🎂 60 looks great on you
SPAC’s NYCB ‘Anniversary Night.’ (Photo by NUA Photography Co.)
From the editor
Happy Monday,
It’s too hot to type….
But I’m getting the hang of this new platform — so some improvements are coming soon! For today, I learned how to save enough room for IN BRIEF’s triumphant return.
— Abby
In this issue:
📸 Did you bring your party hat? SPAC turns 60.
🏇 Why this one call has ignited a racing Twitter meltdown
🪿 The best local reporter in town is…
📰 The return of IN BRIEF news roundup
PARTY WITH PUCK
Photos by NUA Photography Co.
SPAC officially opened on Saturday night, July 9, 1966, with New York City Ballet's ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream.’ Sixty years later, the company performed the very same ballet Thursday night to mark the milestone. (Photo by NUA Photography Co.)
SPAC officially celebrated six decades last Thursday evening, and everyone from Elizabeth Sobol and Tiler Peck to (Puck himself) Taylor Stanley came out to celebrate. There were shiny party hats, pink tulle skirts, loads of colorful ribbons, and a packed lawn full of kids discovering the magic of New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the very first time.
Tiler Peck
Taylor Stanley
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
All photos by NUA Photography Co.
🏇 EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT
Think the racing world was going to let this weekend’s Pick 6 controversy go already? Nope — we’ve got a few more days of hearing about nothing else, I’m afraid. Want a detailed analysis of what went down with the inside scoop from a well-placed source?
For that, I am not your girl.
But here’s the nutshell:
A Pick 6 worth $166,702 carried over into Sunday after the wager went unhit Saturday. Then Sunday’s Race 4 got a last-minute distance change — after jockeys voiced concern about the crowded field of 2-year-olds — and that forced the Pick 6 to be canceled and carry over again — until this Thursday.
Day-of confusion:
The decision to change the distance kept spectators waiting without news for about 45 minutes.
The horses were brought out with 35 MTP.
Conflicting stories?
Johnny V, writes DRF, “notified NYRA steward Victor Escobar between 11:30 a.m. and noon Sunday about the [riders’] concerns.”
But Junior Alvarado on Twitter (X) says: “We told them about it last week after they ran a mile race with 6 horse field and it was a disaster…”
Where this leaves us:
So who spoke up, and when? Online, the keyboard warriors are hunting for someone to blame — expect plenty more aimed at the stewards, NYRA, and the jocks.
📌 ICYMI…
GOOSE CORNER
My favorite journalist — Spa Infield Goose, obvi — was on fire this weekend. (Which almost makes this introvert want to leave the house more often.)
My favorite avian scoops:
A pic of the Big Tuna himself… horse owner Bill Parcells is a fixture at the track, but grabbing a pic is next level. …And an undercover Irad, reporting for duty after a suspension forced him to miss July 4 weekend.
The opening of The Philip bar on Broadway, former home of Pint Sized. “Looks like it is going to be good,” wrote the bird. “They still need to get a permit for outdoor drinking.”
📰 IN BRIEF
Jonathon Kinchen and his Cart Talk check in with NYRA CEO David O’Rourke re: the new Belmont Park — including its eye-watering 30+ VIP suites. (Up from … zero.)
A new memoir follows a Saratoga mom’s journey as she fights for her son with a childhood brain tumor, writes Mel Snyder in the Daily Gazette.
No surgery, but jockey Javier Castellano stares down a three-week break after scary four-horse spill, reports Daily Racing Form.
A Shaker grad’s Opening Weekend return to the Winner’s Circle was a long time coming, says the Times Union.
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