KONA GOLD SPRINTS TO MILLIONAIRE STATUS.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 Bruce Headley Bruce Headley (born February 14, 1934 in Baldwin Park, California) is a Thoroughbred horse trainer. In volved with horse racing since his teens, Headley embarked on his professional training career in 1959. has been associated with the fastest of the fast since his beginnings in the racing business. There were the quarterhorses Headley, then a teenager, rode in dashes at Devonshire Downs (where the Cal State Northridge football stadium stands now). There was Berseem ber·seem n. A yellowish-flowered annual clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) native to the Mediterranean region and Asia and grown for forage in warm areas such as Florida. Also called Egyptian clover. , the national-champion thoroughbred sprinter of 1955, whom Headley exercised for trainer Reggie Cornell. And it seems there has scarcely been a major sprint in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, in the past decade in which Headley didn't saddle a contender. ``Speed is always exciting, whether in horses, in people, or in pill form,'' Headley said on the phone from Del Mar Del Mar is the name of several places in the United States of America:
It's doubtful the 66-year-old trainer has ever been around a sprinter as speedy and effective as Kona Gold Kona Gold is a champion thoroughbred racehorse. Best known for his victory in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint and subsequent Eclipse Award as Champion Sprinter, Kona Gold raced until he was 9 years old. Currently, Kona Gold is a stable pony for former trainer Bruce Headley. . The 6-year-old gelding gelding castrated male horse. produced the highlight of Del Mar's opening week when he and jockey Alex Solis won the Bing Crosby Handicap on Saturday by three-quarters of a length over Love That Red. The victory was significant for three reasons: It kept him undefeated in four starts at Del Mar, where he'll likely start next in the Aug. 20 Pat O'Brien. It raised his earnings to seven figures at $1,103,684, quite an accomplishment for a horse who never goes in longer, richer races. And it confirmed that he is the nation's top-ranked sprinter and - at this early date - California's best hope for winning a Breeders' Cup race Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. Kona Gold has been closing in on a Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for three year olds & up. Run on dirt over a distance of 6 Furlongs (3/4 mile), the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the victory for three years. In 1998 he finished third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill, two lengths behind winner Reraise. In 1999 he suffered a frustrating loss in the Sprint at Gulfstream Park after having only a single prep race following a spring injury. Kona Gold was slow out of the starting gate in the last Breeders' Cup because the soil broke out from beneath his hind feet. Four lengths behind the leader one-quarter mile into the three-quarter-mile race, he made up all but half a length and finished second to Artax. Artax earned some Horse of the Year votes from those who overlooked the fact Kona Gold might have been better in the biggest sprint of the year. ``It was very gratifying grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. to run second, even if there was some bad luck,'' Headley said. Headley points out that as a one-third partner in the horse's ownership with Irwin and Andrew Molasky, he enjoyed a healthy taste of the $200,000 second-place purse for the 1999 Sprint. But Headley has more than a typical trainer's and owner's connection with Kona Gold. He paid $30,000 for the son of Java Gold after picking him out of a Keeneland auction. He developed him nearly from scratch. ``He looked very fast. This horse just looked good as a sprinter, so I had to buy him,'' Headley said. ``Some of them slip through the cracks. All of these (richer owners) are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. distance horses, for Kentucky Derby horses. I'm looking for the ones the big boys overlook. ``I don't think Java Gold has had another (good) horse. This is a freak of nature.'' Kona Gold is both brilliant and consistent. The 119 Beyer speed figure The Beyer Speed Figure is a system for rating the performance of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America designed in the early 1970s by Andrew Beyer, the syndicated horse racing columnist for The Washington Post. he earned with his 1:08 2/5 clocking in the Bing Crosby, on top of the 118 he received for winning Santa Anita's Potrero Grande in 1:14 3/5 for 6 1/2 furlongs in April, give him two of the four highest ratings in North America this year. He has won 7 of 15 starts, finished 1-2-3 in all but one, and hasn't been worse than second since that first Breeders' Cup try, nine races and 22 months ago. Kona Gold doesn't race often. That and a low-key personality have kept the gelding going, Headley believes. Headley, born in Baldwin Park, first went to the track because an uncle was a Santa Anita security guard. He broke in as a rider at Suzy Q Ranch in La Puente in 1949. Bill Shoemaker was starting out at the same place at the same time. Headley took out his trainer's license a decade later and won major races with Variety Road and Bertrando before Kona Gold. ``Every one, from the beginning, is an extraordinary experience,'' he said. ``But I think it keeps getting better. When you pick 'em out, break them and train them, that's the hard thing. ``I think it's getting better.'' --Never mind: Gary Stevens told reporters he has decided not to attempt a comeback, after all. The Hall of Fame jockey, who retired at age 37 last Dec. 26 because of arthritis in his right knee, had been testing the leg by working horses in recent weeks. On July 26 Stevens sounded optimistic about a return to riding. But this week he said he hadn't assured himself the knee would hold up. --The weekend: The San Diego Handicap The San Diego Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. The race is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt. The race carries a purse of 300,000. , Del Mar's major prep for the Aug. 26 Pacific Classic, is expected to match River Keen, Hal's Pal, Prime Timber, National Saint and Skimming against Florida shipper Forty One Carats. --Golden Missile, Lemon Drop Kid Lemon Drop Kid (foaled 1996) is a Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse. He is among many stakes-winning Thoroughbreds to be descended from Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Seattle Slew is the sire of his dam, Charming Lassie. and Behrens - three of the top four horses in the NTRA NTRA National Thoroughbred Racing Association NTRA National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Egypt) NTRA National Training Reform Agenda NTRA Nano Technology Research Association (Korea) rankings - meet in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on Sunday. --Commendable, More Than Ready, Captain Steve and Dixie Unionare among nine entered in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Sunday. --Albert the Great, who beat Preakness winner Red Bullet and Belmont winner Commendable in the Dwyer, goes for a fifth straight victory in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga on Saturday. OUT OF THE GATE DEL MAR LEADERS Through Wednesday Jockeys Victor Espinoza 7 Tyler Baze 6 Kent Desormeaux 6 Alex Solis 6 Trainers Bob Baffert 6 Mike Mitchell 3 Jose Silva 3 PINCAY UPDATE Laffit Pincay rode three winners Monday at Del Mar to raise his record career total to 8,956. ON THE STAKES SCHEDULE Del Mar --Saturday: $150,000 San Clemente Handicap The San Clemente Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. A Grade IIT event, the race is open to three-year-old fillies willing to race one mile on the turf. It offers a purse of $150,000. , 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf --Sunday: $250,000 San Diego Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/8 miles --Wednesday: $75,000 Escondido Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 3/8 miles on turf. Saratoga, N.Y. --Saturday: $400,000 Jim Dandy Stakes The Jim Dandy Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race. The Grade II race has been held annually since 1964 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is open to horses age three, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. , 3-year-olds, 1 mile; $750,000 million Whitney Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile. Monmouth Park, N.J. --Sunday: $1 million Haskell Invitational Handicap The Haskell Invitational Handicap is an American Grade I race for thoroughbred horses. In 1968, the Board of Directors of Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey honored its former President and Chairman Amory L. Haskell (1893-1966) with the Amory L. , 3-year-olds, 1 mile Canterbury Park, Minn. --Sunday: Claiming Crown, a special card for claiming-level horses, with total purses of more than $500,000. A WEEK AT THE RACES At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. L.A.-area harness racing fans got bad news when the California Horse Racing Board approved a 2001 schedule under which Los Alamitos will conduct a virtually year-round quarterhorse meet. Harness racing will be confined to Cal Expo in Sacramento. The change is the fallout of a dispute over simulcast fees between the California Harness Horsemen's Association and Los Al owner Ed Allred. . . . Alex Hassinger resigned as trainer for Saudi Prince Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corp. after the ownership group moved some horses to other barns. The new trainers include John Shirreffs, who trained for 505 Farms until the death of owner Marshall Naify prompted a dispersal of those horses. Shirreffs, though, will keep some of his old horses under their new owners, including David Copperfield and Cliquot, both purchased by a Salman group. Hassinger, 37, recorded only seven wins from 69 starters in 2000. . . . Jockey Corey Nakatani was expected to be sidelined as long as two weeks after fracturing his right thumb in an accident Friday at Del Mar. . . . Trainer Neil Drysdale and jockey Julie Krone will be inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Monday. . . . E Dubai's debut victory under David Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the Saturday at Del Mar marked the first win in eight tries for the Godolphin Racing Inc. stable of 2-year-olds trained by former Bob Baffert assistant Eoin Harty. . . . Elimination-heat winners Dramaster, Uhadadream and Yankee Paco head the field for a wide-open edition of the Hambletonian, harness racing's biggest event, Saturday at the Meadowlands. . . . Racing columnist Clyde Hirt died Sunday at 73 in New Jersey. Hirt was best known for his ``Impertinent IMPERTINENT, practice, pleading. What does not appertain, or belong to; id est, qui ad rem non pertinet. 2. Evidence of facts which do not belong to the matter in question, is impertinent and inadmissible. Questions'' column in the Sports Eye harness-racing newspaper - and for his classic plaid sportcoats. . . . European champion rider Frankie Dettori said he expected to return to action Sunday in France, two months after suffering a broken ankle and cuts in a plane crash that also injured jockey Ray Cochrane and killed the pilot. - Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): box |
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