ARCADIA, Calif. - It's that time again. Another Lava Man appearance and another chance for the racing media to rub Lonnie Arterburn's nose in the fact that he's the guy who lost the horse for $50,000 in August of 2004 at Del Mar.
Thing is, though, they don't have to rub very hard. Arterburn says not a day goes by when he doesn't get just a little sick to his stomach at the thought of what might have been.
NEW YORK - There are only two days on the 2006 American racing calendar with eight Grade 1 stakes races: Nov. 4, when the eight Breeders' Cup races will be run at Churchill Downs, and Oct. 7, a sort of national Breeders' Cup Preview Day with five Grade 1's at Belmont, two at Keeneland, and one at Oak Tree.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Now that Churchill Downs, the site of the 2006 Breeders' Cup, has survived a scary brush with Mick Jagger's tongue, it might be a good time to reflect upon other ways in which horse racing is having a cross-over impact on Western culture in these strange and tumultous times.
I am in Kentucky this week, standing up to my hocks in bluegrass and equine art.
The grass is indigenous; the art is imported, from all corners of North America and Europe.
I have gathered it for a charity auction, as I have annually for the last 30 years, to fund a college scholarship program that helps send seven worthy and needy young scholars to college each fall.
But there is a difference this year.
Whenever some wiseguy starts holding forth about how The Tin Man gets away with easy leads and soft paces, loping along in front with not a worry in the world and then sprinting home to get the money, Ralph Todd likes to hose them down with a line from Laz Barrera.
This is the kind of horse Precisionist was.
On the day of his comeback at age 7, after an absence of nearly two years from competition, he stumbled at the start of an allowance race at Hollywood Park, dumped Chris McCarron, then recovered in time to join the field and lead them to the wire.
"Helluva way to get a race into your horse, John," said Charlie Whittingham, needling Precisionist's trainer, John Russell.
"I just hope they don't weight him for the next one off that performance," the wry Russell replied.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Who's up for a grim tale that still has a chance for a happy ending? First, a few dates to set the timeline:
Oct. 18, 2002. The 5-year-old Irish horse Champion Lodge establishes himself as a decent prospect for American buyers with a victory in a handicap event at Newmarket.
March 15, 2003. Champion Lodge makes a quick strike in California with a six-length victory in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita Park for new owner Ron Charles and trainer Sandy Shulman.