On Saturday, May 5, I will buckle my 4-year-old son into his car seat and drive a half-hour south to a second-rate thoroughbred racetrack called Emerald Downs in a second-rate Wash[...]

Jockey Jacinto Chavez, 53, tan face etched with racetrack lore, pedals a mountain bike between the muddy stable area and the jockey room at the Solano County Fairgrounds. He’s tryi[...]

In honor of the week after Thanksgiving and the inevitable march toward the New Year, plus a combination of tryptophan, child-rearing and book-writing-related fatigue that has sapp[...]