ELMONT, N.Y. - One of racing's most remarkable men recently celebrated his 90th birthday. But, typically, Jack Dreyfus was too busy to celebrate the occasion. He was at his desk at his office at Columbus Circle in New York, directing the activities of the Dreyfus Medical Foundation, which for the past 40 years has been totally devoted to telling the world about the wonders of phenytoin.
POMONA, Calif. - Ryan Fogelsonger had his future flash before him last January when he spent a few days in Los Angeles to attend the Eclipse Awards Dinner and get the feel of a Southern California winter. But just to make sure, he put in a call to his close pal and fellow jockey Jeremy Rose at chilly Laurel in the Maryland countryside.
"What ya doin', man?" Ryan asked.
"I'm going out to ride the first race," Rose replied. "What do you want?"
"Just wondering what the weather's like," Ryan said.
DEL MAR, Calif. - California State Assembly Bill 900 entered this world last February as an innocuous revision of some Business and Professions Codes as they pertained to horse racing.
Then, last week, AB 900 morphed into Spider-Man.
The amended version of AB 900 was promoted as the racing industry's last best hope to resolve the growing burden of workers' compensation insurance premiums on California owners and trainers.
It's magical.
WASHINGTON - In the climactic scene of the movie "Seabiscuit," the Thoroughbred hero wins the Santa Anita Handicap. He breaks slowly and trails the field by an impossibly large margin. As he launches his rally, jockey Red Pollard draws alongside rival George Woolf, who had ridden Seabiscuit in some of his previous races, and the two of them have an implausible midrace chat. Then Seabiscuit continues to weave his way through the field and ends his career in a blaze of glory.
TUCSON, Ariz. - The last 50 years of the 1800's were the age of Currier and Ives in America.
Prints made from their paintings were the television of that era, capturing the spirit of America, recording its heartbeat, preserving its history, immortalizing its heroes.
DEL MAR, Calif. - On the face of it, Del Mar has life by the tail. Incomparable weather and location. A choice block of dates. Access to the finest stables the West has to offer, along with the cream of California's training and riding talent.
The local population worships Del Mar with a dedication reserved for the Rio carnivale. Neighboring businesses flourish during the meet. Summer rents are high enough to pay off mortgages and fund college educations. Yes, the traffic can be grim. But those cars carry customers, and they all eat and drink.
NEW YORK - There was Labor Day racing at 41 different Thoroughbred venues last Monday, from Arlington and Assiniboia to Yavapai and Yellowstone. The most interesting equine on display, however, was not to be found at those ovals, nor at Del Mar or Saratoga, but just outside the entrance to the grandstand at the California Exposition and State Fair in Sacramento.
DEL MAR, Calif. - For starters, one thing should be kept absolutely clear. The match race was invented by horse owners willing to subject their animals to an otherwise unnatural competitive experience in order to satisfy their own starving self esteem.
But that's nitpicking.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Out of sight, out of mind.
Mineshaft, arguably the best older horse in training after impressive victories in the Pimlico Special and the Suburban Handicap, sat out the Whitney at Saratoga last month so he could be fresh and rested for Saturday's $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park. In the interim, the undefeated South American star Candy Ride came to Del Mar and made light work of capturing the important Pacific Classic.