DEL MAR, Calif. - In the history of sporting endeavors, there is a rich list of catch-phrases that strike automatic terror into the hearts of unlucky competitors. Among them would be "Michael Jordan from the top of the key," "Jack Nicklaus has this 10-footer to win," and "Lance Armstrong is here, and he's brought his bike."
But before last Sunday, the announcer's cry of "Here comes Borrego!" was usually greeted with either "So what?" or "Good, I'm home free."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Richard Mandella, following a set of horses, had just emerged from the dank, shaded grandstand tunnel leading from the Del Mar paddock to the track when a layer of clouds momentarily obscured the bright morning sun.
"Hey, kind of feels like rain, doesn't it?" Mandella said. "My horse loves it wet."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Horseplayers are generally good candidates to be fitted for tinfoil hats and straitjackets. It goes with the territory. Of all the nutty ideas they embrace, though, the peanuttiest may be the one that certain stables and trainers have meaningful hot and cold spells that should determine whether you bet on or against their horses.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The dinosaur has returned to Del Mar, in good form and primed to fire big in the $1 million Pacific Classic. If that's good enough to win, great. If not, so what. It doesn't matter a whit to Perfect Drift.
Playing the part of the ultimate road warrior, Perfect Drift is a throwback to days long gone from the racing scene, when no one thought twice about the regular appearances of Stymie, Find, and Armed.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Should steeplechasing continue at Saratoga?
That was the question being asked around the track and town after the finish of Wednesday's second race, when a chain-reaction spill over the final fence left a sickening tangle of fallen horses and riders. A race that began with a field of nine starters ended 2 1/16 miles later with just two horses completing the race, after three fell, two others lost their riders, and two more left the course.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Somehow, the Del Mar meeting has been able to proceed at a successful pace this summer without the annual contribution of one of its most generous patrons.
William Murray - Bill to his friends - suffered a fatal heart attack last March while on business in his native New York City. At the age of 78, he had lived a full and fruitful life. And yet it was far too young for a man who was still throwing fastballs, especially after being granted generous reprieves from at least two encounters with his own mortality.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The racing has been spotty, live and simulcast business are down despite unusually good weather, and dinner reservations are easier to come by than usual. Has Saratoga peaked?
To some extent, finding any fault with the business and racing here seems a bit like complaining about the coarseness of the beluga caviar on a luxury cruise. Saratoga remains the best race meeting of the year and a place of exceptional charm and appeal. Its best days, like last Saturday's excellent Whitney card, are among the very best of the year anywhere.
DEL MAR, Calif. - These are the deep summer days of selective memory and high tolerance, when no amount of traffic, crowds, outrageous resort prices, or personal inconvenience can shake the notion that Del Mar and Saratoga are the only places to be.
The exception to the rule, however, has to be Saturday, when Arlington Park near Chicago must be considered the absolute center of the racing universe, at least for a couple of hours.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Better Talk Now would have been a heavy favorite to win the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap here Saturday, but his camp announced Thursday that he will probably scratch and run instead in the Arlington Million the same afternoon. That created a better Million and a more wide-open Sword Dancer but gave rise to an even chalkier proposition: that the Sword Dancer will continue its recent history of being a Grade 1 race in name only, a rating that should be lowered unless the race is rescheduled in future years to attract better horses.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Far too often, the relationship between those in Thoroughbred racing and those in harness racing is like the description of "good old Boston, the home of the bean and the cod, where the Cabots speak only to Cabots, and the Lodges speak only to God."
Every so often, though, it pays to peek over your neighbor's fence, even if you don't speak much.
Last weekend was a good example.
The Thoroughbred crowd was focused on Commentator and Saint Liam in the Whitney at Saratoga and Roman Ruler and Sun King in the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth.
