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How wonderful. My favorite Triple Crown winner. Why? Because…

1) He looks like a badass with his figure 8 bridle

2) Perfect conformation, I mean just look

3) He was a cheap yearling and I love a bargain. No, really, you can’t get me to spend more than $7 on a shirt. What are you going to buy, a one-of-a-kind Seattle Slew or a stick-shift Jetta for $15,000?

4) Without him: No A.P. Indy, no Rags to Riches, no Lava Man, no Bernardini… wait… no, I still love him.

5) He beat Affirmed, who was also pretty cool, twice

THAT’S ALL, FOLKS!

If you have been visiting this blog’s page directly within the past week or so, you may have noticed the theme and settings changing around a bit. I announced last month in December that a site redesign was in the works, and today I am proud to announce the new blog is 100% LIVE!

“Field sent on their way” is now The Galloping Hat Rack, accessible through your Tumblr dashboard, RSS feed, or by pointing your browser to GallopingHatRack.com! If you don’t understand the new name, look up the racehorse Exterminator. The new premium theme in use is Matthew Buchanan’s National Park, one I found useful as well as attractive. May I be so bold as to say it all looks 20% cooler?

Thank you to everyone for following the blog! I hope these new changes are ones you’ll find awesome. I’ll be announcing a few other new things later this month including a contest so be sure to stick around!

What better way to kick off Christmas weekend than hearing the snow-white Hansen registered a half-mile work at Gulfstream this morning?

It’s not going to snow here in western Massachusetts, but regardless, this is the first Christmas in a while that I’ve been relatively content with things and very hopeful and happy about the impending new year. We as horse racing fans have the Dubai World Cup coming up in a few short months along with what looks to be a kick-ass Triple Crown group. Horses like Animal Kingdom, Havre de Grace, Game on Dude, Royal Delta, and Stay Thirsty are just a few of the stars set to return next year.

This blog was started in April of this year with few real expectations of it. At the time, from what I saw there were no other horse racing blogs on Tumblr and certainly very few on the web that publish everything that I like to post, as regularly as I like to post it. I did not start this Tumblr to join the masses as a “pretty picture” blog either. There was a far more tremendous response than I had anticipated, and while I didn’t expect it, I appreciate the great outpouring of support for the blog each and every day from all of you.

So for 2012:

• Make the Triple Crown coverage even better than last year’s!
• Now that I have money, organize the courage to go on a long road trip (I have a terrible knack of going stupid when I get the slightest bit lost/confused) so I can make it out to the Belmont Stakes, the Travers, and perhaps a trip to Suffolk! AT LEAST those races.
• Buy another DSLR so I can take original pictures of said awesome trips.
• Domain name and redesign… they’re still coming, all right.
• Continue work on my first horse racing-related book, and hopefully this year, get enough done so I can mail out pitches to publishers.

I wish everyone a happy holiday and a splendid 2012! I hope to see you all there in the New Year!

Sincerely,

Dawna

Hey everyone!

I’m one of those terrible people who hates Christmas (thank teenagerhood and working in retail for that one), and I hate that I hate Christmas. So, I’m thinking of stealing the idea many had of sending Christmas cards to those who would like one as a way to improve my mood and have more fun with this blog. Maybe you hate Christmas too, maybe not. They will be horse racing-themed and come with a stalker-free guarantee!

If I do indeed order some, please indicate your interest so I have an idea of how many I ought to order. If you’d rather have an email/blog message/something that doesn’t involve a mailing address, indicate that as well. I’m trying to unleash my inner elf here.

High hoof!

Dawna

After a week without heat, water, and electricity and a week and a half without Internet/cable, IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK!

Sad to say, because of the wires and trees down everywhere from the Halloween nor’easter, I missed the entirety of Breeders’ Cup week and every single race. The only bit I saw on ABC (who was supposedly broadcasting the races, but only when it was convenient to cut away from some stupid college football game) was Corey Nakatani’s post-race comments aboard Regally Ready in the Turf Sprint. It was awfully heart-breaking to miss it all, but by the look of things, we had a weekend full of serious upsets. I’ll talk more about the races in upcoming posts.

In good news, I received a phone call last week with a full-time job offer— something I’ve been pining for for months— and since it’s third shift I can still write and post during the day and hopefully be able to purchase a domain name for the blog. 

Thanks so much for your patience and readership everyone. I not only kept most of you during my freak absence but gained a few new ones as well! I’ll answer the asks I have waiting for me today and get back to business. Again, thank you thank you everyone!

Despite a fierce runner-up performance in this past weekend’s Jim Dandy Stakes (II), Shackleford bounced off the trailer to step foot on the historic Saratoga Race Course, healthy and full of run. But he’s always like that according to his trainer Dale Romans. Romans has indicated interest to enter the horse in the three-year-old Classic the Travers (I) come late August, but is also considering the Woodward Stakes (I), which would pit him against older rivals.

The Woodward is being considered due to an extra week of preparation as well as a break in the weights, but no official decision has been made just yet. Other three-year-olds on the Travers trail are:

• Stay Thirsty, winner of the Jim Dandy by 4 lengths
• Coil, winner of the Haskell Invitational over Shackleford and Ruler On Ice
• Ruler On Ice, 3rd place in the Haskell
• Rattlesnake Bridge, winner of the Long Branch Stakes
• Dominus, winner of the Dwyer and 3rd place in Jim Dandy
• Bowman’s Causeway
• Moonshine Mullins, 3rd in the Jim Dandy

Also possible:

• Jaycito
• Raison d’Etat
• Brilliant Speed
• Turbo Compressor

I’ve been sluggishly horrible at fulfilling some awesome posts this month. Lo siento. I had a horrible infection that lasted a week two weeks ago and am now just coming out of a random fever/sore throat attack (usually I don’t seem to get sick often). Thus, I’ve been eating out of the pretty picture/quotes queue a lot, but you may have noticed I’ve started doing “horse racing facts” for those of you who like random trivia. Yay trivia.

I still have a bunch of stuff in the works including a Blind Luck article and others, but those won’t start going up until Monday since we’re nearing the weekend, which will be full of new junk. Hope everyone survives the heat wave! It’s supposed to get up to 105* here in western Massachusetts and we’ve got the fans working overtime on the disgruntled, bored horses in the barn. 

Trying to smoothen out “real life” things so maybe I can go back to college in the fall and find myself a “real” job, I’m making this post now with my intended future updates for the blog.

• The About page is live! At some point I’ll try to add a picture. For now, just visualize a very tall, skinny brunette girl in her early twenties with glasses.
• Belmont Stakes handicapping and themed updates all this week awaits the queue. I’m still rooting for Nehro from my living room ;)
• Capsule Article on Funny Cide
• Opinion piece: Top Three-Year-Old Colt Honors
• I do want to say something about the calamity that was the Secretariat movie, which I have purchased on DVD.