A couple of weeks ago, Gary Stevens and Catch a Flight were galloping back alongside Tyler Baze and Bronzo, gabbing about what had just transpired in the Santa Anita Handicap when all of a sudden, the bottom fell out.

“I was in midsentence,” Stevens said. “My horse just tripped. His head actually hit the ground, and he ejected me straight up in the air. I tucked up and hit the ground on my left side and my back, but all I could think was, ‘Hold together, knee!’ ”

That would be his right knee, which was replaced last year after more than 20 years of arthritic agony.

Everybody’s got a story about Allen Jerkens. If you don’t have one, just hold still. One will come around any minute.

When it was reported that Ogygian died last Saturday, three days short of his actual 32nd birthday, it triggered a flood of memories about one of the most talented and frustrating racehorses of his era.

So, did American Pharoah earn a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in the Rebel Stakes because he was the lone speed and the fractions were so slow or because he ran so fast at the end of the race? Probably both.

With the mixed feelings of a man about to plunge into the dark unknown, Art Sherman bade a temporary farewell to California Chrome on Tuesday morning at Los Alamitos while keeping clear of the crew loading the 2014 Horse of the Year onto a van parked in a remote corner of the stables.

“I get too nervous with all that kind of stuff,” Sherman said. “It’s for the best if I just stay out of their way. Otherwise, it might be contagious.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For most of his life as a Thoroughbred trainer, Wesley Ward endured a frustration common to his profession. His horses weren’t good enough.  He didn’t have wealthy owners behind him, and his modestly bred stock was often overmatched on the major-league tracks where he wanted to compete.

On Sunday, the National Handicapping Championship Tour returns to NHCQualify.com, the official qualifying site of the NHC, for an event that will send up to five players to Las Vegas next January. Buy-in costs $165.

Here are the races for the contest:
4:00 Gulfstream 7
4:10 Tampa 8
4:30 Gulfstream 8
4:40 Tampa 9
5:00 Gulfstream 9
5:10 Tampa 10
5:14 Oaklawn 7
5:30 Santa Anita 5
5:42 Oaklawn 8
6:00 Santa Anita 6
6:10 Oaklawn 9
6:30 Santa Anita 7

When a young jockey wins his first race, it is a cherished custom of the profession that all manner of indignities are heaped upon him. Depending on the level of sadism in a particular jockeys’ room, the hazing substances deployed might include ice water, eggs, shaving cream, Vaseline, mustard, ketchup, and both kinds of relish, along with a generous dusting of baby powder and a finishing coat of black shoe polish.

The owners and trainers of upwardly mobile older fillies and mares were looking at $700,000 on the table Saturday and a choice between running in the Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park against champion Untapable or the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita Park against a California-bred winner of one major event who was sired by a $1,000 stallion.

Guess which way they went.

The Santa Anita Handicapping Challenge takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Great Race Place. The $3,500 buy-in event allocates $1,000 from each entry for the prize pool, and the remaining $2,500 acts as a live bankroll, with contestants able to keep whatever amount is left at the end of the tournament. Win, place, show, exacta, and trifecta wagers are all allowed in the contest.