A CAREER WORTH APPLAUDING.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with INGLEWOOD - Pete Pedersen will be honored with a winner's-circle ceremony at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
Has a steward ever been applauded by a racetrack crowd? ``It would be unusual,'' Pedersen said. ``We're not in the popularity business. If the stewards were shot, there would be many suspects.'' The very idea of taking a bow makes Pedersen uncomfortable, but Hollywood Park management insists, and he's too polite to say no. A man can put up with this sort of embarrassment every half-century or so. Sunday, the last day of the Hollywood Park season, marks the 85-year-old Pedersen's retirement after a career as a turf writer, publicist and official during which he witnessed most of the great moments in West Coast thoroughbred-racing history. Pedersen had planned to retire after the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
He's one of three veteran stewards let go in a shakeup shake·up n. A thorough, often drastic reorganization, as of the personnel in a business or government. Noun 1. shakeup announced a bit too coldly last month by new California Horse Racing Board executive director Ingrid Fermin. ``That was a great disappointment,'' Pedersen said between races Thursday at Hollywood Park. ``I understand that it had to be done. I just wish it could have been done a little differently. But I know I've been luckier than anybody.'' On his way to being the voice of perspective in the three-man board-of-stewards' booths and in the hearing rooms where misbehaving jockeys and trainers plead their cases, Pedersen estimates he has presided over more than 100,000 races. His career began in the stables at Longacres as soon as that track opened in 1933 near his native Seattle. Pedersen became the press-box teletype operator, disseminating results to the newspapers, and then the track publicity director. Betting on a $99.90 winner named Crystal Chief helped to pay for Pedersen to attend the University of Washington. Except for the time he spent as a Navy pilot in World War II, Pedersen has been a racetracker all his adult life. He became a steward for the first time at Longacres when he was 26, served in a variety of official and executive roles up and down the coast, and made the move to California permanently in 1967. Along the way he watched Seabiscuit win at Bay Meadows. Watched Citation crack the $1 million mark in the Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. . Wrote an L.A. newspaper sidebar on Swaps' Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. victory. He was the publicity man at Golden Gate Fields Golden Gate Fields is a horse racing track straddling both Albany, California and Berkeley, California along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the when Bill Shoemaker William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey. Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Shoemaker was born in the town of Fabens, Texas. At 2. rode his first winner. Was a patrol judge at Santa Anita when Johnny Longden John Eric Longden (February 14, 1907 - February 14, 2003) was an American Hall of Fame jockey. He was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England but his father wanted to build a better life for his family so in 1909 emigrated to Canada, settling in Taber, Alberta. By 1912 Longden Sr. rode his last winner. He was one of the stewards who handed down the famous disqualifications of Fran's Valentine and Gate Dancer on the first Breeders' Cup card. Was part of the trio who ordered the infamous DQ of The Wicked North in the Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during . Pedersen rates Spectacular Bid and Swaps as the best horses he has seen, Shoemaker and Laffit Pincay as the best jockeys, Charlie Whittingham and Buster Millerick as the best trainers. (He's leaving active competitors out of it.) ``Stewards are supposed to be emotionless e·mo·tion·less adj. Devoid of emotion; impassive. e·mo  tion·less·ness n.Adj. 1. , to not worry about who wins,'' said Pedersen, an Arcadia resident. ``I don't bet on them, I don't root for one over the other. But I do know a great performance. I get excited when I see a great performance.'' Seventy years at the track, keeping one's dignity intact, is a great performance in itself. Let's give this man a hand. --Race to the finish: Garrett Gomez, trying to be the seventh different riders' champion in the past eight Hollywood Park spring-summer seasons, takes a 57-54 lead over Alex Solis into the final three days of the meet. Doug O'Neill has the trainers' title sewn up with a 31-19 lead over Mike Mitchell as Sunday's finale nears. CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE BOX BY KEVIN MODESTI |
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