The Alpha Mare

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• Posted Sophie Watts + Horse Sense = Filmmaking Brilliance. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Upon meeting Sophie Watts, the challenge is on, to not like her or be impressed by her lengthy personal and professional resume.  Tall, svelte, blonde and crisp, she epitomizes the image of the consummate equestrian.   In black pencil jeans, black...
• Commented on Horse Sense: Pop Stars (Human and Horse), and Lessons on Running Your Own Race
  And Sandy, *you* cannot know how much it touched me to read your comments here...I am blessed beyond comprehension, to know that something I wrote gave you joy. Thank you, from my humbled heart. P.S. Can you email me and...
• Posted BOOK REVIEW: "The Untold Story of Joe Hernandez: the Voice of Santa Anita" by Rudolph Valier Alvarado. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  What is the Story of Your Life?  Who are you?  Where were you born?  Did you go to college?  Which school can claim you as an Alumna/us?  What was your family like--and were you happy?  Have you found vocational fulfillment? ...
• Posted "Horsenameographies": Who be You be if You be a Horse? to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  "A horse is a horse, of course, of course.But who would you be if you were a horse?A horse who ran Life's Race on course?What would be your name? Caballo's the Press, pub-lish-ing sourceThat asks your race name if you...
• Commented on 40 Days of What?! Racing? NO!
  Oh, no, Nancy, you may be the SECOND most-opinionated person, for I am the first. In reading your rant about NYRA's wise decision--based on a spectacular meet, the best in the country--you neglected to cite facts and figures. I know...
• Posted Horse Sense: When in Trouble, Look for the Light. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  I am constantly amazed by the ways in which horses choose to communicate with we mere humans:  recognizing that we homo sapiens are the ones who forgot how to talk Horse--not the other way 'round--members of the equine species will...
• Posted Racing Withdrawal: Hunkering Down. Steeling One's Self. Constructing a Plan. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  The Summer of 2009 was spectacular--at least in Saratoga Springs, New York.  Thoroughbred racing at its very best took place beneath the northern skies, as some of the world's most talented horses thrilled hundreds of thousands of hearts.  The World's...
• Commented on Saratoga Memories: Sing a Song of Summer
  ...and your Life will never be the same, will it? Rachel really is a member of her own species. And YOU, you lucky dog, were blessed to fall in love with the sport on Coronation Day. HOW cool a Synchronicity...
• Commented on Saratoga Memories: Sing a Song of Summer
  I am humbled beyond words, Maggie...tears came to my eyes as I read your own words, about the gift that Rachel Alexandra gave you in that Woodward. When I got to the end, where you lavished sweet words upon my...
• Posted Saratoga Memories: Sing a Song of Summer to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  The last light of the last day of the Saratoga meet brought with it a brisk breeze that reminded me that Autumn was, indeed, upon us--regardless of the date on the calendar.  September 7th came in quietly enough, but caught...
• Posted Mare's Musings: Rachel Alexandra, and the Requirement to Play Nice to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  As I stood in the paddock at Saratoga Race Course on Wednesday following the post position draw for the Woodward Stakes, I could not but pick up a few words uttered to a couple of trainers by the one, the...
• Posted Horse Sense: Rachel Alexandra and the Power of Serenity to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Worry not, I shall write a great deal more about Rachel Alexandra as the week goes on and we get closer to Woodward Stakes Day.  Me, and every other racing writer in North America.  The time I spent in the Queen's...
• Posted Rachel Alexandra + Brian T. Fox + Siro's = Majesty, Power and Insight to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  I've written about visionary artist, Brian T. Fox, in a previous column here on Saratoga.com.  I know Brian as both a friend and as an artist.  I first met him four years ago, at an event for the Jackie Robinson...
• Posted Feel-Good Opportunity of the Week: Help Rescued Thoroughbreds via Columbia-Greene Humane Society Booth at Saratoga Race Course! to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  On Wednesday, August 26th, we'll have the opportunity to thank the good hearts of the Columbia-Greene Humane Society (henceforth, CGHS) for all the work they do, day-in and day-out, year after year. But the work for which we who love...
• Posted Happy Birthday, Nicholas Bachalard!!!!! to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  If I were Gio Ponti, I'd run like a lunatic, too.  Straight toward the finish line--if the impossibly handsome and gifted Nicholas Bachalard was standing next to the pole. ;) Gio Ponti is rockin' the races: his win in the...
• Posted Horse Sense: The Odds Mean NOTHIN'. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Many people make a healthy living handicapping horse races.  Math, science, statistics, pedigree and workout times all play a role in the determination of a horse's odds in any given race.  The handicappers who hunker down over the papers and...
• Posted Going to the Races in Saratoga: What's YOUR Experience? to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Well...there are myriad experiences available for the taking when one makes the pilgrimage to the renowned Saratoga Race Course.  Some prefer the Clubhouse.  Others like to picnic with friends, camped right outside the paddock. One fellow on YouTube documented his...
• Posted Lights, Camera, Auction! Yearling Sales Generate Heat, Electricity in Showcase Venue to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Thoroughbred racing is the most exhilarating sport on Earth.  Thoroughbred sales, contrary to popular belief,  are far more than a shopping excursion.  A night at the Fasig-Tipton Yearling Sales is the most stimulating, blood-pumping and intriguing night one can experience this...
• Posted Women + Thoroughbreds = Power: Women's Day, 2009. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  It is a supreme joy to be able to report that on Wednesday, August 19th, Saratoga Race Course will host the fourth annual Women's Day to honor the gender that is the majority of the fanbase of Thoroughbred racing.  The...
• Commented on The Starting Gate Crew: the (Sigh...) Cowboys of Horse Racing
  Hi, D. Rinaldi, I'm so glad that you read the article--and any others that you may have read. Thank you for leaving a comment--do contact me anytime. I tried to email you from my phone, not sure if you got...
• Posted Brian T. Fox: Visionary Artist Will Paint at Siro's this Travers Weekend. to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Travers Weekend always offers the opportunity to experience something new:  someone, somewhere, sets up shop in or around the famed Saratoga Race Course--and before you know it, your heart has stopped dead in its tracks; your imagination is running wild...
• Posted Mare's Musings: Butterflies, Racehorses and Chinese Typhoons to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Chaos Theory is that branch of mathematics which studies the behavior of certain dynamical systems that may be highly sensitive to initial conditions. This sensitivity is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Phew.  Chaos Theory is entirely too complicated...
• Posted Mark Your Calendar: Red Tag Sale of the Century Brunch! to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  If you've wondered who takes loving care of the people who give such wonderful care to the horses on a racetrack--wonder no more.  The souls, bodies and minds of thousands of backstretch workers are under the guardian angelship of the...
• Posted Mare's Musings: Rascals and Racehorses, and the Song of Heaven to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  The racing season on any track provides rich fodder for writerly types like me.  If you keep your eyes, ears and heart open--and, to paraphrase Mark Twain, your mouth shut--you can see and experience things so small and yet so...
• Commented on Jockeys - All-Time Greats Jean Cruguet
  Thank you so much for your kind words...thank you, from my heart. He IS an amazing man, and no doubt the BEST, most gifted jockey who ever rode a horse. The fact that he breezes horses and jogs at 70...
• Commented on Horse Sense: Find Your Inner Horse
  What a beautiful, poetic statement. WOW...talk about Zen...just beautiful. You said it so perfectly...I am honored to read such beautiful writing, and depth of thought....
• Commented on Horse Sense: Find Your Inner Horse
  Thank you so much, Jennifer...I depend on the quietude of horses to help me find my Equine Mind, indeed. I call horses, "Valium on the Hoof." If I spend just a few minutes getting some of their open, accepting affection--I'm...
• Posted Horse Sense: Find Your Inner Horse to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  On the eve of the 2009 Saratoga race meet, it's easy to get caught up in the cacophony because, while the pace is hectic--it's the most fun sort of hectic into which the human soul can be thrust.  For...
• Posted Growing the Sport: What Racing Needs... to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  This new category is truly an open forum:  I'd like everyone who has an opinion--and everyone has one--to write in your comments.  Let's start a conversation here.  Racing is in dire straits in America, and we all gripe about...
• Posted Racing 101: First-Timers' Guide to the Races to Saratoga Horse Racing Blog: Mairzy Doats By The Alpha Mare Marion E. Altieri
  Like most experiences in life, if you try something once and it isn't pleasant--you're not eager to try it again.  A day at the races is a wonderful, magical experience--if you have a little heads-up about activities and events.  It...