DEL MAR, Calif. - Mark Twain provided the classic answer to his premature obituary in an edition of the New York Journal when he quickly let the world know, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
He was not alone. Upon the report of his death in a British magazine, Rudyard Kipling responded with the following note to the editors: "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."
TUCSON, Ariz. - The Balco drug scandal came to a screeching halt last week on the West Coast when its chief architect, Victor Conte, and two associates pleaded guilty to two of 42 charges, received modest punishment, and ended the chance of further testimony, further indictments, or further embarrassment for baseball and track and field.
It left huge unanswered questions for horse racing, however.
Who is the Victor Conte of horse racing?
Who are the Barry Bondses of our sport?
DEL MAR, Calif. - For those who cling to the threadbare homily that "pace makes the race" when it comes to the performance of certain horses, please consider the mounting pile of evidence provided by Sweet Return that pace, in fact, makes no difference at all.
DEL MAR, Calif. - There is a hot side and a cool side to the low-slung, open-faced adobe barns at Del Mar that were built in the 1930's by crews attached to the Works Progress Administration, a federal program designed to give jobs to some of the 10 million Americans rendered jobless by the Great Depression. The hot side is exposed to the east, catching the morning sun, and usually stays hot all day despite the efforts of screens and fans. The cool side, facing the Pacific, enjoys shade through the morning hours, then light ocean breezes in the afternoon.
NEW YORK - For racing fans, the most important day of the Saratoga meeting that begins Wednesday will be Aug. 27, when the Travers, Hopeful, and King's Bishop will all be run. For the future of the track and New York racing, though, the key date comes four days earlier, on a Tuesday when the track will be dark.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The view from Mike Pegram's place is choice, especially when he wanders out onto his terrace. Off to the right, the line of sight runs from the Brigantine Restaurant across Pacific Coast Highway to the cliffs of Solana Beach and the ocean beyond. To the left, filling the plain of the San Dieguito River, lie the stables, the racetrack, and the grandstand of Del Mar.
NEW YORK - Who should pay for jockeys' catastrophic accident insurance?
The obvious answer is that the jockeys themselves should, and lesser cases might be made that the tracks where they perform, and the owners of the horses they ride, should contribute to the cost or at least facilitate the process.
The Jockeys' Guild, however, thinks it has a better idea: Bettors should pick up the cost.
DEL MAR, Calif. - As Friday nights go, July 23, 2004, was pretty much a dark hole in the otherwise rewarding life of Alex Solis. While the rest of the racing crowd partied at Del Mar, Solis was occupied at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, broken up, scared, and chock-full of painkillers after a crash at the head of the stretch in the third race of the day.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club opens its 66th season on Wednesday, with a rich new turf course and a sudden, somewhat surprising reputation as the solid, conservative citizen in the turbulent climate of California racetrack operation.
