HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Patience and Red Bullet run as an entry.
Trainer Joe Orseno demonstrated his understanding of this relationship when Red Bullet was a 3-year-old in the spring of 2000. Orseno needed a little more time with Red Bullet and skipped the Kentucky Derby to wait for the Preakness, two weeks later. His opinion was certified when Red Bullet upset the heavily favored Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus at Pimlico.
ARCADIA, Calif. - She flew all night from L.A. and landed in London at dawn, a tough way to begin her first extensive prospecting adventure as a bloodstock agent. Groggy and jet-lagged, Laura Stone downed some breakfast tea with friends, then crawled into their car and watched the countryside scud past the window as they headed west, toward Newbury and the training yards of Lambourn.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - International racing is part of the scene these days, and an important part. Less than three months ago, the racing world thrilled as America's Tiznow stood a long drive gamely to edge Europe's Sakhee by a nose in an exciting Breeders' Cup Classic.
ARCADIA, Calif. - You would think by now that the skin would have grown thick enough to withstand even the most crushing disappointments, shielding a sensitive reporter from assaults on both the head and the heart.
Sorry to say, it wasn't so. The first few days of 2002 have landed some real body blows, and it's beginning to look like a long, tumultuous year, full of chaos and confusion. Moving the Eclipse Awards from the Diplomat to the Fontainebleau was traumatic enough. Dealing with the following news items will be much more of a challenge:
ARCADIA, Calif. - Ray Bell is off to a good start at the Santa Anita meet. Three wins in eight starts makes no doubt about that.
But he has been around long enough to know when to get excited, and when to simply smile and nod. And nothing truly extraordinary had happened until last Sunday morning, when Eddie Delahoussaye paid a visit to Bell's barn.
"When Eddie comes back to the barn the next day, you know he likes the horse," Bell said. "I asked him if he thought the colt would run longer. He said, yes, by all means."
WASHINGTON - The advent of full-card simulcasting was greeted with a barrage of complaints from horseplayers. In this new era, most bettors don't watch races live or hear a public-address system; they sit in front of television monitors that are their sole source of information. Yet tracks at first did a miserable job putting races and betting information on the screen.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There were many memorable moments during a season in which his mounts earned a record total of $22,857,720. But as he reflected the other day on his outstanding campaign of 2001, Jerry Bailey never hesitated when asked to select the highlight of highlights.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The big story in the local news here Thursday and Friday was the drastic weather conditions facing south Florida. Large and scary graphics of climactic upheaval accompanied stern advisories to the citizenry. Not only had the temperature dropped to an arctic 52 degrees but, as one newscaster warned, "If you're not wearing a windbreaker, it can feel even colder!"
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Where does form go?
North East Bound was in top form at this time last year. He had won the Meadowlands Cup and been second by only a neck to War Chant in the Breeders' Cup Mile. The Donn Handicap here at Gulfstream was probably more than he could handle, but he came back to win the Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Things you never thought you would hear:
"I think 'Pearl Harbor' is a lock for best picture of 2001." - Steven Spielberg.
"You're right. The other guy won. He can have the job." George W. Bush.
"I'm hoping for the best, but I can't afford to buy the best." Nelson Bunker Hunt.
Okay, so I made up the first two. But honest, that was the Nelson Bunker Hunt who said what he said just the other day from Dallas while talking about his renewed interest in Thoroughbred racing.