So for the next issue of Down The Stretch (www.downthstretchnewspaper.com) we’re compiling a list of the Top 50 Horseracing Stories for 2008 and boy has this got the contributors to the paper at each other’s throats.  To start with, there was a lot of interesting stuff that happened at racetracks this year.

Where do you put Big Brown? Was his sensational win in the Kentucky Derby a bigger story than his bizarre last place finish in the Belmont? Does Not Bourbon winning the Queen’s Plate trump Ginger Brew in the Canadian Oaks? How many Somebeachsomewhere conquests should be used? Where do you put all the harness driver accomplishments, like Jody Jamieson and Mark MacDonald both winning their 4000th in the same year? Would you put Chantal Sutherland riding five winners in one day ahead of Emile Ramsammy winning three races in three days on the Victoria Day Weekend?

Where do the Breeders’ Cup results go? Do the second place finishes of Canadian horses Sealy Hill and Fatal Bullet get placed ahead of the fact that European Horses won five races on the main card? Was Sandy Hawley winning the Living Legends race at 59 the biggest thrill of the year? How about Marlang, winning the Breeders’ Stakes in August then taking a Stakes at Saratoga four weeks later? Is it more significant that Mark Casse trained his 1000th winner or that Luc Ouellette drove into the winners circle for the 8000th time.

A mare called Peppers Pride set a record by winning her first 19 races. An 18 year-old harness driver won over $1,000,000. Harlem Rocker ran a mile as fast as Big Brown. Patrick Husbands won on each of the final 18 days of racing at Woodbine for an amazing come-from-behind win in the jockeys race. Serge Savard’s Shadow Play hurt himself while winning his first heat in the Little Brown Jug, but came back to take the final.

And what do you do with steroid shooting, lip flapping trainer Richard Dutrow?

Where would you put that guy. I’m sure there’s a lot of good ideas.

For the answers to all of the above, get youself a copy of the next Down The Stretch, coming to a Woodbine Racetrack near you in the middle of next week. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 9:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.