INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The winner of the 2002 San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap is a leggy, long-winded California-bred gelding who was sold in Florida, named for an Irish seaport, and is now trained by a Mexican caballero.
Before last Sunday, Ringaskiddy was simply a quiet town on Cork Harbor whose only claim to fame was as the home of a Pfizer Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, where such popular drugs as Zoloft and Viagra are manufactured.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ogden Phipps was one of the greatest American breeders of the 20th century. As chairman of The Jockey Club in the 1960's and 1970's, he also played a key role in American racing at a time of great change and development. He had formidable responsibilities in both roles, stood up to them purposefully, and left the racing and breeding scenes better for having passed this way.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Keemoon will be bucking a boatload of history on Sunday when she tries to become only the second female to win America's longest major grass race, the San Juan Capistrano.
An inch or two will do.
In her last start, Keemoon was gaining on Continental Red at the end of the San Luis Rey Handicap when the wire came up a jump too soon. That race was at 1 1/2 miles.
NEW YORK - If more than 20 horses are entered for the May 4 Kentucky Derby, only the 20 with the highest career earnings in graded stakes races will be allowed to start. Is this the best way to decide who gets to run in the nation's premier horse race?
It's a question that luckily does not present itself too often, because every year it looks for a while as if there is going to be a limit field, but then there rarely is. We've had 19 go to the gate five times in the last decade but you have to go back to Swale's Derby in 1984 to find a full field of 20.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Bob Baffert has had a remarkable collection of 3-year-olds in his care over recent seasons including his two Kentucky Derby winners, Silver Charm and Real Quiet, as well as Cavonnier, General Challenge, Captain Steve, Point Given, Indian Charlie, and Congaree. Most of the time he got the most out of most of these colts, but another, Officer, remains a mystery.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At 10:30 on a normal working day, you will find Alex Solis taking a lap around the racetrack, wrapped in sweat pants and plastic, his head swaddled in a thick towel and a Walkman plugged into his ears, playing a power tape.
His routine never varies. His dedication is legendary. And the results are up there on the screen. By the close of business on Sunday night, Solis will have won his third Santa Anita jockey championship, a stat that places the 38-year-old Panamanian in rarified air.
WASHINGTON - The 3-year-old classics annually produce some unlikely success stories. None this year is more dramatic than that of a discredited horse named Our Emblem and a Maryland farm that bought the stallion when everybody else had given up on him.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A study in contrasts.
There are almost as many opinions about the outcome of the 128th Kentucky Derby on May 4 as there will be starters - quite likely the maximum of 20. That wasn't the case with the 104th Kentucky Derby of 1978. In a field of 11, wagering focused primarily on two horses. Alydar, the champion of the East after victories in the Flamingo, the Florida Derby, and the Blue Grass Stakes, was the favorite at 6-5. Affirmed, the champion of the West after winning the San Felipe, the Santa Anita Derby, and the Hollywood Derby, was second choice at 9-5.
ARCADIA, Calif. - It has been nearly two weeks now since the Santa Anita Derby was run, and I keep hearing these sarcastic cracks about how long it took Came Home to come home, and how the race could have been clocked with an egg timer, and how it was the slowest running since the version won by Candy Spots, way back in 1963.
That's enough. I will tolerate no more dumping on Candy Spots.
Students of time need to go back to class. If all they look at is a sad little number printed in 8-point type on a faded yellow chart page, then they deserve to wallow in their ignorance.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - It was a weekend for affirmation. Tiger Woods left no doubts about the outcome of The Masters, and Harlan's Holiday settled his account in Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes with equal finality.
Harlan's Holiday's Florida rival Booklet, game to the core, made a fight of it in midstretch. He gave everything he had, and the two colts matched strides briefly. But stamina limitations came into play and Harlan's Holiday soon slammed the door, winning by 4 1/2 lengths.