WASHINGTON - Since the Breeders' Cup Pick Six scandal erupted, horseplayers have been keenly aware of suspiciously low payoffs and late changes in odds, fearing that more cheaters have found a way to corrupt the parimutuel system. Most such concerns are based on sheer paranoia. But any knowledgeable fan who saw the results of the pick four on opening day at Gulfstream Park would readily conclude that something was rotten in the state of Florida.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Gary Stevens, budding method actor, apparently raised a few eyebrows on the "Seabiscuit" movie shoot by nailing a key scene with Chris Cooper in one take. Stevens plays jockey George Woolf, while Cooper plays Tom Smith, Seabiscuit's trainer, and they were talking strategy before a race.
"There was a guy I rode for, who probably respected me more than any jockey has been respected, and I felt the same way about him," Stevens said.
"Chris had that way about him. So I sat there and basically talked to Proc for five minutes."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Derby.
It is the prize of prizes. The strains of Auld Lang Syne have barely faded and we are beginning to read about the prospects who can't miss at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.
Even now, some 16 weeks before Derby Day, there is frantic activity as agents attempt to line up promising colts for their riders. Every jockey wants to answer "yes" when the inevitable question comes: Did you ever ride a Derby winner?
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - In the eye of the beholder.
There wasn't a lot to recommend him. He was a lanky, raw-boned gelding with obscure breeding who had been claimed from his first start for $12,500.
His new owner ran him back for $35,000 with no takers, but Point Prince reminded Barry Irwin of a personal favorite of the past who was effective, and he bought him, as a newly turned 3-year-old last year, for $85,000.
WASHINGTON - A revolution has rocked gambling in Britain. So-called sports betting exchanges, exemplified by a company called Betfair, have enthralled gamblers, giving them unprecedented opportunities, while generating fear and intense opposition from established bookmaking firms.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The phone started ringing before the race was even official. Everyone wanted to know, did they see what they thought they had seen? Was this guy as good as he looked? Can anything in California stop him?
The buzz grew stronger overnight. The next morning, as Ron Ellis made his usual rounds from stable to racetrack and back again, backslappers and bridge-jumpers lined up three deep to tell him exactly what he didn't need to hear.
ARCADIA, Calif. - It is with a heavy heart and fingers of lead that these words are typed:
Penny Chenery did not win the Eclipse Award of Merit. Again.
Once again, a committee comprised of representatives from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers Association, and Daily Racing Form chose to overlook the woman whose name has been synonymous with quality and integrity in horse racing for the past 30 years.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Racing's most interesting business story in the first quarter of 2003 will be whether Gulfstream Park, which opened here Friday, can rebound from its dismal 2002 season. The verdict will reflect not only on a single race meeting, but on Florida winter racing and its place in the sport.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Dirt or grass?
The facts speak for themselves and suggest Hail the Chief is a better horse on dirt. The evidence is highlighted by his rousing victory in the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup. He's won other stakes on the dirt in this country and in his native England, where he raced before coming here in the fall of 2001. He was considered a good horse on the all-weather tracks that offer a version of dirt racing in Europe.
ARCADIA, Calif. - If names such as Running Stag, Supreme Sound, and River Keen mean anything at all - and they should, since among them they won the Woodward, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Suburban, and Hawthorne Gold Cup - then it should have been no surprise that Nose the Trade came from out of nowhere to finish a promising third last month in the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park.