DEL MAR, Calif. - Humberto Ascanio watched in quiet appreciation as Beat Hollow galloped past his observation post on the outside of Del Mar's clubhouse turn. Jose Silva, the man in the saddle, let out a happy yelp as they banked onto the backstretch.
"He does everything easy," Ascanio said. "Everything right. He's just a lovely horse to train."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Ron McAnally has been a member of the Hall of Fame since 1990. He has won the Eclipse Award as North America's leading trainer three times. He has trained five champions, including two-time Horse of the Year John Henry, and more Del Mar winners than any trainer in the 65-year history of the track.
Such accomplishments deserve at the very least a day off, a week on the beach, or a month in the country. McAnally's reaction?
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Some racing men want to catagorize their horses in absolute terms: This one is a miler, that one will never win beyond six furlongs. Bob Frankel prefers to keep an open mind.
He is running Edmund Gann's talented 3-year-old filly, You, as the favorite here Saturday in the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes at seven furlongs. If she runs as well as she has been training in the highly competative Test, Frankel says he will consider her for the $750,000 Alabama Stakes on Aug. 17.
WASHINGTON - If a person wishes to buy pornography over the Internet, he may do so using a Citibank Visa card or most other credit cards. If he wants to purchase weapons or pay dues to a hate group, he can use plastic as well.
The companies that issue credit cards usually aren't in the business of making value judgments.
But there is one exception to this rule, one human activity so heinous, so depraved that Citibank and other prominent credit card companies won't be associated with it: betting. Their strictures may apply to legal as well as illegal gambling.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Allen Jerkens flew here from New York for his first visit to Saratoga, 56 years ago. He's been flying high at the Spa ever since.
A New Yorker named Larry Gottlieb had business in Saratoga during the summer of 1946 and invited the 17-year-old Jerkens to fly with him on a converted military plane that made daily excursions from the Big Apple. He must have liked what he saw, because two years later, when his father suggested he take three horses from the family stable and race them at Saratoga, he jumped at the opportunity.
DEL MAR, Calif. - For the newcomer, Del Mar can be intimidating. Six-day racing weeks put a terrible strain on the work ethic. Seasonal visitors feel obligated to participate in the local customs, and there is a always the temptation to have way too much fun.
Do not, however, expect Kevin Krigger to be fazed by such mundane distractions as surf, sand, and cool libations. For entertainment in his native Virgin Islands, Krigger and his pals would ride match races on the white sand beaches of St. Croix. Even the occasional hurricane could be an entertaining change of pace.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Amazing, isn't it, how life goes on? The death of Ahmed Salman, at the age of 43, will put nary a dent in the giddy atmosphere of Del Mar's opening day crowd on Wednesday. Dark thoughts are strictly forbidden, along with glass containers. Besides, with all those festive hats, there's no room for the dank gloom of mortality.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Saratoga has been a reliable showcase for American racing since 1864, and the most exciting developments have come from the 2-year-old divisions. Breeders and owners send their best young stock to the Spa, and so every maiden race is full of quality and every stakes race boasts prospective champions.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the beginning, which would be 1938, the closing-day feature at Hollywood Park was known as the Aloha Handicap.
Apparently, this was confusing, since "aloha" can mean "hello" as well as "goodbye," and people kept showing up the following day. In 1940 the Aloha Handicap became the Sunset.
And while the growing rivalry between Ringaskiddy and Continental Red has yet to ignite the imagination in the manner of, say, Salvator and Tenny, Sunday's Sunset should provoke enough interest to hold the attention for two and a half minutes or so.