ELMONT, N.Y. - A race over the track?
Some horsemen swear by the importance of familiarization in challenging for the Breeders' Cup, now just four weeks away.
But Wayne Lukas, who has saddled 16 winners of Breeders' Cup races for a decisive lead in that department, says that has never been an overriding consideration to him.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Jimmy and Dennis Richard's remarkable Bonapaw, decisive winner of Saturday's Grade 1 Vosburgh at seven furlongs, leaves Belmont Park in few days, bound for Chicago and the Breeders' Cup Sprint, the man behind the wheel of the van will be trainer Norman Miller.
Miller and Bonapaw make up a rare team and they are together most of the day. In the morning, before Bonapaw goes to the track for training, he is given a one-hour massage by Miller, who also serves as his exercise rider.
ELMONT, N.Y. - There are indications this could be a vintage year for 2-year-olds.
A number of colts have distinguished themselves, but the most impressive performance to date was Sky Mesa's victory in Saratoga's Hopeful Stakes.
The filly division gained a leader here last Sunday when Ogden Mills Phipps's Storm Flag Flying, carrying the familiar black and cherry colors, exploded through the stretch to score by almost 13 lengths in the $200,000 Matron Stakes at one mile.
New York - If you put a peep show in the back of a harpsichord shop, you would almost certainly increase the traffic into the store. But would the new customers develop an interest in harpsichords just by walking past them en route to their desired destination?
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Boston Common, leading all the way under Jorge Chavez, galloped to a convincing five-length victory at Belmont Park last weekend in the $150,000 Jerome Mile for 3-year-olds, it was the first graded stakes victory in New York for the stable of Richard Englander, but probably not the last.
POMONA, Calif. - It is easy to get the wrong impression about Fairplex Park.
Entering the racing side of the property from White Avenue, the first structure of any consequence is the Barretts Sales pavilion, a handsome building in which horses have sold for hundreds of millions of dollars since 1989.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Having failed to master the intricacies of the flop shot and the controlled draw, while acquiring such nicknames as "Reverse Pivot" and "You're Away," Gary Jones is turning his back on aspirations to join the Senior PGA Tour and returning to work at what he knows best.
The term "work" in this case is relative. Jones is by no means resuming the training career he ended in 1996, at the age of 52, as one of California's all-time giants.
POMONA, Calif. - Any lingering delusions that horse racing is a sport first and a business later have been dashed by the sale and imminent retirement of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem.
Apparently seduced by comparisons to Sunday Silence, the sons of the late Zenya Yoshida decided that War Emblem could be a genuine replacement for their recently departed superstud.
Well, to borrow from Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, I knew Sunday Silence, and War Emblem is no Sunday Silence . . . unless you think Proud Citizen is another Easy Goer.
NEW YORK - It sure would have been interesting to see War Emblem race as a 4-year-old next year and find out whether he is a champion for the ages or a colt who got good for a few weeks at the right time in the spring of 2002. Instead, we're down to a one-race verdict and he's down to one final career start, the Breeders' Cup Classic Oct. 26.