Nothing can be more disturbing for a real estate agent than the sound of silence. At a time of year when veteran realtor Scott Varley is accustomed to receiving a steady stream of inquiries about lodging in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., he has far too much unrented space as the prospect of a summer race meet […]

Junior McFarlane wanted to work at the racetrack so badly that he was willing to say pretty much anything to gain an opportunity in the early 1990’s. After handling a series of odd jobs that did not amount to much, the avid racegoer decided his best hope was to seek an interview with Allen Jerkens. […]

For a time, it seemed Danny Ramsey was star-crossed from birth. His father, Donald, died when he was seven. His mother, Rubel, passed a year later. While other of his five siblings were raised by loving relatives, he wound up living with an older brother, Auston, then 19, in their native Nassau of the Bahamas. […]

Melissa Cohen finally allowed time for herself. After caring for Thoroughbreds since she began grooming them at 15, after assisting demanding but well-respected trainer Rick Violette for 15 years in the pressure-cooker New York market, after caring for Violette through some awful days before he lost his battle to lung cancer on Oct. 21, 2018, […]

Madness. That is what Saffie Joseph Sr. thought when Saffie Joseph Jr. told him of his plan to leave their homeland of Barbados to train Thoroughbreds in South Florida. The son spoke of his ambition to rank among the finest trainers in the world, if not the best. At 22 years old, Joseph Jr. had […]

When Adriane Merritt visits Laurel Park and watches her son, Dominick, work as an exercise rider, she believes a mother’s prayers were answered. Adriane and her husband, Gary, raised Dominick and his two older siblings, Michelle Branch and Delvon Merritt, in an inner-city neighborhood on the east side of Baltimore that no one would choose. […]

Awful circumstances forced Jay Glass to assume the responsibilities of a man when he was 10 years old. He was that age when his stepfather, Norman Funk, the only father he had known, was involved in a horrific car accident caused by a driver who ran a stop sign. Funk, in the back seat of […]

Saul Castellanos, a top assistant to trainer Mark Hennig and a recent winner of a Thoroughbred Industry Employee Award, said of his life and career, “I live the American Dream plus.” Plus? “Plus is like more than I thought,” he explained. “This country gives you opportunities and it is up to you to take that. […]

No one would blame Steve Norman if he retired tomorrow. He is 67. He has been a blacksmith for 49 years. Kate, his wife of 35 years, would welcome the opportunity to spend more time with him. So would their three daughters — Sarah, Samantha and Meredith – and his three grandchildren. Norman has nothing […]