Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Horse racing, 1975: John Damien, a jockey, trainer and racing steward, was living the good life when he was told by the Ontario Racing Commission that he would not be retained. The reason? Damien was gay. As reported by Xtra in [...]
Posts under ‘Horse Racing’
Jockeys pose shirtless for calendar
Twelve top American jockeys have stripped down for a 2012 calendar that will assist the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. It costs $13.99 and is a good cause, and also shows these jockeys have some rocking bods. From the Albany Times Union: OK. Let’s just be frank. Jockeys are athletes. Many of them have rippling abs, [...]
Girl power strikes in Japan
Girl power was aiming to strike again at the Japan Cup yesterday evening. This is Japan’s most prestigious horse race, and 100,000 fans packed the Tokyo stands to watch their popular favorite, the big black superfilly Vodka, make her 3rd try at beating the boyz. They call her the “Japanese Zenyatta.” As with the Breeders [...]
An “impossible” win that inspires
This past weekend at Santa Anita, when Zenyatta looked for the “impossible” win, most of my local LGBT horse-fan friends were in that crowd, screaming their heads off for this popular favorite. And the ones I know who couldn’t make it to the track were glued to their TVs. Everything went wrong for Zenyatta in [...]
The year of girl power
It’s one of those moments when a champion racehorse becomes a symbol for human aspirations. This year, so many outstanding fillies are out there — including the remarkable Zenyatta — that touts are calling it “the year of girl power.” But it’s 3-year-old Rachel Alexandra that has women and girls flooding to the tracks to [...]
Farewell to Hollywood Park
Today is the last day of racing at the storied racetrack built in a bean field in 1938 by movie mogul Jack Warner. A developer plans to raze the complex and build a low-income housing project and mall. Victim of the recession’s impact on sports, Hollywood Park isn’t going quietly. Noisy allegations are being made [...]
Quick hits: Federer, Phelps, Lakers, Magic
Roger Federer beats Rafael Nadal in the Madrid final…on clay! Injuries catch up to Rockets and Celtics as Lakers and Magic reach Conference Semifinals. Phelps loses again in Charlotte. Illinois head football coach Ron Zook is posting some odd Tweets at 2 A.M. Rachel Alexandra is the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 [...]
The Preakness is tomorrow
It’s gonna be an interesting race. Kentucky Derby upset winner Mine That Bird faces an out-of-left-field challenge from Rachel Alexandra. She’s the super-filly who won the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Derby, by an astounding 20 lengths. Calvin Borel, who piloted Bird from way behind, rode Rachel to a similar tactical win on the same [...]
Kentucky Derby Shocker
The blimp shot reveals just how incredible that winning charge was, by a horse that few commentators (including myself) had given any attention before the race. Mine That Bird, a Canadian-bred bay gelding that sold for $9500 as a yearling and went off as a 50-to-1 long shot, came from dead last to flatten a [...]
Who knew jockeys could be this sexy?
Horse racing takes center stage this weekend and with that, we should consider the jockeys. Photographer Elena Dorfman has and what she came up with puts those athletes in a new perspective. A naked one, in fact. She wanted to show their athleticism in a new exhibit set to open this summer at Louisville’s 21c [...]
A horsy weekend ahead…
On Saturday afternoon, a few L.A. friends and I will congregate at my media-room telly with fried chicken and a bottle of wine. As a kid I started out listening to the Kentucky Derby on the radio with my dad every year…am not about to miss this race EVER. Some other horse-loving homos I know will [...]
Morning hits: Draft, Derby, refs, Cosby
It’s irrelevant to tell people how NFL teams drafted before any of their players have played a single down, but it can be entertaining so here are a couple links. Pro Football Weekly pick-by-pick analysis. Analysis from Peter King, who grades Pats, ‘Boys and Raiders badly. Mel Kiper says Jets had second-best draft with only [...]
Did jockey Frankie Dettori kiss Gov. Schwarzenegger?
The Governor took time away from electioneering to attend the Breeders Cup today, arriving at Santa Anita just before the running of the much-awaited Classic. So he was there to see Dettori ride British-owned Raven’s Pass to an upset victory. Good-looking Dettori is Europe’s top jockey, and makes himself famous on the other side of the pond for his [...]
Gay horse to race in Breeders’ Cup
From the Onion. Priceless. Hat tip to Matthew First Openly Gay Racehorse To Compete Sunday Share on Facebook
Big Brown out, Casino Drive in
We horse lovers who have worried about Big Brown continuing to race on that problematical hoof can now breathe easy. The other day, the colt was pulled from preparation for the Breeders Cup Classic and officially retired to stud. The reason: a flukey new injury during a work, when a hind hoof clipped the back of a front [...]