WASHINGTON, D.C. - King Leatherbury has never received much national recognition, and his accomplishments tend to be taken for granted at home. But Saturday he reached a milestone attained by only two other men in history when he won his 6,000th race as a Thoroughbred trainer.
DEL MAR, Calif. - In the middle of Argentina, near a tapering finger of the Sierras de Cordoba, there is a town called Rio Cuarto. Lying on the northern rim of the Pampas, this is gaucho country, steeped in the tradition of the South American cowboy, where a fast horse can become the stuff of legends if he rises above the rest.
The racing world is being asked to believe that such a horse has emerged from Rio Cuarto, that he ran there once, perhaps in June 2002, on a makeshift quarter-mile track laid out on a hard-packed dirt road at the edge of town.
NEW YORK - Into each life some rain must fall, even Bobby Frankel's. The dominant trainer of 2003 had a rare lost weekend, going 0 for 7 on the Travers Day card and sending out losers in all six of the Grade 1 races he entered at Saratoga and Del Mar. Yet while Wild Spirit, Ghostzapper, Peace Rules, You, Medaglia d'Oro, and Princess Legend all came up short, in Grade 1 races, the most important horse in Frankel's star-studded barn saw his stock rise without leaving his stall.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bob Chin dropped by Humberto Ascanio's table the other night at Chin's world-famous suburban Chicago fish restaurant to inquire about the quality of the food and the service. Ascanio said everything was great. Then Chin asked for a winner.
"I was eating with Jose Valdivia and David Flores," Ascanio said. "Jose says, 'I'm going to win the Beverly D.,' and David says, 'And I'm going to win the Million.'"
Ca-Chin.
DEL MAR, Calif. - On the Friday morning before the Saturday running of the 1996 Pacific Classic, Del Mar's management deemed it prudent to clear the track of all horses so that Cigar could gallop in safe and solitary splendor.
After all, the reigning Horse of the Year was going for a record 17th straight win, and he was sure to draw a record crowd to Del Mar, which he did. Cigar's people did not ask for the accommodation. It was volunteered. On the following morning, after a justifiable protest, Cigar was joined during his exclusive gallop by fellow Classic starters.
DEL MAR, Calif. - When they were young, and moving too fast for anyone to notice, Scott Stevens and his little brother Gary could pass for each other, especially when it worked to their advantage. Mostly it did for Gary, who donned Scott's riding gear at the age of 14 and spent his summer mornings galloping horses at Les Bois Park in Idaho, unlicensed and fancy free.
For the first 20 years of his life, Gary patterned his every move after big brother Scott. In his autobiography, "The Perfect Ride," Gary made no bones about his filial devotion:
DEL MAR, Calif. - New York may have temporarily lost its power, but California has lost its mind.
The 135 citizens who have qualified to run for the office of governor - should sitting Gov. Gray Davis be recalled - represent a fruit basket full of ripe loonies, exhibitionists, and even a sprinkling of apparently sincere public servants deluded into thinking they can rise above the fray.
Talk about a blackout. Wake me when it's over.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Maybe the lights should have stayed off for another couple of days. This past weekend at Saratoga was a disappointment all around, whether live, by simulcast, or among the industry leaders who gathered here for the annual Jockey Club Round Table.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When the New York Racing Association announced last fall that it would offer a $2 million bonus for winning a newly-constituted Triple Tiara, cynics called it the Storm Flag Flying bonus. After winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, last year's dazzling 2-year-old filly champion looked to have her contemporaries at her mercy and figured only to improve with age and distance.
