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1 month ago | 
pittsburghquarterly.com | Charlie Stewart |Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine
Mention the game of squash and it will likely conjure a traditional image of men in whites, whacking a hard, hollow ball off the walls of an enclosed court in the rarefied confines of a private club, prep school or eastern college. The indoor game with the long-necked racquet and dark rubber ball hasn’t always been that way, though. Its origins derive from a similar game called “rackets,” a descendent of tennis played in the prisons of London in the early 19th century.
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2 months ago | 
pittsburghquarterly.com | Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine |Fred Shaw
A. G. Spalding once claimed that baseball likely began with the simple act of a boy tossing a ball into the air. The poet Donald Hall, who wrote a book about Pirates maverick pitcher Dock Ellis saw this simple act evolving into “sons playing catch with fathers” and eventually into a game “on a diamond that encloses what we are.”Baseball has a way of bringing out our best by linking us together.
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Oct 21, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Bill Christine |Jay Hovdey |Amanda Duckworth
In an evocative piece, veteran LA racing writer Bill Christine recalls how Wild Again won the first edition of America’s richest race at Hollywood Park in 1984 – on the track and in the stewards’ roomOn the morning of the first Breeders’ Cup in 1984, Bill Allen’s future wife was in her hotel room, dressing up for the short trip to Hollywood Park. “What do you think?” Nina, the future Mrs. Bill Allen, said as she stood before him.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Amanda Duckworth |Jay Hovdey |Bill Christine
A team of experts on US racing, headed by legendary former jockey Jerry Bailey, have their say on whether the European superstar can succeed in the Coolmore team’s ambitious challenge for America’s richest raceOne of the most contentious questions – probably the most contentious – in the run-up to the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar is the one about whether Irish superstar colt City Of Troy can overcome the culture shock of a switch to dirt and a deep cast of rivals to win the showpiece $7m Classic.
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Sep 25, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Amanda Duckworth |Jay Hovdey |Bill Christine
FROM THE ARCHIVE: In a memorable piece, leading equine journalist Amanda Duckworth reveals how her devotion to one horse ignited an enduring passion – and changed the course of her life• Originally published May 2017Whenever I am asked who my favorite racehorse is, the answer is an easy one that I have given without thought for two decades. After all, if not for Silver Charm, it’s unlikely anyone would be asking me the question to begin with.
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Sep 22, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Jay Hovdey |Bill Christine
Two for the price of one this month as our resident movie expert turns his attention to a racing icon caught twice on celluloid – with vastly differing resultsThe Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
directed by David Butler; starring Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, Lon McCallisterSeabiscuit (2003)
directed by Gary Ross; starring Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire, Chris CooperIt arrived some time during the summer of 1963, packaged in corrugated cardboard and addressed to yours truly.
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Jul 16, 2024 | 
pittsburghquarterly.com | Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine |Fred Shaw
Early in the 1974 season, with the Pirates struggling after finishing April at 6-12, Dock Ellis took the mound against the Cincinnati Reds. In spring training, Ellis vowed that he would hit the first five Reds batters because the Pirates had lost their aggressiveness and self-respect ever since their painful loss to the Reds in the 1972 National League Championship Series.
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May 17, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Daniel Ross |Bill Christine
Nearly two years after the rollout of HISA’s racetrack safety initiatives – and one year on from the introduction of its federal drug testing program – Daniel Ross discovers a marked contrast in views on progress so far Come July 1 this year, the racetrack safety portion of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act will have been in effect for two years (under the auspices of the HISA Authority), while May 22 will mark the one-year launch of the federal drug testing program, overseen by the...
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May 14, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Bill Christine
In the latest instalment of his series, Steve Dennis finds the recently appointed racecourse manager pledging ‘transformational change’Youth and vigour; you can’t beat it. He breezes into the room, a breath of fresh air, his hands clutching a sheaf of preparatory notes, his gaze – after the proper introductions – frequently drawn to the window beyond which Epsom racecourse gleams greenly from the latest spring shower.
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May 10, 2024 | 
thoroughbredracing.com | Bill Christine
Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos died aged 94 at the end of March. In a former life, he represented jockeys accused in a notorious Maryland case of race-riggingLong before he bought the Baltimore Orioles for $173 million, before his family sold the team for $1.7bn, before a lot of things, Peter Angelos made a nice living in the courtroom.
