Dorothy Ours
@horseygort.bsky.social
Wanted to be a horse—turned out to be a writer. Thoroughbred racing history geek. Books "Man o' War" and "Battleship" with St. Martin's Press.
Congratulations, Hall of Fame class of 2025!
I'm especially glad about trainer George H. Conway, shown here at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 1937 (Travers) during a special exhibition with triple crown champion War Admiral.
(Morgan Photo Services - courtesy of The BloodHorse archive)
I'm especially glad about trainer George H. Conway, shown here at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 1937 (Travers) during a special exhibition with triple crown champion War Admiral.
(Morgan Photo Services - courtesy of The BloodHorse archive)
April 24, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Congratulations, Hall of Fame class of 2025!
I'm especially glad about trainer George H. Conway, shown here at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 1937 (Travers) during a special exhibition with triple crown champion War Admiral.
(Morgan Photo Services - courtesy of The BloodHorse archive)
I'm especially glad about trainer George H. Conway, shown here at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 1937 (Travers) during a special exhibition with triple crown champion War Admiral.
(Morgan Photo Services - courtesy of The BloodHorse archive)
July 18, 1991—a wicked hot day at Rockingham Park, figuratively and literally. My photography wasn't great ... but here's gorgeous Marquetry, who won the New England Classic that sweltering afternoon. The American Championship Racing Series (ACRS) for older horses sure was fun while it lasted!
January 29, 2025 at 12:52 AM
July 18, 1991—a wicked hot day at Rockingham Park, figuratively and literally. My photography wasn't great ... but here's gorgeous Marquetry, who won the New England Classic that sweltering afternoon. The American Championship Racing Series (ACRS) for older horses sure was fun while it lasted!
Sometimes a horse just catches your eye. This was 3-year-old Green Fee (Green Dancer-Raska, by Rahy) at Saratoga before running 6th in an August 22, 1999 inner turf allowance. Three years later, he won the Grade 2 Kelso at Belmont and ran 5th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Arlington Park. 🏇
January 28, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Sometimes a horse just catches your eye. This was 3-year-old Green Fee (Green Dancer-Raska, by Rahy) at Saratoga before running 6th in an August 22, 1999 inner turf allowance. Three years later, he won the Grade 2 Kelso at Belmont and ran 5th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Arlington Park. 🏇
My 2003 Hopeful Stakes pics include: BIRDSTONE!
Hitting the gate at start, he rallied five wide & finished 4th. Next year he foiled Smarty Jones's Triple Crown bid. Also won the Travers in a thunderstorm. We ran out in the rain, cheering beside the winner's circle where Marylou Whitney celebrated.
Hitting the gate at start, he rallied five wide & finished 4th. Next year he foiled Smarty Jones's Triple Crown bid. Also won the Travers in a thunderstorm. We ran out in the rain, cheering beside the winner's circle where Marylou Whitney celebrated.
January 27, 2025 at 9:57 PM
My 2003 Hopeful Stakes pics include: BIRDSTONE!
Hitting the gate at start, he rallied five wide & finished 4th. Next year he foiled Smarty Jones's Triple Crown bid. Also won the Travers in a thunderstorm. We ran out in the rain, cheering beside the winner's circle where Marylou Whitney celebrated.
Hitting the gate at start, he rallied five wide & finished 4th. Next year he foiled Smarty Jones's Triple Crown bid. Also won the Travers in a thunderstorm. We ran out in the rain, cheering beside the winner's circle where Marylou Whitney celebrated.
The cup won by Battleship, son of Man o' War, for the 1938 Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, England, is the most beautiful trophy I've ever seen. During a 2019 Racing Museum visit, it was fun finding this beauty on display in a repurposed space that used to be my office! 🏇
January 27, 2025 at 12:53 AM
The cup won by Battleship, son of Man o' War, for the 1938 Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, England, is the most beautiful trophy I've ever seen. During a 2019 Racing Museum visit, it was fun finding this beauty on display in a repurposed space that used to be my office! 🏇
Feeling as if this Standardbred "been there, done that" former racer will made someone an excellent mosey-along pal. 💕
newvocations.org/horse_detail...
January 18, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Feeling as if this Standardbred "been there, done that" former racer will made someone an excellent mosey-along pal. 💕
newvocations.org/horse_detail...
Merry Christmas and happy all holidays! 🎄🏇🎄
(Man o' War bronze at Kentucky Horse Park, December 2013)
(Man o' War bronze at Kentucky Horse Park, December 2013)
December 24, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Merry Christmas and happy all holidays! 🎄🏇🎄
(Man o' War bronze at Kentucky Horse Park, December 2013)
(Man o' War bronze at Kentucky Horse Park, December 2013)
Godspeed to Lemon Drop Kid, one of my favorite Travers winners (1999). ♥️🖤🤍
December 14, 2024 at 2:35 AM
Godspeed to Lemon Drop Kid, one of my favorite Travers winners (1999). ♥️🖤🤍
🏇 Dec. 6, 2010, camera & I froze in 17 degrees Fahrenheit but SO worth it! Zenyatta (shown with groom Mario Espinoza) was as impressive as anyone could wish in her last public appearance. Afterward, I heard one man tell another, "That there was like going to hear Babe Ruth's final farewell speech."
December 12, 2024 at 1:55 AM
🏇 Dec. 6, 2010, camera & I froze in 17 degrees Fahrenheit but SO worth it! Zenyatta (shown with groom Mario Espinoza) was as impressive as anyone could wish in her last public appearance. Afterward, I heard one man tell another, "That there was like going to hear Babe Ruth's final farewell speech."
One more with More Than Ready —John Velazquez up, after winning the 1999 Sanford Stakes.
My amateur photography struggled when a dark brown colt stood with his face in shadow, against a bright background ... but I love the strong stance of his hindquarters and the happy crowd rising around him. 🏇
My amateur photography struggled when a dark brown colt stood with his face in shadow, against a bright background ... but I love the strong stance of his hindquarters and the happy crowd rising around him. 🏇
December 6, 2024 at 10:58 PM
One more with More Than Ready —John Velazquez up, after winning the 1999 Sanford Stakes.
My amateur photography struggled when a dark brown colt stood with his face in shadow, against a bright background ... but I love the strong stance of his hindquarters and the happy crowd rising around him. 🏇
My amateur photography struggled when a dark brown colt stood with his face in shadow, against a bright background ... but I love the strong stance of his hindquarters and the happy crowd rising around him. 🏇
9 3/4 lengths. This is More Than Ready near finish of 1999 Sanford Stakes (future Hall of Famer John Velazquez up).
MTR announced himself in the paddock, hollering like the super stud he would become. I thought he was well named, but of course had no idea he'd sire 13 champions, internationally! 🏇
MTR announced himself in the paddock, hollering like the super stud he would become. I thought he was well named, but of course had no idea he'd sire 13 champions, internationally! 🏇
December 6, 2024 at 1:44 AM
9 3/4 lengths. This is More Than Ready near finish of 1999 Sanford Stakes (future Hall of Famer John Velazquez up).
MTR announced himself in the paddock, hollering like the super stud he would become. I thought he was well named, but of course had no idea he'd sire 13 champions, internationally! 🏇
MTR announced himself in the paddock, hollering like the super stud he would become. I thought he was well named, but of course had no idea he'd sire 13 champions, internationally! 🏇
FYI, the Horse Lovers Community group on Facebook also has posted images claiming to be Man o' War, Seabiscuit, Kelso, Secretariat, and others ... who are not those horses. They claim this is Somethingroyal, dam of Secretariat. (She was a bay mare who did not have a banged tail.) Beware.
December 5, 2024 at 1:32 AM
FYI, the Horse Lovers Community group on Facebook also has posted images claiming to be Man o' War, Seabiscuit, Kelso, Secretariat, and others ... who are not those horses. They claim this is Somethingroyal, dam of Secretariat. (She was a bay mare who did not have a banged tail.) Beware.
In the land of fraud ... image with goggles jockey & saddlecloth 3 is NOT Phar Lap. Photo of horse with front wraps is Phar Lap. Facebook account called Horse Lovers Community is posting the fake. If you see this fake claim anywhere, be warned.
December 5, 2024 at 12:37 AM
In the land of fraud ... image with goggles jockey & saddlecloth 3 is NOT Phar Lap. Photo of horse with front wraps is Phar Lap. Facebook account called Horse Lovers Community is posting the fake. If you see this fake claim anywhere, be warned.
A highlight from May 17, 2013 Pimlico visit: watching Will Take Charge jog by. The oh-so-handsome son of Unbridled's Song-Take Charge Lady ran 7th in the Preakness but later won Gr. 1 Travers, ran 2nd in Breeders' Cup Classic, and added Gr. 1 Clark Handicap to become Champion 3-Year-Old Male. 🏇
December 4, 2024 at 10:29 PM
A highlight from May 17, 2013 Pimlico visit: watching Will Take Charge jog by. The oh-so-handsome son of Unbridled's Song-Take Charge Lady ran 7th in the Preakness but later won Gr. 1 Travers, ran 2nd in Breeders' Cup Classic, and added Gr. 1 Clark Handicap to become Champion 3-Year-Old Male. 🏇
Also in 1972 ... women and foods and You've come a long way, baby. Oh my! 😂
December 4, 2024 at 4:56 AM
Also in 1972 ... women and foods and You've come a long way, baby. Oh my! 😂
🏇 From June 15, 1972 Richmond Times-Dispatch: Penny Tweedy & two of her children with First Landing, sire of '72 Kentucky Derby & Belmont winner Riva Ridge.
Was this article—"She's Mistress of The Meadow"—a sports page feature? Nope, but it did top page one of another section: Women and Foods. 😂
Was this article—"She's Mistress of The Meadow"—a sports page feature? Nope, but it did top page one of another section: Women and Foods. 😂
December 3, 2024 at 11:44 PM
🏇 From June 15, 1972 Richmond Times-Dispatch: Penny Tweedy & two of her children with First Landing, sire of '72 Kentucky Derby & Belmont winner Riva Ridge.
Was this article—"She's Mistress of The Meadow"—a sports page feature? Nope, but it did top page one of another section: Women and Foods. 😂
Was this article—"She's Mistress of The Meadow"—a sports page feature? Nope, but it did top page one of another section: Women and Foods. 😂
🏇 Random, from August 2017 ... Seabiscuit glowing in twilight spotlights, on his pedestal outside the Racing Museum (Saratoga Springs, NY).
December 2, 2024 at 11:34 PM
🏇 Random, from August 2017 ... Seabiscuit glowing in twilight spotlights, on his pedestal outside the Racing Museum (Saratoga Springs, NY).
When your idol answers fan mail with a perfect, hand-signed memento (tape marks from my scrapbook). Many thousands of kids must have written letters to Marguerite Henry ... and received replies. I think she empathized with children's dreams and challenges (see her book "Dear Readers and Riders").
November 30, 2024 at 1:46 AM
When your idol answers fan mail with a perfect, hand-signed memento (tape marks from my scrapbook). Many thousands of kids must have written letters to Marguerite Henry ... and received replies. I think she empathized with children's dreams and challenges (see her book "Dear Readers and Riders").
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 26, 2024 at 4:57 PM
Happy Thanksgiving!
Blast from the past: favorite traffic stop, Union Avenue.
November 26, 2024 at 1:57 AM
Blast from the past: favorite traffic stop, Union Avenue.
😂
Surveillance photo from "Seabiscuit" movie world: War Admiral with his crew.
Surveillance photo from "Seabiscuit" movie world: War Admiral with his crew.
November 25, 2024 at 4:21 PM
😂
Surveillance photo from "Seabiscuit" movie world: War Admiral with his crew.
Surveillance photo from "Seabiscuit" movie world: War Admiral with his crew.
🏇 fans, heads up! B&W photo shown here isn't actually War Admiral and Seabiscuit. It's a still from the 2003 "Seabiscuit" movie, cropped and turned into B&W.
(sighing in historian)
Source: www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/n...
(sighing in historian)
Source: www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/n...
November 25, 2024 at 5:46 AM
🏇 fans, heads up! B&W photo shown here isn't actually War Admiral and Seabiscuit. It's a still from the 2003 "Seabiscuit" movie, cropped and turned into B&W.
(sighing in historian)
Source: www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/n...
(sighing in historian)
Source: www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/n...
🏇 Another from August 2, 2019 (same day I saw bright chestnut Olendon in the Saratoga Oaks):
CASA CREED and Junior Alvarado, fresh from winning the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.
There's nothing like a day at the Spaaaa!R
CASA CREED and Junior Alvarado, fresh from winning the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.
There's nothing like a day at the Spaaaa!R
November 23, 2024 at 9:46 PM
🏇 Another from August 2, 2019 (same day I saw bright chestnut Olendon in the Saratoga Oaks):
CASA CREED and Junior Alvarado, fresh from winning the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.
There's nothing like a day at the Spaaaa!R
CASA CREED and Junior Alvarado, fresh from winning the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.
There's nothing like a day at the Spaaaa!R
Flipping through photos from 2019, saw this pretty girl again. Reckon she got chestnut dazzle from great-grandsires Rahy and Forty Niner.
Minutes after I took this pic, Olendon (FR) ran last in the Saratoga Oaks. In 2022 she produced her first foal, Fast Pass Key (JPN), for Shadai Farm in Japan.
Minutes after I took this pic, Olendon (FR) ran last in the Saratoga Oaks. In 2022 she produced her first foal, Fast Pass Key (JPN), for Shadai Farm in Japan.
November 23, 2024 at 1:27 AM
Flipping through photos from 2019, saw this pretty girl again. Reckon she got chestnut dazzle from great-grandsires Rahy and Forty Niner.
Minutes after I took this pic, Olendon (FR) ran last in the Saratoga Oaks. In 2022 she produced her first foal, Fast Pass Key (JPN), for Shadai Farm in Japan.
Minutes after I took this pic, Olendon (FR) ran last in the Saratoga Oaks. In 2022 she produced her first foal, Fast Pass Key (JPN), for Shadai Farm in Japan.
🏇 scrapbook: My family lived in Henrico County, Va., less than 30 miles from the Meadow, when Riva won 1972 Kentucky Derby. He was as fast as Swaps, another front-running Derby champ. Playing outside after the broadcast, we neighborhood kids chanted, "The Virginia horse won! The Virginia horse won!"
November 22, 2024 at 1:03 AM
🏇 scrapbook: My family lived in Henrico County, Va., less than 30 miles from the Meadow, when Riva won 1972 Kentucky Derby. He was as fast as Swaps, another front-running Derby champ. Playing outside after the broadcast, we neighborhood kids chanted, "The Virginia horse won! The Virginia horse won!"