ALBANY, Calif. - Horses have always been a big part of Faith Taylor's life. When she's not at the racetrack, where she has worked 28 years, currently as trainer Lloyd Mason's assistant and main exercise rider, Taylor cannot stay away from horses - even bucking broncos.
Taylor rides on the Professional Women's Rodeo Association circuit, where she is a two-time world bareback bronc champion and this year's winner of the bareback competition in the PWRA Finals.
ALBANY, Calif. - For most fans and owners, the fate of retired horses is a low priority. It's a case of out of sight, out of mind.
In northern California, associate steward Pam Berg has made it her business to care. She set up a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the care of injured and retired Thoroughbreds, the Glen Ellen Vocational Academy.
Berg jokes that three people are involved: "Me, myself and I." Berg, 57, cares for 25 horses on a 10-acre farm in Glen Ellen, in rural Sonoma County.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When Siphonic walked into the paddock before the Hollywood Futurity, his trainer, David Hofmans, at first worried that he had gone too easy with the colt. Hofmans had been trying to walk a tightrope between preparing Siphonic properly for a Grade 1 race and allowing the colt room for future progress. He did not want to squeeze Siphonic, but he did not want a fat tub of goo, either.
"I thought he was too fat," Hofmans said. "I was hoping I had him tight enough."
ALBANY, Calif. - An eight-day Christmas break ends Wednesday at Golden Gate Fields with trainers having entered 84 horses to run on a nine-race card.
Two jockey names were missing, leading rider Russell Baze and hot apprentice Kevin Krigger. Baze is taking the day off by choice. Krigger had no choice.
Krigger will begin serving a five-day suspension after being given days for his ride on Admiral's Cap in the first race on Dec. 16.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - When trainer Bruce Jackson tightens the girth on Gallant Snowman for Saturday's Gallant Fox Handicap at Aqueduct, he will be feeling the normal anxiety that goes with running a horse in a $100,000 graded stakes race.
But there will be even more emotions involved this time. Gallant Snowman was formerly trained by Robert Camac, the personable horseman who was killed on Dec. 6 at his home in Oldmans Township, N.J. Camac's wife, Maryann, was also killed, and her son and Camac's stepson, Wade M. Russell, has been charged with double homicide.
ALBANY, Calif. - Cowboy Jack Kaenel was meant to be a jockey.
When he was 16, Kaenel won the 1982 Preakness aboard Aloma's Ruler, defeating Bill Shoemaker aboard odds-on favorite Linkage. Kaenel got the lead early and outshoemakered Shoemaker as he got Aloma's Ruler to set comfortable fractions and win by a half-length.
It was perhaps his biggest moment but not his biggest thrill.
Scott Lake became only the second trainer in racing history to win 400 races in one season when Skipjack Cove won the first race at Philadelphia Park on Sunday afternoon.
Following the race, Lake said, "It's the culmination of a lot of hard work. I was also happy to be able to share it with those closest to me."
Three of Lake's assistants - Steve Krebs, Tim Hooper, and Sam Righter - were present for the milestone win, along with his girlfriend, Jennifer Stisted, and his daughter Emily.
Blue Hills ($21.80), equipped with blinkers for the first time, scored her first stakes victory by holding off Unbridled Lady by a half-length in the 1 1/16-mile Carousel at Laurel Park.
"I just wanted her to get out of the gate well," said winning rider Phil Teator, who came into the program with just six wins in 108 mounts. "We were on the lead pretty easily and when I hit the button she gave it to me. The blinkers really helped her."
Blue Hills, trained by Jim Murphy, has now won five of 16 starts this season, including two of her last three races.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Pat Valenzuela was scurrying through the Santa Anita stable area Sunday morning, getting on as many horses as possible as he tries, yet again, to resurrect his checkered career.
Valenzuela, 39, recently received a conditional license from the California Horse Racing Board, allowing him to ride for the first time in more than 1 1/2 years. He secured three mounts on Wednesday's opening-day card at Santa Anita, beginning with Fall For Me in the fourth race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - They are separated by nearly 18 years, but they are close in every other way. Laffit Pincay Jr. and Alex Solis both hail from Panama and both have carved out successful riding careers in this country. They stick close to each other in the Santa Anita jockeys' room, where they have lockers near one another.