NEW YORK - Churchill Downs deserves credit for devising and offering parimutuel futures wagering on the Kentucky Derby. Now in their fourth year, the three pools each spring offer interesting propositions and, while together they attract less than $1 million, they are an effective marketing tool in raising early consciousness about the 3-year-olds.
ARCADIA, Calif. - On Sunday, Charlie Whittingham would have been 90 years old. Whittingham died a week after his 86th birthday, on April 20, 1999, from complications related to a malignancy discovered several months before.
"If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself," Whittingham liked to say, and it was a good line, but he didn't really mean it, mostly because he had way too much fun getting to that point. American males born in 1913 weren't supposed to live to be 86 anyway.
WASHINGTON - Almost everyone connected to Thoroughbred racing in Maryland - track employees, horsemen, breeders, and fans - was disheartened after a House of Delegates committee killed a bill that would have authorized slot machines at the state's tracks. The industry had expected the measure to pass, and saw slots as the only plausible remedy for problems that have beset the sport for years. There was no Plan B.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ah, life on the road. Airport hassles, sterile hotels, rental cars reeking of cigarettes. The clothes you pack are never the clothes you need, and heaven forbid there should ever be a meal worth the effort to both chew and swallow.
Gary Mandella, on the other hand, has discovered the deep-fried wonders of the Dixie Cafe in Hot Springs, about a mile down Central Avenue from Oaklawn Park, where on Saturday he will saddle Man Among Men in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Bobby Frankel has done it all, or almost all.
Last season, typical for his stable, he led the national earnings list with $17,748,340. He saddled the winners of 43 graded stakes, 14 of them Grade 1's. His horses have won just about every major stakes and he is a member of the Hall of Fame.
He has come close at Churchill Downs. In 2000 Aptitude was second to Fusaichi Pegasus and lost a good deal of ground on the turns. Last year Medaglia d'Oro stumbled at the start, lost position, and finished fourth in a race won by War Emblem.
ARCADIA, Calif. - More than 50 years ago, Leon Rasmussen set about the task of explaining the inexplicable. He was determined - through observation, quantification, and inexhaustible research - to discover patterns in the breeding of Thoroughbreds that made some of them faster than others.
The quest made sense. The mating of Thoroughbreds is the longest-running genetic experiment in the civilized world. Empirical evidence abounds, with detailed records providing curious scholars with plenty of ammunition.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The best 3-year-olds of 1966 included horses of tremendous ability such as Buckpasser and Graustark but neither was available for the classics. Buckpasser was sidelined with quarter cracks and Graustark broke down nine days before the Kentucky Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Let's see if I've got this straight.
The winner of the Santa Anita Derby, and now a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby, is a gelding named Buddy who spent his youth in the high scrub desert of southwestern Idaho under the supervision of his breeder, a former Malibu surfer and beach-town bar owner who was lured into the world of Thoroughbred racing by a superstitious billionaire who was convinced that his wife - the surfer's wife - was a lucky charm.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Azeri stands out.
On what was arguably the most meaningful afternoon of racing thus far this season, with stars from a number of divisions on display, Azeri towered over all with a compelling display of ability and courage in capturing the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at` Oaklawn Park.