It has been a long time since horseplayers could proclaim that all is right in the world and actually mean it. The horses are already running at Del Mar, the track that Bing Crosby built where the turf meets the surf in Southern California. On Friday, John “Old Smoke” Morrissey’s Saratoga Race Course kicks off its 147th summer renewal.
Best of all, for the first time in 37 years, there is a Triple Crown champion in our midst. His name, of course, is American Pharoah, and, if the racing gods remain kind, he is scheduled to race for the first time since his triumphant Belmont Stakes on Aug.