INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Most of the time, the Hollywood Prevue is nothing more than a nice little autumn race at seven furlongs that sometimes lives up to its billing. In the wake of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile - not to mention the whirl of major 2-year-old races leading up to the Cup - it is unreasonable to expect otherwise.
TUCSON, Ariz. - The ugly villain of racing walked out of the shadows and into the spotlight of world attention, center stage once again, Sunday morning. Drugs were back in a starring role.
Police in New Zealand have been investigating for months the racing use of Blue Magic, as the bronchodilator propantheline bromide is known Down Under.
NEW YORK - Thirty years after his death, and a mere 102 years after becoming the last black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, Jimmy Winkfield is finally getting his due. He was posthumously inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in August, and the featured race Jan. 17 at Aqueduct on the Martin Luther King holiday will be the first running of the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes.
NEW YORK - On Wednesday, Nov. 2, with its full complement of regular jockeys riding, Churchill Downs ran 10 races which attracted $5.5 million in wagers nationwide. A week later, with 14 of those jockeys boycotting the card and a collection of unknowns and exercise riders taking their place, Churchill again ran 10 races and handled $6.3 million.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On this day in history, the 10th day of November, the following things occurred:
The Marine Corps was created by the U.S. Congress (1775).
Dueling was outlawed by the state of Kentucky (1801).
Buchenwald was liberated by the Allies (1945).
"Sesame Street" made its television premiere (1969).
Charles de Gaulle died at home in France (1970).
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior (1975).
The Berlin Wall began to fall (1989).
NEW YORK - One of the Breeders' Cup's biggest advertisers and sponsors is NetJets, a company that offers plutocrats and corporations fractional ownership of airplanes on a time-share basis. The same concept for a much broader demographic was the most interesting development on the wagering side of this year's Breeders' Cup: the public pick six syndicate of small investors put together by the online wagering company AmericaTab. Called the "Players' Pool," the syndicate collected $44,280 from AmericaTab customers, invested it in the Ultra Pick Six, and cashed for $280,748 before taxes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The first time this reporter encountered Leonard Powell, he was eating a proper French country breakfast at the kitchen table of his parents' farm house in Normandy, his legs dangling from a wooden high chair. He was 2.
This is not meant to embarrass the young trainer. Most of us were 2 once, and if memory serves, young Leo carried his share of the conversation. Even at that age, his French was far better than mine.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Breeders' Cup telecast can be difficult viewing, and not just for those harboring an irrational fear of John McCririck's muttonchop sideburns.
Through the years, any number of first-string players have been left chafing on the sidelines while everyone else had all the fun. Riders like Gary Stevens and Chris McCarron, injured on the brink of Breeders' Cups past, compensated by becoming part of the telecast itself. Their comments were valuable and entertaining, but it was clear they longed to be wearing silks and white pants instead of their NBC blazers.
NEW YORK - When the ballots for 2003 Horse of the Year award were counted, the contest between the nation's best racehorse and a 3-year-old who had won two-thirds of the Triple Crown was not exactly a photo-finish: The final score was Mineshaft 209, Funny Cide 4. While this year's tally will be closer, the outcome will be the same, and for the same basic good reasons.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Now that the nuisance of Nov. 2 is history, it's time to get on with the real campaigning.
"Ghostzapper" lawn signs are starting to crop up all across America, daring neighbors to disagree. "I'm a Smarty" bumper-stickers are riding the backroads and highways. There is passion in the land.