NEW YORK - There will be win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, pick-three, pick-four, and pick-six wagering on the 137th Belmont Stakes next Saturday, but one other betting pool would be particularly challenging and lively: How many people are going to show up? Which way would you want to go on an over-under bet of 75,000?
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Once the hotel room-trashing Courtney Love of California's best racing females, Star Parade finally has mellowed out. Stall walls and innocent bystanders are no longer in constant jeopardy, thanks to the kind indulgence of her low-key caretakers, trainer Darrell Vienna and assistant Scott Chaney. As a result, the 4-year-old Star Parade arrives at Saturday's $250,000 Milady Handicap with a chance to make history.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Racing Hall of Fame, in case no one has noticed, can sometimes honor players who are still in the thick of the game. Nick Zito woke up Tuesday morning as a Hall of Famer, but he also had to go to the barn, just like the other 12 guys who have both a Hall of Fame pin and an active trainer's license.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The average mature male can hold his breath for a minute or so without any problem. For Jeff Mullins, who had already lost one horse on the Hollywood grass over the holiday weekend, it was a full 1:33.17 before he breathed a deep sigh of relief at the sight of Castledale both surviving and winning Monday's Shoemaker Mile.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Pull a bottle of your best red from the rack, draw the cork, carefully decant and swirl it, savor its body and color, and then consider this:
Your wine may save Internet betting in those states that now prohibit it.
Don't take my word for it. The guys at Youbet.com are excited over the prospect, and they should know.
NEW YORK - In what has become an annual ritual, Sen. John Kyl of Arizona is again trying to introduce a bill to restrict betting over the Internet. When a first draft of the 2005 version surfaced earlier this week, there was an alarming difference from his previous attempts: This time, there was no exemption for horse racing. The draft bill would not only prevent racing's lone growth segment from expanding, but also would shut down all current account wagering and, if applied literally, make most simulcasting illegal.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the wake of last Saturday's Preakness, racing has a pair of heroes to hoist on its shoulders, all the way to the Belmont Stakes and beyond.
There were other loose ends, however, dealt with on Wednesday at Pimlico, where local stewards William Passmore, John Burke, and Phil Grove absolved Scrappy T's rider, Ramon Dominguez, of all blame in the incident that nearly dropped Afleet Alex at the top of the stretch.
NEW YORK - Afleet Alex's spectacular recovery from a scary stumble at the top of the stretch in the Preakness has become the defining moment of his career, but it would be a shame if he were celebrated exclusively as the horse who almost fell down. His authoritative Preakness victory was important and satisfying in deeper if less dramatic ways.