Siro's NYC

1 Press and Pix
2 Silks painting
3 People painting
   3.1 Acknowledgements
   3.2 Painting
   3.3 Details of Individual panels    Panel:   #1  #2  #3  #4  #5  #6  #7  #8  #9  #10 
4 Photomural

People painting

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to Adam Coglianese, Cathy Duffy, and Jo Ann Oreffice who all provided photos for this painting. Also to Maggi Moss, Maureen Lewi, Mary Ryan, Len Lusky, Sally Hill, and Virginia Kraft Payson for photos. And thanks to Cathleen Myers, Suzie O’Cain, and Will Gergits and Mary Beth Allen, and to Bob Giordano for modeling for photos. Many thanks to Marion Altieri for help and support.

Painting:

*SCROLL* sideways through all painting panels:

Details of individual panels:

1. Grooms take care of the horses at the track (video profile of a Saratoga groom). The Backstretch Employee Service Team (B.E.S.T.) helps address some of the grooms’ basic needs (video).
2. Mike Hushion is a New York based trainer (video interview).
3. Mary Ryan has been announcing morning training to Saratoga breakfast patrons for 36 years.
4. John Velazquez, jockey, is being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. John is wearing the silks of Courtlandt Farms, owned by Don Adam (read an interview).
5. Todd Pletcher is a leading trainer in New York and nationwide (NYRA video on Todd, and Saratoga interview).
6. Sam Grossman, NYRA’s bugler, discusses his life on the job.


7. Pete Fitzgerald, Placing/Patrol Judge, NYRA. In this segment a fellow paddock official, Paddock Judge Neal Cutrone discusses the job.
8. Javier Castellano, jockey, is interviewed by NYRA. Javier is wearing the silks of Bobby Flay, celebrity chef and horse owner, who gave the keynote address at the 2011 Horse Racing Hall of Fame induction.
9. Paul Roberts of Turnberry Consulting, chief architect of NYRA’s planned capital improvements. The construction will be funded by using a percentage of the money generated by Aqueduct Racetrack’s new Resorts World Casino.
10, 11. Will Gergits and Mary Beth Allen, racing fans and regular patrons of the Saratoga Racecourse. Attendance in Saratoga averages upwards of 20,000 visitors per day. Racing would not exist without its fans. Thorofan is an organization devoted to fostering racing’s fandom.


12. Virginia Kraft Payson, thoroughbred owner and breeder. She developed and owns Payson Park Thoroughbred Training Center and Payson Stud. A brief biography and related articles describe her career.
13. Bob Duncan, head Gate Trainer for NYRA, is featured in a video interview by Jeff Carle. Bob answers 20 questions for the Daily Racing Form. Bob is married to Diane Pikulski of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
14. Bob Giordano, NYRA “May I Help You?” informational assistant at the Clubhouse Gate, Saratoga Racetrack. He discusses the work in an interview with Channel 10. Bob is an organizer for the inaugural post-track Steeplechase event in 2012 at Saratoga and is on the board of the proposed New York Horse Park.
15. Susan Moore, team leader of M&M Thoroughbred Partners and manager along with her husband John Moore. Their story “Susan and John Moore’s Tale of Love and Glory” (pdf) was featured by Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, November 2008, pp. 22-25.
16, 17. Carole Flanagan and Mary Rose (Turi) Behan are local Saratoga ladies whose favorite winter past time is creating themed traditional outfits for summer days at the track. Carole grew up in a hotel on Franklin Square where her mother, age 91, still resides.


18. Sean Clancy, editor and chief writer along with his brother Joe, of ST Publishing which publishes The Saratoga Special daily during track season. Sean won an Eclipse Award for his writing in 2009.
19. Jockey wearing the silks of Zayat Stables.
20. Beverly “Peggy” Steinman is a horse owner and breeder and the chairwoman of the National Steeplechase Foundation. She fills her life with horse related pursuits and summers in Saratoga.


21. Maggi Moss, a lawyer by profession, bought her first racehorse in 1998 (read an interview) and has been in the top ten owners nationwide for total purse earnings in thoroughbred racing every year since 2006.
22. Barbara Banke, horse owner and breeder, is the chairman of Kendall-Jackson Winery and a former lawyer (see related articles). She owns and runs Stonestreet Farm which was founded by her late husband Jess Jackson.
23. The tall man with the hat is John Fort, founder of Peachtree Stables. Read an interview and related articles.
24. Francisco Costa is the women’s wear designer for Calvin Klein. Famous for his fashion career, Mr. Costa, a NY resident and native of Brazil, is involved in the racing scene through his partner, horse trainer John DeStefano. (Mr. DeStefano enjoyed his first encounter with this painting (article)).


25. Marylou Whitney, grande dame of Saratoga and owner of Marylou Whitney Stables. In 2010 she received the Eclipse Award of Merit (video of acceptance speech).
26. John Hendrickson, Marylou Whitney’s husband and partner in racing (responsible for commissioning the “Marylou Whitney” rose), is also intimately involved in creating Saratoga’s recreational event calendar for the backstretch workers.
27. Andy Serling, member of NYRA’s on-air handicapping team, began handicapping horses at an early age.
28. Suzie O’Cain, manager along with her husband Doc of Highcliff Farm, is also founder of Find a Cure Stable and member of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Board of Directors.
29, 30. Sheryl and Barry Schwartz. Barry Schwartz is the former CEO of NYRA, co-founder of Calvin Klein, and owner of Stonewall Farm thoroughbred facility. The couple are fixtures in Saratoga’s racing scene.


31. Jockey wearing silks.
32. Maureen Lewi, founder and director along with husband Ed, of Ed Lewi Associates, the public relations agency employed by NYRA. The firm was sold to Mark Bardack in 2010 and continues to thrive.
33. Michael Dubb, horse owner, was NYRA’s top owner for purse earnings in 2010. He is a builder and developer, and in 2003 he donated the construction of Anna House, home of the Belmont Childcare Center, from an idea hatched with jockey Jerry Bailey.
34. Penny Chenery, owner and breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. Her most famous horse was Secretariat, whose story was told in the 2010 Disney Movie starring Diane Lane (interview with both women). In 2005, Ms. Chenery accepted the Eclipse Award of Merit.
35. Sally Hill was part owner along with husband Jim of Seattle Slew, the only undefeated Triple Crown winner. Seattle Slew (official site) is celebrated for his triumph through various physical maladies as well as for his racing career.


36. Jeremy Edge, “the walking Brit,” raised $30,000 for Anna House and the PDJF on his fundraising walk from Belmont to the Saratoga Racetrack in 2011.
37. Angel Cordero, Jr. is a retired Hall of Fame jockey and jock’s agent for John Velasquez. Angel Cordero Jr, nicknamed the “King of Saratoga,” was leading jockey at Saratoga Racecourse 14 times, and as spokesperson for the sport reflects engagingly on his years in the saddle.
38. Yutaka Yokoyama, Senior Manager of Japan Racing Association's New York Representative Office. Japan conducts more than 21,000 horse races a year (including flat, hurdles, and Draft Racing), and the JRA purse structure is one of the richest in the world (Wikipedia: Horse racing, Japan). Famous for its natural hot spring spas, Japan has extended this luxury to its thoroughbred athletes (image of hot spring for racehorses).
39. Anne Campbell, author of Dogwood Stable Newsletter’s annual Saratoga Diary (pdf), wife of Dogwood Stable’s founder Cot Campbell, was celebrated by Saratoga’s Breast Cancer Luncheon in 2011.
40. Jo Ann Oreffice (see page 3 of pdf newsletter), member along with husband Paul of Dogwood Stable. Paul Oreffice is the former CEO of Dow Chemical and author of the autobiography “Only in America”.
41. Cathleen Myers, also a member of Dogwood Stable along with husband Carl, and a participant in Dogwood Stable events.


42. Joyce “Bonner” Young, horse owner.
43. Ramon Dominguez, jockey.
44, 45. Steve Young, bloodstock agent, researches and purchases thoroughbreds for private clients (article). He works the Saratoga Sales every year.


46. Saudi Burton, backstretch worker for Allen Jerkens (story) and aspiring trainer.
47, 48. Tracy and Hannah Pletcher (image), wife and daughter respectively of trainer Todd Pletcher.
49. Adam Coglianese, NYRA’s official photographer, following in the footsteps of his father Bob Coglianese who still works for NYRA.
50. Jockey valet carrying equipment to a jockey in the paddock. A profile of a long-term Saratoga valet explains the job.