DEL MAR, Calif. - Neil Howard sat by himself in his Saratoga Springs hotel room last Sunday evening, watching a horse he had been training not much more than a week before win a million-dollar race nearly 2,500 miles away.
"Oh yeah, I was cheering for him," said Howard, who until Aug. 11 was the trainer of Student Council, the freshly minted winner of the Pacific Classic.
"At the same time, I was saying, 'Damn, I wish Mr. Farish could have waited one more week to sell this horse.'"
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Every Thursday at Saratoga, the card begins with a steeplechase, a nod to tradition and a time when such racing was far more prevalent and popular. A decade from now, will Saratoga similarly honor racing's past once a week by running that onetime staple known as a dirt race?
DEL MAR, Calif. - At about 9:30 on a hot and humid Friday morning at Del Mar, Lava Man, under a green cooler, and Ruthie Barrera, wearing a matching green T-shirt, could be found walking an oval pathway pounded out between the Del Mar receiving barn and the southern wall of the all-purpose building that houses the horses trained by Doug O'Neill.
DEL MAR, Calif. - This is baffling. For nearly two solid years, Lava Man has been unbeatable on California main tracks and nearly as flawless on grass. He has won 6 of the last 7 offerings of the West's best races for his division - three Hollywood Gold Cups, two Santa Anita Handicaps, and last year's Pacific Classic - and yet, as entries were being taken for Sunday's 17th running of the million-dollar Classic, horses were lining up to face Lava Man by the carload.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Since we get to welcome a new Kentucky Derby winner only once a year, it felt strange to say goodbye to two of them in just three days last week. Gato del Sol, the 1982 Derby winner, died Tuesday in Kentucky at the age of 28, while Funny Cide, hero of the 2003 edition, was feted with a farewell party at Saratoga on Friday marking his official retirement from racing.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The three Grade 1 grass races at Arlington Park Saturday are an interesting trio of bettable races as well as "Win and You're In" events for purposes of qualifying for the Breeders' Cup. Yet they would be even better and more meaningful events if American racing would ever begin scheduling its major events a bit more cooperatively for the good of the game.
The three races drew just 24 entrants - 9 for the Secretariat, 7 for the Beverly D. and 8 for the Arlington Million - in part because of competing Grade 1 races at Del Mar and Saratoga.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Noble Threewitt once had an owner tell him to claim a horse that was trained by Warren Stute. Fat chance.
"He's about the last guy on earth I'd claim a horse off," Threewitt told his patron. "He's a very close friend of mine."
"What do you mean, close friend?" the owner wondered. "I've never even seen you talk to him!"
Threewitt shot the guy a cold eye.
"I don't see what that's got to do with it," he replied.