Hovdey: Two grads in perfect harmony with racing

Worried about the future of racing? Yeah, me too. But there are a few silver linings that sparkle through the muck and the mire, and for the purposes of celebrating a holiday weekend rife with good sport, I figure it can’t hurt to shine a spotlight in a couple of special directions.

Justin Zayat, 23, is rightfully racing’s most famous college grad this month, matriculating from NYU with cap, gown, and a shot at the Triple Crown. As manager of the family stable that includes that beast American Pharoah, Zayat has got to be the youngest individual breathing such rarified Thoroughbred air since Seth Hancock syndicated Secretariat at the age of 23.

Thankfully, there are other grads worth watching. And so we turn from the NYU ceremonies at Yankee Stadium to the campus of Chapman University in the town of Orange, Calif., where on Sunday evening the Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences will celebrate the commencement of the class of 2015.

Mary Ellet and Matt Dinerman know each other casually and shared one class this year, their senior seminar. Beyond that, however, they are bound heart and soul to the world of Thoroughbred racing, and they both have taken steps to find out just how far they can go.

Ellet, 21, will be leaving for Ireland in August to begin a two-year commitment to the Flying Start program offered by Sheikh Mohammed’s international Darley organization. Ellet is one of 12 trainees – including fellow Americans Conrad Bandoroff, Patricia Bowman, Jackson Buchanon, Brittney Dixon, and Michael Smith – who survived an intense application process to gain access to a curriculum of global travel and priceless experience in the Thoroughbred industry.

Dinerman, on the other hand, will be packing his bags next week and heading to the great Northwest, where he soon will be taking over the microphone at Emerald Downs in his first job as a track announcer at the ripe old age of 22. The job came open only recently after Emerald’s Robert Geller was hired by Woodbine to replace the retiring Dan Loiselle.

“I saw the press release about Robert Geller leaving Emerald Downs, so I figured if I sent them my résumé and tapes, the worst possible outcome was that they’d at least know my name,” Dinerman said.

“The next thing I knew, I was on the 210 freeway driving home from Santa Anita, where I was practicing my calls on the roof, and I got a call to come up for an audition,” he said. “Obviously, I was shocked.”

But not so flabbergasted that he couldn’t jump on a flight the next day, drive to the track with Sophia McKee, Emerald’s vice president of marketing, and call two races that same afternoon. Not long after that, Dinerman was offered the job. Emerald races three days a week through Sept. 27.

“They’ll be keeping me busy,” Dinerman said. “I’m looking forward to helping promote the track in the community. I know that my job as announcer is to accurately describe races and give the fans information, but it’s also to help give fans the best possible experience.

“I’m also ready to take the criticism,” he added.

Dinerman was infected with the racing bug by his father, David Dinerman, a sports fitness marketer and lifelong horseplayer who watched his son go from a talented young pitcher to a passionate racetracker. Matt worked summers at Del Mar for trainer John Sadler and then on the track’s media staff during meets before it occurred to him that race-calling might be a viable career path.

Ellet, on the other hand, was born to the racetrack. Her parents, Tom and Cindy Ellet, are veteran outriders on the Southern California circuit who can be found morning and afternoon shepherding racehorses and their riders. It was perfectly natural that their daughter follow in their footsteps, ponying horses to the post. But she will be taking this weekend off to graduate before going back to work next week.

“Last April, my mom found out about the Flying Start program and called me early one morning, just bubbling about it,” Ellet said. “It didn’t take me long to decide it was what I really wanted to do.”

The program takes its trainees through Darley’s multilevel organization in Ireland, England, Australia, and the U.S., which seemed like a perfect fit for Ellet, who graduated with a double major in communications studies and French and has spent enough time abroad to know the ropes.

“The application process was terrifying,” Ellet said. “But I had some guidance from people who had been in the program, like Dan Blacker, who trains here in California. Part of it was providing video proof that we could ride a horse, so I sent them a video of me ponying Singing Kitty to the post when she won the Cal Cup Oaks.”

That’ll do.

“I would like to eventually go into marketing and public relations,” Ellet said. “Whether it’s for a racetrack, or for an organization like the Breeders’ Cup, or for an actual farm. I don’t know what aspect I want to go into, so that’s why this program is an excellent way to get experience in all those areas, to see where I want to end up.”

Caps in the air.