The idea of perfection in Thoroughbred racing at the top of the game is really kind of ridiculous. Laffit Pincay Jr., the epitome of the professional jockey, lost nearly 39,000 times. The leading trainers in the history of the sport - Lukas, Frankel, Whittingham, Jerkens - would tell you they were lucky to win one out of every five. Citation lost. Secretariat lost. Man o' War lost.
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DRF Past Performances
As a jockey, Diane Crump was banged around plenty. As an exercise rider and trainer, she suffered the wear and tear of more than 30 years worth of getting on tough horses daily. But then, as merely an innocent bystander earlier this year, Crump was knocked down and trampled into the blacktop by a runaway horse at a training barn, sustaining eight broken ribs, multiple horseshoe-shaped bruises and contusions, and a subdural hematoma at the base of her skull that could have rendered her handicapped the rest of her life.
NEW YORK - Supporters of Rachel Alexandra or Zenyatta can't seem to agree on whether the sun rises in the east or the west, much less which one should be Horse of the Year. They can and should, however, unite in opposition to the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities post-Breeders' Cup ranking of the world's best horses, which denigrate both of them and all of American racing.
TUCSON, Ariz. - I speak for no one but myself, but I am wearying rapidly of the Horse of the Year controversy.
I understand the beauty of something in racing being controversial without being negative, which is the appeal of the controversy.
That, of course, is the argument of those who believe the Great Filly v. Mare Debate is wonderful for racing. It certainly is controversial, hotly so, without being negative, but it carries no great import for the future of horse racing. Come January, it will be over.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bobby Frankel died Monday still owing me a night's sleep.
I mention this only because Frankel was a man who tended to settle his debts, balance the books, and move along to the next race on the card. But there was that time, heading to the 1998 Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs, when he kept me awake for the whole four hours of the L.A.-to-Cincinnati redeye, chattering in the seat next to me about the races, the movies, books, restaurants, current events, and the people we had in common, though from vastly different angles.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On Sunday afternoon at Hollywood Park, in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden event, the 2-year-old filly Cozi Rosie is set to make her racing debut under the colors of Ann and Jerry Moss. To his credit, Jerry Moss does not think of it as a comedown, even though he has a right.
The last time the Mosses ran a horse, the whole racing world was watching, which would be last Saturday at Santa Anita in the Breeders' Cup Classic. They won it with what's-her-name, the big mare, and the incredible vibes have continued without pause ever since.
It's bad enough Hollywood Park had to start its mini-meet of 27 days on a Friday the 13th. What's toughest to swallow, at least from an aesthetic standpoint, is trying to put on a show in the immediate shadow of last weekend's Breeders' Cup.
The bunch of Cal-breds lining up on Saturday for the $75,000 On Trust Handicap deserves the benefit of the doubt, though, as will the stakes horses who answer the bell for such events as the Matriarch, the Citation, the Hollywood Derby, the Starlet, and the CashCall Futurity before the meet ends on Dec. 20.
NEW YORK - Starting with Chief's Crown at $3.40 in the very first Breeders' Cup race 25 years ago, there have been 67 winning favorites in 194 Cup races. That works out to 34.5 percent winning favorites, right around the 37.5 percent rate I'm hoping for in Saturday's eight Cup races, where I'll be parimutuelly leaning on three favorites and trying to beat the other five.