inside the hollow posts which fairly noiselessly and rapidly lifted the screen vertically, sending the horses on their way. The quiet sweep motion caused less upset to the excited horses at the post than the flapping of the start flag. 

On January 9, 1892 The Spirit of the Times, which even at that time had a global distribution, published an accurate rendering of Mr. Forbes’ starting device. THE SPIRIT, publishing on this subject, placed Edwin Forbes in an awkward position with an important economic patron. The editors further mentioned that Mr. Forbes device had failed to impress in a test at Brighton Beach race course in Brooklyn. Edwin Forbes felt his device was not given a fair trial, due to certain powerful betting owners preferring to take their chances of getting the best of the start in the old fashioned way, where they might gain an occasional advantage. 

The Spirit of the Times on March 24, 1894 wrote,

“The successful trials of starting machines in Australia will no doubt impress racing men here favorably with the apparatus invented by Mr. Edwin Forbes, of Flatbush, L. I. especially as Mr. Forbes claims that the Australian machines are constructed upon the same principles that are embodied in his invention.”

The following year on January 12, 1895, THE SPIRIT placed the patent drawing of Mr. Forbes “Ideal Starter” on their cover. This depiction illustrated an article about what they termed the “automatic staring machine” he designed and those from Australia, then arriving at California tracks. This excellent rendering makes clear that, in any era, an inventor who could illustrate their own design has a large advantage. This edition also mentioned the likelihood that the matter would be taken into the courts before the question of the legal right in the patent was settled.

Less than a year after Edwin Forbes’ March 1895 death, The Spirit of the Times ran a story with various expressions of opinion discussing the Australian starting machine in use by prominent turfmen at San Francisco. Starter J. F. Calder was quoted,

“The machine is all right enough, but the boys [jockeys] have to be educated up to it, and perhaps the horses also. I have no fear of its ultimate success.”

Prophetic words indeed, as the much-evolved starting gate, with jockeys and horses training and using the apparatus daily, is a common sight across the country, into our time. 

After working as an assistant trainer around outstanding horses, including a two-time Horse of the Year, Seth Gregory continues to build on his Innisfree Farm in Galway

Seth Gregory has worked with many elite Thoroughbred horses through horse racing’s respectable trainers. Now, for more than a decade, he has taken that experience to breeding successful horses.

Since starting as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Gregory has evolved into a breeder with his Innisfree Farm in Galway. In 2013, he bought the 65-acre farm that crosses over Galway Road and named it after his favorite poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats.

“I always wanted to be around the Saratoga area,” he said. “I think it was a six-year search to find something that fit my needs and my wallet.”

Growing up in Garrattsville, about 20 miles west of Cooperstown, the 53-year-old Gregory never wanted to follow the family’s dairy farm business. However, after graduating from high school, he still wanted to work with animals, especially horses.

With a Clark Foundation Scholarship given to seniors in the Leatherstocking Region, Gregory attended college for a year. Yet, he wanted an outside-the-classroom education at the racetrack and the breeding farm.

“I wanted nothing to do with dairy farming,” Gregory said. “I always had horses. My original plan for life was to probably go to Kentucky to manage a farm, but I wanted to see the racetrack before I did that.”

After graduating from Cornell with a bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1995, Gregory joined Mott’s barn after meeting him at Allen Paulson’s Brookside Farm in Versailles, Ky.

During his time with Mott, he worked with many multiple Grade 1 winners that included Lassigny, Northern Emerald, and King’s Theater. Though, one of Gregory’s more memorable moments came with two-time Horse of the Year, Cigar, whom he groomed during their time at the Dubai World Cup.

“I got bit by the racetrack bug. It was absolutely amazing,” Gregory said. “He’s a super, nice horse and great to be around. You couldn’t ask for more. I was blessed to be there at the time of Cigar and lucky enough to end up going with him to Dubai.”

Gregory then spent a decade working for Mark Hennig by handling another accomplished group of runners such as Grade 1 King’s Bishop winner Gygistar, three-time Grade 1 winner Raging Fever, and multiple graded stakes winners Gold Mover, With Ability, and Biding Time. Gregory also worked for Tom Albertrani, who trained several horses for the Godolphin and Darley group.

Still working at the racetrack, Gregory became involved in breeding horses with a mare who was also his first winner as an assistant trainer under Hennig: Won Perfect Rose. Shortly after getting transferred to John Campo’s barn, Won Perfect Rose suffered a career-ending injury as Gregory found an opportunity.

“The injury was bad,” Gregory said. “Basically, our owner’s bloodstock advisor said to find her a home somewhere in New York.”

That home was his family’s dairy farm.

“I talked to my parents (Henry and Connie Elizabeth) and they let me send her home,” he said. “She was my start in the breeding business.”

With graded stakes winner Spinal Tap as the sire, Won Perfect Rose produced Won Dozen Roses, Gregory’s first horse that initially ran under his father’s name as she won 7-of-25 races.

Won Perfect Rose’s more successful progeny was Gold and Roses, who won 10-of-45 races, including the New York Stallion Stakes in 2005 and back-to-back editions of the John Morrissey Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, while earning $877,966 for Henry Gregory.

Seth Gregory reinvested some earnings from Gold and Roses into another mare: Road to Mandalay. He purchased Road to Mandalay, who was in foal to two-time Grade 1 winner Aptitude, for $25,000 at the Keeneland Association Breeding Sales in November 2005.

Shortly after that sale, Road to Mandalay delivered La Concerto, who was later purchased for $110,000 in February 2008 before winning 8-of-18 races. After producing nine other winners, she stands retired at Innisfree Farm.

“She has been a wonderful asset,” Gregory said. “She just had beautiful babies that always sold very, very well. She’s still at the farm. She’s retired and enjoying her life.”

One of Road to Mandalay’s progeny may be following a similar breeding trend around Gergory’s farm: the 14-year-old mare Sonora, who won six races – all sprints – in 46 career starts. Michael Anthony Ferraro sold the mare back to Gregory shortly after her last race in March 2019.

After Sonora lost her first goal, her next one has shown some promise: Unlock the Value, an impressive 9½-length winner in her first start at Saratoga Race Course on July 30.

Once Unlock the Value left Gregory’s farm, bloodstock agent Mike Ryan purchased her for $50,000 for Klaravich Stables at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sales in Keeneland in October 2024. A few months later, the unraced filly was sent to Chad Brown’s stable at Monmouth Park where she posted consistent workouts until August 2025, then was turned out for the rest of the year.

She started training again in February at Fair Hill before coming to Saratoga in May for a couple of months, then was sent to Monmouth Park until her debut.

“I’m very glad that Chad was so patient with her,” Gregory said. “She had a layoff and then they gave her plenty of time and got her back in very, very good order. She’s just a pretty filly and has done everything right.”

Along with producing Unlock the Value, Sonora has bred an unnamed 2-year-old filly by Vekoma who sold for $400,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales in June, a yearling colt by New York-bred Horse of the Year Americanrevolution, and a foal colt by Messier who was born on May 5.

Sonora and Road to Mandalay are just two of the 20 horses at the Innisfree Farm. Gregory also has 2021 New York Oaks winner A Bit o’ Irish Sass, Hey Mama, and some playful yearlings.

Beyond his breeding farm, Gregory, who was once a wine distributor throughout the Hudson Valley region, also assists his wife Kiley’s wine and spirit store since 2018.

From grooming a two-time Horse of the Year on the international stage to breeding potential runners at his own farm, Gregory has built a career that he imagined after deciding that dairy farming was not for him.