OPENER LOOKS LIKE EVENT OF THE YEAR.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 A new thoroughbred racing year begins Saturday at Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, USA. It is known for offering some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the autumn and in winter. Racing at Santa Anita began in 1934. with the promise of good times ahead, thanks to dynamic new management, higher purses and expanded simulcasting. But there's some old business to take care of first. Starting with the opening-day Malibu Stakes The Malibu Stakes is a race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses of either gender held each December at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The race is at a distance of seven furlongs on the dirt and is the first leg of Santa Anita Park's Strub Series. , we may finally identify the most talented 3-year-old of 1998. The 7-furlong Malibu, the first of 10 Grade I stakes scheduled for the four-month Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
Real Quiet won the Derby and the Preakness, Victory Gallop beat Real Quiet in the Belmont, and Coronado's Quest later beat Victory Gallop; those three are likely to get all the votes for the 3-year-old championship. But many handicappers suspect Event of the Year was better than any of them. If that assessment is correct, the son of Seattle Slew should dominate the soon-to-be 4-year-olds in the Strub Series that includes the Malibu, the 1 1/16-mile San Fernando Stakes on Jan. 16 and the 1-1/8-mile Strub Stakes on Feb. 6, and should have a good shot to beat older horses in the March 6 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 . ``This is a big test,'' said Richard Mandella, who has trained Event of the Year since the summer. When he was trained by Northern California leader Jerry Hollendorfer, Event of the Year won three races at Bay Meadows by a combined 15 lengths, then stepped up and won the Jim Beam Stakes at Turf Paradise by five lengths while earning the highest 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. (114) of any 3-year-old in the first three months of '98. Event of the Year hasn't raced in the nearly nine months since. He sustained a slab fracture of his right front knee in a workout eight days before the May 2 Kentucky Derby. ``The healing seems to have gone really well,'' Mandella said this week. ``He couldn't do better than he's been doing in the morning. The only thing in the back of your mind is that he does have a (surgical) screw in the knee. ``You can train him and do all that stuff, and you can send him out in the afternoon and he's not the same. Maybe there's a little twinge twinge n. A sharp, sudden physical pain. v. To cause to feel a sharp pain. in it and he doesn't want to run.'' Event of the Year, to be ridden for the first time by Corey Nakatani, is a 5-2 favorite on the Malibu morning line, ahead of the coupled entry of Sea of Secrets and Yarrow yarrow, a plant of the genus Achillea, perennial herbs of the family Asteraceae (aster family), native to north temperate regions. Several species are cultivated as ornamentals for their flat-topped clusters of flowers and scented foliage. Brae brae n. Scots A hillside; a slope. [Middle English bra, from Old Norse br at 7-2 and Artax at 4-1. The 11-horse field includes eight stakes winners. Many of these horses have faced each other before. D. Wayne Lukas-trained Yarrow Brae was the runner-up when Event of the Year won the Jim Beam. Sea of Secrets just beat Artax by 8-1/2 lengths at Hollywood Park in the latter's return from a shin injury received while finishing 13th in the Kentucky Derby. Artax trainer Randy Bradshaw thinks Sea of the Secrets should be favored in the Malibu. ``Event of the Year's coming off a long layoff with serious injury and has a screw in his knee, so there's a question mark with him,'' Bradshaw said. ``In my opinion, if Sea of Secrets runs that same race he ran at Hollywood, he's the winner.'' But if Event of the Year runs anything like his Jim Beam, it isn't even close. The $200,000 Malibu will be run as the eighth of nine races on a noon card Saturday. Santa Anita will be open eight of the next nine days, with Tuesday the only blank on an opening-week schedule that features seven stakes with purses of $100,000 or more. The 84-day season, which runs through April 19 with racing most Wednesdays through Sundays, will begin amid unusual optimism: The purchase of Santa Anita earlier this month by industrialist and horse owner Frank Stronach has eased the worst fears about the track's future. Stronach says he's committed to keeping Santa Anita in the racing business while adding stores, restaurants and amusements to the property. ``I'm not making alternate plans for income anymore,'' said trainer Vladimir Cerin. ``There's renewed hope.'' The passage in August of a Jan. 1 reduction in state license fees - the percentage of wagers collected for taxes - should translate into an increase of 8 to 9 percent in average purses. And that should draw more and better horses to California racetracks. The loosening of restrictions on out-of-state simulcasts will allow California fans to watch and wager starting Jan. 1 on full programs from Florida (Calder, and later Gulfstream Park) and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of (Aqueduct, and later Belmont Park). One symptom of the good feeling - and another good reason for it - is the return to full force of the D. Wayne Lukas Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee. barn. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer said he'll make Santa Anita his focus this winter after concentrating on Gulfstream last year and saddling only 15 winners at the major Southern California tracks this season. Lukas has nominated 21 horses for the April 3 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. . ``In my opinion, this is the premier meet in the country,'' Lukas said. ``In terms of purse structure and quality of racing, you just can't beat it.'' 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. Final Hollywood Park leaders: Jockeys: Garrett Gomez, 24 winners; Alex Solis, 22; Eddie Delahoussaye, 21; Kent Desormeaux, 17; 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 , Corey Nakatani and Laffit Pincay, 13. Trainers: Paul Aguirre and Neil Drysdale, 10; Paddy Gallagher, Mike Mitchell and Mel Stute, 9. Handicapper hand·i·cap·per n. Sports & Games 1. One who assigns handicaps. 2. One who predicts the winners in a horserace, especially one who publishes such predictions as a guide for bettors. Noun 1. helper: Here were the most consistent two-legged competitors on the Southern California circuit in 1998, recording winning percentages of at least 15 percent at each of the five major meets: jockeys Desormeaux, Nakatani and Gary Stevens, and trainers Mitchell, Bob Baffert, Wally Dollase, Ron McAnally and Ted West. Important races: At Santa Anita: Saturday, $200,000 Malibu Stakes, 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs; Sunday, $200,000 La Brea Stakes The La Brea Stakes is a race for thoroughbred horses open to three-year-old fillies. The La Brea is at a distance of seven furlongs on the Santa Anita Park dirt track. A Grade I event, it offers a purse of $250,000. , 3-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs; Monday, $150,000 San Gabriel Handicap The San Gabriel Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California each year. The race is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt and offers a purse of $150,000. , 3-year-olds and up, 1-1/8 miles on turf; Thursday, $150,000 California Breeders' Champion Stakes California Breeders' Champion Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1935 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Run during the last week of December, the seven Furlong race is open to two-year-old horses bred in the State of California. , 2-year-old fillies bred in California, 7 furlongs. At Calder: $150,000 La Prevoyante Handicap The La Prevoyante Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Calder Race Course each year. The race is open to filles and mares, age three and up, willing to race one and one-half miles on the turf. The Grade II race carries a purse of $200,000. , fillies and mares 3 and up, 1-1/2 miles on turf. Mileposts: Hollywood Park, like a lot of tracks this year, reversed years of declines in on-site attendance when it averaged 7,743 at the meet that ended Monday, up 15 over the 1997 figure (excluding the huge crowd on '97 Breeders' Cup day). That's the first such increase at the Hollywood autumn meet since '93. Average daily wagering, $9.1 million, set a meet record for a non-Breeders' Cup year. ``It's a big challenge following a Breeders' Cup year, but we're pleased with 1998,'' track chairman R.D. Hubbard said. . . . Russell Baze needs six winners in the next six racing days 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 to reach 400 victories for the seventh straight year. He's the only jockey to do it more than three times. . . . Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet, who hasn't raced since getting hurt in training after the Belmont Stakes, resumed workouts Saturday by going 3 furlongs in 37 2/5 seconds at Santa Anita. Bob Baffert indicated the colt is two months away from a race. . . . Real Quiet won the Hollywood Futurity en route to his Derby victory. Tactical Cat, who won the Futurity Dec. 21, won't have a chance to follow suit; he had surgery Saturday to repair a fracture sustained in that race and trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he'll aim for a summer comeback. . . . The Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. will begin publishing a ``night'' edition covering quarterhorse and harness racing. A Los Alamitos harness meet opens Saturday night. . . . Native Diver Handicap winner Puerto Madero will race next in the Feb. 7 San Antonio at Santa Anita or the Jan. 30 Donn at Gulfstream Park, trainer Richard Mandella said. His barnmate Malek, the 1998 Santa Anita Handicap winner, is aiming for the Jan. 10 San Pasqual. . . . Jockey Iggy Puglisi, doing well riding for Paul Aguirre, has hired agent Vince DeGregory. . . . A new apprentice rider on the scene: 19-year-old Norman Rodriguez, who has been an exercise rider for Lukas. . . . Patty Johnson is training the string of Glen Hill Farm horses left behind by Willard Proctor, who died in October. . . . Churchill Downs, preparing to be the first track to take parimutuel ``future-book'' bets on the Kentucky Derby, scheduled three wagering periods - Feb. 18-21, March 11-14 and April 8-11, each coinciding with major prep races for the May 1 Derby. . . . Former Turf Paradise and Monmouth Park announcer Bob Weems died at 70. - Kevin Modesti CAPTION(S): Box Box: A WEEK AT THE RACES (See text) |
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