MCANALLY SEEKS HIS THIRD EDDIE READ TITLE.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing It seems odd, given Ron McAnally's record-setting success at the seaside, that the trainer's greatest horse never won a race at Del Mar. John Henry never even ran a race at Del Mar. During the lengthy prime of John Henry's career in the early 1980s, the Eddie Read Handicap The Eddie Read Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and up and is raced at a distance of one and one-eighth miles on the turf. The Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California hosts the $400,000, Grade I event, which is an important prep to the Breeders' was scheduled late in the Del Mar season, conflicting with the new Arlington Million in Illinois. John Henry was stabled at Del Mar and used the San Diego County track as a training camp. The old gelding gelding castrated male horse. would ship out to what was then the continent's richest turf event. About a week before John Henry edged The Bart to win the very first Arlington Million in 1981, a preliminary drama played out in McAnally's Del Mar barn. ``He had a problem with his lower shin, and I was a little afraid he wouldn't be able to run in the Million,'' McAnally remembered Thursday morning on the phone from Del Mar. ``Dr. (Jack) Robbins spent about 40 minutes in the stall. Robbins finally came out of the stall, walked over here to the tack room, and said, 'I think I've got it.' '' Robbins' treatment hit the spot, and John Henry turned in a brilliant workout under Bill Shoemaker. The $1 million victory at Arlington became the horse's most famous. Obviously, John Henry wasn't held back by the lack of Del Mar races alongside his 20 (and 12 wins) at Santa Anita and his nine (and six) at Hollywood Park. From age 5 to 9, he won the Arlington Million twice and finished second once, was voted the national Horse of the Year twice (1981, 1984) and was named the national turf champion four times (1980, 1981, 1983 and 1984). McAnally's resume didn't suffer much either. He's a Hall of Fame member, in no small part because he has more Del Mar victories than any other trainer (with 414 going into Wednesday's season opener) and is close to the Del Mar record for stakes wins (with 69 going into the meet). McAnally also won the Eddie Read twice, with Ten Below, who scored an upset in 1984 despite bleeding badly in the race, and the champion Tight Spot, in 1991. On Sunday, McAnally, 73, will take a double-barreled shot at the $400,000 Eddie Read when he saddles Sweet Return, ridden by Alex Solis, and Fast and Furious, with Victor Espinoza. The seven entrants for the 1 1/8-mile turf race include Castledale, the 2004 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. winner, and Singletary, the 2004 Breeders' Cup Mile winner. The form couldn't be more different for 5-year-old Sweet Return and 4-year-old Fast and Furious. Sweet Return snapped a losing streak A Losing Streak is the third episode of series 2 of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 4 November 1982. Synopsis Del Boy, Rodney, and Grandad are making some sort of cheap perfume just to earn money after Del has been losing most of at eight by setting a slow pace in the June 11 Whittingham Handicap at Hollywood Park. Fast and Furious remained winless in four starts since arriving from France when he finished sixth in the July 3 American Invitational Handicap at Hollywood. ``(Fast and Furious) was a little disappointing to us,'' McAnally said of the son of Singspiel Singspiel: see opera. singspiel (German; “song-play”) Eighteenth-century opera in the German language, containing spoken dialogue and usually comic in tone. who had run a good third the start before that in his return from a 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. crack. ``(Espinoza) said the turf was stinging his feet. The turf here (at Del Mar) is spongier. Maybe that'll help.'' The lineup from the rail out: Singletary (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 ), assigned 120 pounds; Sweet Return, 120; Fourty Niners Son (Corey Nakatani), 114; A to the Z (Garrett Gomez), 118; Fast and Furious, 117; Qsar (Tyler Baze), 112, and Castledale (Rene Douglas), 121. The pursuit of the late Charlie Whittingham's Del Mar record of 74 stakes victories is a three-man race among Bob Baffert (70), McAnally (69) and Bobby Frankel (65). All are represented in stakes this weekend as Del Mar caps the first week of its 66 th season. Frankel trains Qsar for the Eddie Read and Intercontinental for Saturday's $400,000 John C. Mabee Handicap The John C. Mabee Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race contested each summer at the Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. The race, known as the Ramona Handicap through 2001, is an important prep race for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. , the fillies-and-mares equivalent of the Eddie Read. Intercontinental (Solis), assigned a race-high 122 pounds, heads a field of eight that includes Ticker Tape Ticker Tape A computerized device that relays financial information to investors around the world, including the stock symbol, the latest price, and volume on securities as they are traded. (Kent Desormeaux), Island Fashion (Pat Valenzuela) and Winendynme (Corey Nakatani). Baffert has Preachinatthebar (Mike Smith) in Sunday's $250,000 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. as the 2004 San Felipe Stakes The San Felipe Stakes is a race for Thoroughbred horses run each year at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The race is normally held in mid-March and is open to horses, age three, willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles (8.5 furlongs) on the dirt. winner steps up from a pair of allowance-level victories. The field of six includes 2004 San Diego winner Choctaw Nation (Espinoza). CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE GATE BY KEVIN MODESTI |
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