Sex Scandal Rocks Racetrack

Now that I have your attention, BUY THIS BOOK. While the world's early adopters are busy creating muxtapes (here's mine), let us not forget the analog joys of a good read. T.D. Thornton's Not by a Longshot: A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track is out in paperback and plenty affordable for you to pick up a few copies.

As a fan of racing, and presumably someone that would appreciate more quality racing books, racing coverage, and generally for racing to command a greater degree of mindshare, we need to support work that serves this end.

Birthdays, Mother's Day, Fathers Day, May Day--whatever the occasion--find an excuse to give this book to both the racing fans AND the reading fans in your life. They'll love it, and you'll be proselytizing for the great sport of thoroughbred horse racing.

But make no mistake, this book is not propaganda. This is a dead honest look at racing at a second tier track. The struggle, the sacrifice, and the characters that feel they must choose between what works and what's right, makes this book as much a study in cognitive dissonance as a true racetrack yarn. The huge ups and spectacular successes are in there too. Despite odds against and the constant uphill battle of racetrackery, all beautifully illustrated by Thornton's masterful pen, the reader is not denied redemption. Not by a Longshot is the total package.

Time Out!

This scribe is headed to Fairgrounds for a brief respite and some NOLA revelry. It can take some time to recuperate after a bayou venture, so I'll leave you with this MIA track with which to occupy yourself. All the cool indie kids were listening to Paper Planes a coupla years back, but as far as I know the vid has only been around a few months, and it looks like they made it on a budget of a buck eighty five. Enjoy.

Bay Meadows - News and notes

Old gelding disappoints
Motel Staff returned to the races over the weekend and pretty much stunk up the joint in a 25k optional claimer contested at one mile over the lawn. The eleven year old stood in the gate at the start, spotting the field at least five lengths, and never really got into the race. The gelding was not claimed out of the race by former owner GCCI or anyone else for that matter.

In contrast, there was a flurry of claiming activity [drf - free subscription required] in the the first leg of the triple play series, in which claiming horses will ultimately run for a purse of $60,000.

Trainers title race remains tight
Through the end of the race week Monday March 17th, the top spot in the trainer standings remains deadlocked. Steve Sherman, Jerry Hollendorfer and Steve Miyadi again share leading trainer honors, each sporting 23 wins.

Hollendorfer and Miyadi are mainstays in the trainer standings. Both have big personalities and can be abrasive both naturally and for show. Sherman can clearly hold his own with these two backstretch hobgoblins, but unlike his co-leaders, Sherman is not terribly cartoonish. I have for some time wanted to feature him in my periodic series of horsemen looking ridiculous, but he has thus far been an elusive target.

While Steve Sherman has effectively run the NorCal contingency of the family training empire for some time, he only took over as trainer of record on January 1st of this year. This allowed patriarch Art Sherman to concentrate more heavily on SoCal operations. Despite much success on the SoCal circuit in prior years, Art has had a very rough start to 2008. His win percent hovered in the low single digits, last I checked. No word on whether sonny boy Steve will be summoned southward with his 30% winning percentage to right the ship.

Intrepid blogger Tote Board Brad noted in industry publication that no one reads
Lastly, this blog received some wee mention in a broadcast industry rag this morning. The article highlights the career of Christina Olivares, on air talent at TVG, and formerly of HRTV. If you count up 13 paragraphs or so from the bottom, there you'll find a brief passage which reads Horse-racing blogs with names like “Brad Buys a Yearling” and “Left at the Gate” chronicle her on-air exploits.

While mention in any publication, save the police blotter, is a lovely ego boost, being mentioned in the same sentence as the world's best horse racing blog is a true honor.

I wouldn't say I've chronicled her on-air exploits, but I'll link to the totality of posts--both of them--about her and let you, the reader, decide. One I penned in 2005 and the other in May of 2006. With that said, I am stalker enough that I accosted her recently while she was at Bay Meadows to get my picture taken with her. In my eloquence I believe I said something along the lines of "uh...uh... bub... bub..bub, uh, picture... uhh.... bub bub bub..." before thrusting my camera into some passer's by hand and mugging for all I was worth. I'll spare you the pic of my sorry self star struck and mouth agape, but here is the popular broadcaster standing trackside at Bay Meadows last month.

Racial tensions heighten in trainer standings battle

Going into the NorCal race week, Steve Sherman, Jerry Hollendorfer and Steve Miyadi are locked in a tight battle for leading trainer at the Bay Meadows meet, each with 19 wins. Miyadi, a southern California native of Japanese decent, is listed atop the Equibase standings since he has reached the mark with the fewest starters, as is their practice. His winning percentage stands at a robust 40%.

Recently Geraldine Ferraro, a Hollendorfer surrogate and ardent supporter, made comments that Miyadi was only able to challenge Hollendorfer in the standings due to his race. "If Miyadi was a white man, he would not be in this position," she said. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the racetrack is caught up in the concept."

In response to the accusation of race playing a part in his success, Miyadi responded "The notion that it is a great advantage to me to be a Japanese American named Miyadi and pursue the trainer's title, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public."

The Hollendorfer camp subsequently accused Miyadi of playing the race card.

Miyadi has two horses on today's Bay Meadows card, Sexy Soldier in the 5th, and Runaway Wagon in the 6th. Each is making their first start for the Miyadi barn, previously being trained by John Sadler and Jorge Periban, respectively. Both are expected to attract some attention at the windows due to the popular bettor's angle "first time soy sauce."

Racetracker Zen

Among the sect of racetrackers, there are those full of zen. Few trainers, and even fewer management types fall into this group, but a number of the guys and gals that make the card happen each day do. They may be recent immigrants that groom and walk hots by day and claim a tack room as castle by night, or some third generation tracker that works the stable gate at hours obscene to most taxpayers. When I first spent substantial time on the backstretch, I mistook their easy-going-ness for the resignation I've always seen among financial district ladder climbers toiling for the man, for the mortgage, for the next office over. It's different, though. Most of these folks have a decent work ethic despite little to no opportunity for ladder climbing. Many of them could have higher paying jobs in secular society, but each day the return to the track. I wont assign them motivations, but I can attest there are intangibles to spending one's days at the track.

Blog may resume mediocrity soon

This blog has offered far less content recently due to a labor dispute, but it now appears that the writers strike may be settled very soon. Stay tuned.