TUCSON, Ariz. – It is ironic, with the world aflame and racing being singed by the fire, that leaders of the game recently have concerned themselves not with issues of substance, but with trivia.
In Kentucky, time and energy have again been spent on the issue of advertising on jockeys’ pants.
In New York, the lofty New York Racing Association found its fans furious over the change in a song for the Belmont stakes.
On Aug. 13, at the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, they will hang a plaque in the Hall of Fame wing of the complex, extolling the career of the late Michael Ernest Millerick, a foul-mouthed, cigar chomping, onetime jockey from Northern California who, during a training career of half a century, went by the name of Buster.
Using somewhat coarser language, Lyndon Johnson like to describe his attitude toward political adversaries as preferring to have them inside his tent, directing their energies outward, rather than outside the tent, aiming in.
Mike Pegram, welcome to the tent.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Any other year, Saturday's running of the Hollywood Gold Cup might have featured a horse from the stable of perennial local leader Doug O'Neill. After all, the guy has won the race four times -- Lava Man's triple plus the leggy gray Sky Jack -- and he would have no problem winning another.
On Aug. 13, at the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, they will hang a plaque in the Hall of Fame wing of the complex, extolling the career of the late Michael Ernest Millerick, a foul-mouthed, cigar chomping, onetime jockey from Northern California who, during a training career of half a century, went by the name of Buster.
Using somewhat coarser language, Lyndon Johnson liked to describe his attitude toward political adversaries as preferring to have them inside his tent, directing their energies outward, rather than outside the tent, aiming in.
Mike Pegram, welcome to the tent.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A former management team at Hollywood Park once presented a Fourth of July fireworks display that spooked a number of horses on the backstretch and sent several running loose and goofy into the night. I guess it's the patriotic thought that counts.
Combustibles aside, Independence Day action on the racetrack should be more than enough to satisfy even the most pyrotechnically hungry fans. Traditionally, the holiday has brought out racing's greatest stars.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It was fun while it lasted, the American Oaks, a race of great style and imagination that not only filled a hole in the stakes spectrum but also created a rich, self-contained lore that, sad to say, has lapsed too quickly into nostalgia.
While the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday will provide I Want Revenge with a heavyweight setting for his first start since the 2009 Wood Memorial, fellow 4-year-old Mine That Bird must wait until another day to make his return to competition, after an allowance race for the same afternoon at Churchill Downs failed to draw enough entries.
That's too bad, because it is important for both I Want Revenge and Mine That Bird to get back to the business of being serious racehorses instead of historically intertwined curiosities.