LEXINGTON, Ky. - Culture and the racetrack are not, in the normal course of things, coupled as an entry. They usually race on courses far apart.
That's why it is so highly unusual this week to see bronzes by the great 19th century equine sculptors of France - Isidore Bonheur, Pierre Jules Mene, and Pierre Lenordez - being ogled between the daily double as racing is conducted at the historic Red Mile in the heart of Lexington.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Wednesday is opening day of the Oak Tree meet, which is always a good thing. But I might need to take a little break after filing this piece to attend to some new duties around the house.
My wife, known to most people as Julie Krone, was 10 days overdue on Monday. And while we prefer not to think of our daughter as we would a video rental, or a library book, 10 days is a long time to be in the starting gate for anything.
The indictment of two former New York racing officials last week for allegedly allowing jockeys to carry significant overweight in at least 59 races last year may seem like merely the latest in a long series of overblown, politicized, and absurd "scandals" at the New York Racing Association. In many ways, though, it is quite different and raises serious and disturbing questions about both the alleged impropriety and the way it was handled and investigated.
The Houston Texans have a bye this weekend on the NFL schedule, which might be just as well, since they are 0-2 so far this season and have scored just 14 points in those two games, prompting intense local criticism and the acquisition of a new offensive coordinator. Oh yeah, and then there's that hurricane.
POMONA, Calif. - They save the big ones for last at the L.A. County Fair, with the $100,000 Pomona Derby running for the 51st time on Saturday and then on Sunday the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap, a race that dates back to 1934.
Bill Casner and his WinStar Farm family can be forgiven if they are looking forward to this year's running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park, especially after nailing down two of the top seeds last weekend with daughters of WinStar stallions.
TUCSON, Ariz. - The recent mail has been entertaining.
One reader thinks I am obsessed with illegal medication, and to him I can offer only what H.L. Mencken said to those who disagreed with him: "You could be right." If he is, I'm proud of the obsession, because it is a cancer eating at the sport.
A group of investors headed by John "Bet-a-Million" Gates thought they had a good thing going in 1906 when they plunged their money into the building of Rockingham Park. After all, a Puritanical wind was blowing hot in New York, where legal gambling was on the ropes. A first-class racetrack in the New Hampshire town of Salem figured to lure disenfranchised horses and fans.
Dave Samuel will never forget the day, early in his career as a Southern California racing official, when he walked into the jockeys' room for a brief visit before heading to the stewards' office.
"Laffit Pincay was sitting with his back to me, so he had no idea I was there," Samuel recalled. "I heard him say, 'Well, I've got to go see the stewards. They're going to tell me how to ride.' "