Patrick Kerrison

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• Posted Saratoga Dream Home to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  The Saratoga Builders Association will begin its 15th annual Showcase of Homes! For three consecutive weekends, the Saratoga Builders Association  shows off the area's finest homes built by the Capital Region's best home builders and designers. I thought this might...
• Commented on For Love of the Game
  I knew I'd hear for you. Hoping to at least, anyhow. What a day it was. What a day. So glad he found new life and he'll take to the Belmont lawn well, I am confident in that. Hoping, probably,...
• Posted An Open Letter to Saratogians to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Dear Saratogians,I don't want to be "that guy" anymore.  That guy who feels all sorts of melancholy when the Saratoga meet ends.  Year after year it hits me hard, and year after year I let it.I'm not gonna do it.You...
• Posted For Love of the Game to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Runaway Jim ran a game second Saturday afternoon and to be frank, neither Stacy nor I would have known the difference had he won.It felt that good.  We felt that proud.  And by God I've never seen the woman look...
• Posted Go Jim, Go! (and this time we mean it) to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Alright.  Why the heck not.  Let's try this again, shall we?The good news:  Most of the nausea that came with the first two starts at Saratoga has dissipated.  The bad news:    This is Runaway Jim's last shot at The Spa...
• Commented on Planning a New Saratoga Tradition
  Jason, Cheers to you too, mate. this has been an amazing time and I have enjoyed writing (and researching) the historical pieces. I have found great joy in opening up about my true life experiences as well. The whole gig...
• Commented on Planning a New Saratoga Tradition
  Many thanks for the kind words Gene. The are greatly appreciated, I assure you. I will keep blogging here on Saratoga.com in the off season; mostly racing stuff though. I am planning several day trips in the off season to...
• Posted Planning a New Saratoga Tradition to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  So, this is it.  One last week of the 2010 Saratoga Race Course race meet and I can feel the dread of the finale on Monday as I write this.Man, I hate that feeling.As usual, it all went by so...
• Posted It's a Movie in the Making to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  How can you not get a kick out of the Lisa's Booby Trap story?Who?Lisa's Booby Trap.You know who she is.  She's the horse that got its name for her owner/trainer's now deceased wife and a popular trackside "gentleman's club" in...
• Commented on Eddie Maple & The Travers
  I wish I knew exactly who I like in the Travers. I'm just not sure yet. Yes, that tote board at Saratoga is the most hideous thing ever, it is also hard to see. They can either fix the old...
• Posted The Wit of William R. Travers to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  When he died at the age of 67, the New York Times proclaimed William R. Travers "may have been the most popular man in New York."He was, in a word, adored.We know Travers as a founder and the first President...
• Posted Eddie Maple & The Travers to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  It's Travers Week at Saratoga and this week I'll take a look back at those - for various reasons - I find particularly memorable.My childhood heroes have always been my Mom and Dad.  The list of reasons why could fill...
• Posted Calling All Bookies: All Aboard!! to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  A few years back when tracks had their own pools for simulcast races )before simulcasting got as big a business as it is today), we as horse-players got to shop for odds.Bouncing from one television feed to another, seeing where...
• Commented on We're Proud of You, Jim!
  Ha! What a great story about the old lady. I have no idea why you buy the Form. I have no idea why I but the Form either. Ha ha. If you watch the head on - which you can...
• Posted We're Proud of You, Jim! to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Ah, nuts!Runaway Jim ran fourth in a field of eight yesterday, earning Seabrook Stable his third check (i.e. his keep for the month) in four starts and we open the condition book to see what's next.Sigh.  And that folks, is...
• Commented on Go Jim, Go!
  Ha! I will do so, for sure Jason. And thank you for your support of Jim! lol But (always the horseplayer here) keep a keen eye out for that horse trained by Chad Brown. He's been on fire this meet....
• Posted Go Jim, Go! to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  It is with great pride that I live vicariously through the beautiful brown eyes of my girlfriend Stacy.  I ride her coattails with pleasure and without shame.In doing so I get to realize the dreams of a childhood blessed with...
• Posted Something "Special" About Steeplechasing to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  "Steeplechase horse racing is based on the concept of the countryside's natural and man-made features providing an obstacle course. Horses and their riders must negotiate an unpredictable terrain, jumping over fences and ditches, rather than racing on a flat, controlled...
• Posted Fists vs Wits - Part II: Richard Canfield to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Richard Canfield was "the greatest gambling asset the United States had ever known." i   And unlike his casino's original proprietor John Morrissey, he had the respect and admiration of the well-bred.He was born in 1855 in New Bedford, MA, and...
• Posted Fists vs. Wits - A Tale of Two Gamblers to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Part I of IIOne was a pugilist. A roughneck, thief and gambler who made a reputation for himself socking people in the mouth and collecting money for mob bosses.The other, a gambler who took to self-education in the arts, philosophy,...
• Posted Big Stakes on Sure Things to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Big Stakes on Sure Things Arnold Rothstein's Saratoga and the 1921 Travers StakesA. R.The Fixer.The Big Bankroll.The Great Brain.You can call him what you please. But if gambling rackets, crime, and murder stories of years gone by are the skewed...
• Commented on Jockey - A Short Story
  When on vacation with my girlfriend a few weeks back I was equally as guilty of whipping and driving on the Schwinn. Through her giggles and tolerance, perhaps it's best served that I not tell too many people either. LOL...
• Posted Longshots Spring Eternal at The Spa to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Saratoga Race Course has seen the mighty fall, champions thwarted and punters sick to their stomachs.It's what she does, folks.  It's who she is.Take her or leave her.It is often you will see longtime and novice racing fans go to...
• Posted Jockey - A Short Story to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  I was the jockey in the family.I rode.I rode 'em all.Cheap claimers and allowance horses. Stakes race, black type and graded.  Sprints or routes, turf or dirt. Necks and noses or the length of the stretch.  None of it mattered. ...
• Posted Thoroughbred Racing in a Different Light to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  It all happened rather quickly.When we got word that yesterday's fifth race was taken off the turf, I had to call NYRA back and speak to someone else, just to get the information confirmed.  It was confirmed.I bellowed to my...
• Posted Opening Day 1863, A Look Back to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  Opening Day, 2010.At last, she's returned.Opening Day 1863 ... just a little different.In May 1863 John Morrissey placed an advertisement in the papers calling for those who want to run their horses at a new race meet.  The four-day meet...
• Posted Dust off your muskets and pack your ammo to Much Ado About... Saratoga By Patrick J. Kerrison
  The gates of Saratoga Race Course open for their 142nd time Friday and, following decade's worth of tradition, its first feature is the Schuylerville Stakes.A six-furlong event for two-year-old fillies on the dirt, Saratoga's racing history has proven itself to...