DEL MAR, Calif. - Buckle up, folks. It is time once again for racing's most schizophrenic meeting, where a mild-mannered summertime county fair suddenly morphs into a muscle-bound seven weeks of high-stakes competition featuring some of the best Thoroughbreds in the land.
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DRF Past Performances
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There is, in sporting legend, the apocryphal tale of how Philadelphia fans at a 1968 Eagles game rained boos down upon a guy dressed like Santa Claus.
Sandy Hawley is no Santa Claus. But in his native Canada, he comes pretty close, which is why it was so amazing that Hawley once was greeted by a bitter flock of boo-birds at his beloved Woodbine.
NEW YORK - Saturday's eighth running of the Claiming Crown at Canterbury Park faces strong competition for horseplayers' attention and simulcast dollars. It is up against not only the regular full cards at Belmont, Hollywood, and Churchill, but also strong special events in Calder's Summit of Speed and Colonial's Virginia Derby and Oaks program.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park wraps up its summer business on Sunday with the running of the Sunset Handicap, and signs are good that there will be at least another Hollywood Park meet or two, based primarily on the load of artificial material on order that is intended to replace the main track's traditional dirt surface in time for the autumn season.
Tucson, Ariz. - Horseplayers in the racing triopolis (my word, not Webster's) of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania went back to school last week.
They learned, or relearned, this basic truth: Politicians rule racing with an iron hand wherever horses race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Heavily favored Lava Man will carry 124 pounds and the effects of at least 24 hours in a detention barn when he steps up to defend his title in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday afternoon at Hollywood Park.
The 124 pounds should be no problem, especially for a horse who has designs on national honors. Lava Man has been the most consistent older horse in the nation this year, with victories at the Gold Cup distance of 10 furlongs in the Santa Anita Handicap and Whittingham Memorial, plus two other minor victories at nine furlongs.
NEW YORK - The next time that Strong Contender, Out of Gwedda, and Soaring By race, they could well be heavy favorites in major stakes races that will attract millions of wagering dollars. Horseplayers choosing whether to bet on them or against them will have their hands full trying to gauge their winning performances at Belmont Park on July 4, a day when the track surface changed drastically during the card and produced running times that are nearly impossible to quantify and interpret.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It would be worth the price of admission on Gold Cup day Saturday to enter Hollywood Park through the clubhouse gates, if only to pause for a moment before Albert Stewart's bronze statue of Swaps, in full flight under Bill Shoemaker, displayed against a marble wall that bears the names of all the Gold Cup winners. Genuflection is optional.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Grab your darts and dust off the Ouija board, folks. It's time once again for that early summertime exercise in handicapping potpourri, better known as the American Oaks, offering a purse of $750,000 for whichever of the eight 3-year-old fillies entered in Sunday's event can get 1 1/4 miles on firm ground faster than the other seven.