HORSE RACING STARS ONLY SHINE SO LONG.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI BEVERLY HILLS Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. - Barbaro earned the loudest cheers but not the brightest trophy when 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 named its 2006 champions Monday night at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, meaning there was a sad sense of deja vu See DjVu. amid the black ties, clinking clink 1 intr. & tr.v. clinked, clink·ing, clinks To make or cause to make a light, sharp ringing sound: clinked their wineglasses together in a toast. n. cocktail glasses and Oscar-night touches. When Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. winner Invasor was honored as Horse of the Year, having galloped through a door opened by Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. winner Barbaro's breakdown in the Preakness, it wasn't the first time the contest for the sport's ultimate prize was settled, essentially, by an injury. It marked the third year in a row that an injury stopped a star of the Triple Crown -- America's most famous and popular horse at that time -- short of a full campaign for the season's grand prize. The third year in a row that the beneficiary was an older horse -- little known beyond the racetrack turnstiles -- who swept in late to swipe the golden Eclipse Award. A troubling trend in which the horse of the year is constantly denied the Horse of the Year award by the gremlins in thoroughbreds' legs. In 2004, it was Smarty Jones Smarty Jones (born February 28, 2001) is a thoroughbred race horse, and winner of the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He is a third-generation descendant of Mr. , the Derby and Preakness winner from the sticks, whose ankle problems were just serious enough to rationalize his owners taking $20 million to retire him to stud (Ghostzapper was Horse of the Year). In '05, it was Afleet Alex, the Preakness and Belmont winner who was sidelined with an ankle condition that probably stemmed from his near-fall at Pimlico (Saint Liam won the title). And in '06, it's Barbaro, undefeated until his season ended a few yards out of the starting gate in Baltimore on May 20. (Hence, non-racing fans everywhere are asking this morning, ``Am I supposed to have heard of this Invasor?'' By the way, it's pronounced In- vuhzor). You could even argue that this was the fourth year in a row that the Horse of the Year was determined by an injury. In '03, Mineshaft mine·shaft n. A vertical or sloping passageway made in the earth for finding or mining ore and ventilating underground excavations. Noun 1. basically clinched the title when a career-ending injury saved him from having to put a winning streak on the line in that year's Breeders' Cup Classic. Barbaro was the racing story of the year, among the ongoing sports stories of the year. Yet he didn't win Horse of the Year, finishing second with 8 percent to Invasor's 84 percent of the votes by racing journalists and executives. He didn't even win the 3-year-old championship, finishing second with 21 percent to Preakness winner and Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Bernardini's 77 percent. No injustice done. Invasor and Bernardini did accomplish more than Barbaro over the course of the year. I have a ballot, and I voted for Invasor and Bernardini without reservation. It's a shame, that's all, that so many of the sport's brightest talents don't get to compete during the championship season in the fall. When human athletes miss a big event, most of them heal and wait till next year. When horses get hurt, they've likely missed their only shot at history. What Barbaro did win Monday, with his racing career and his fight against the fractures and the subsequent onset of the hoof hoof, horny epidermal casing at the end of the digits of an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. In the even-toed ungulates, such as swine, deer, and cattle, the hoof is cloven; in the odd-toed ungulates, such as the horse and the rhinoceros, it is solid. condition called laminitis laminitis (lăm'ənī`tĭs), also called founder, inflammation of the lamina, the innermost layer of the hoof wall in horses, ponies, and donkeys. Although the condition usually affects only the front feet, it may involve all four feet. , was a share of the Eclipse Award for Owners of the Year for Roy and Gretchen Jackson (who tied in the voting with Bernardini owner Sheikh sheikh or shaykh Among Arabic-speaking tribes, especially Bedouin, the male head of the family, as well as of each successively larger social unit making up the tribal structure. The sheikh is generally assisted by an informal tribal council of male elders. Mohammed), a ``special'' Eclipse for the Jacksons and Barbaro's veterinarians Veterinarians and veterinary surgeons (vets) are medical professionals who operate exclusively on animals. Well-known and notable veterinarians include:
``This award is not really for us,'' Roy Jackson said of the ``special'' Eclipse, which inspired the evening's only standing ovation. ``It's for Barbaro. ... Gretchen and I would like to thank everybody who has written to us and to Barbaro.'' There was more to remember of Monday's award-giving than the outpouring of affection for Barbaro, more than Invasor becoming the first South American-bred Horse of the Year (he was bred in Argentina): Edgar Prado beating out Garrett Gomez for top jockey, Todd Pletcher voted top trainer for the third year in a row and Thor's Echo (sprinter) becoming the sixth California-bred to win an Eclipse and the only California-based winner this year. But really it was a Barbaro lovefest, but a bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. one. A theme is developing for this decade in horse racing. Linking the spread of forgiving, synthetic racetracks, the push by California officials for new restrictions on equine medications and the new focus on veterinary advances amid Barbaro's surgeries, is a recognition that the sport has to keep its stars healthier. ``If anything,'' Roy Jackson said, ``Barbaro, Gretchen and I would like to see all of us in racing roll up our sleeves and really discuss the problems and take some action that would better racing for all of us in the business and for racing fans.'' In all, Barbaro and his connections were up for six Eclipse Awards on Monday and won two. If only he'd been able to race for the big one. heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com (818) 713-3616 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Jockey Fernando Jara leads Invasor across the finish line to win the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic. Invasor was named Horse of the Year. Jeff Haynes/Getty Images Box: HORSE RACING'S CHAMPIONS |
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