INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Finally, a reason to pay attention in December. Ignore the results of the Hollywood Futurity at your own risk. This is the race that sets up the West Coast class of 2-year-olds for the following spring, and the winner is usually a horse to be taken seriously.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - The smashing performances in the Breeders' Cup of European stars Fantastic Light, Sakhee, Johannesburg, and Banks Hill may lead to increased simulcasting and international marketing of the World Thoroughbred Championship races.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Recently in the news:
"California stewards will no longer have jurisdiction over major equine medication violations involving Class 1, 2, and 3 prohibited substances, according to a new law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2002. 'The new process will be good for the public, good for horsemen, and good for the stewards,' said Roy Wood, CHRB executive director. 'Having once been a stweard myself, I know what I'm talking about.' " - from the November issue of "CHRB News & Review."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For those who forgot what he looked like, that was Chris McCarron who blew into Hollywood Park last Saturday, won five races, lost a close one for a sixth, then disappeared into the holiday mist without leaving so much as a silver bullet or a calling card.
Have Tack, Will Travel.
That's the choice facing Eclipse Award voters as they pick the Horse of the Year for 2001. In some ways it is a dispiriting choice. Although Point Given captured two-thirds of the Triple Crown and Tiznow beat the world's best horses in the Breeders' Cup Classic, injuries significantly abridged both of their campaigns. But not a single other American horse displayed excellence over an entire season to merit consideration for the sport's top honor.
Point Given would have been given the title by acclaim except for the one flop of his career: the Kentucky Derby.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - This time last year, Sky Jack was king of the hill. And it was a very steep hill.
Age 4 at the time, Sky Jack had just won the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park by seven lengths. In the process, he ran the two-turn
1 1/8 miles in 1:46.81. His Beyer Speed Figure of 122 was the best recorded in North America during the 2000 season.
Better than anything recorded by Tiznow, Albert the Great, Red Bullet, Golden Missile, Captain Steve, Beautiful Pleasure, Riboletta, or Fusaichi Pegasus.
NEW YORK - There were plenty of scheduled debates on the agenda last week at the annual Symposium on Racing in Tucson, but the most intriguing one was an added starter: the suggestion by a Magna Entertainment executive that the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's entire $25 million marketing budget should instead be spent on lobbying efforts to deregulate the racing industry.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bobby Frankel refuses to gloat. His dream season continues, and yet he stays cool. There are no emotional scenes. No praises to the heavens above. No high fives with his entourage. There is no entourage.
"You've got to keep it even," he said, sitting alone in his six-seat box at Hollywood Park. "You can't get too high or too low, because the lows are going to come. Yeah, it's been a great year. But imagine how bad I'll feel next year if I'm not winning any of these races."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Can it be only 60 years? Seems more like . . . an eternity. The date of Dec. 7 used to stand alone as a symbol of despicable ambush and lives lost. Now it must share the calendar with Sept. 11, and America is at war again. At least, that's what we have been told.
It will take a while to sink in. Americans take pride in their insulation.
The effects of a war, whether hardships or mere inconvenience, need time to trickle down to the rank and file, like high fashion, or a cut in corporate taxes.
