Comic strip of the day (dorf/miyadi edition)

Bay Meadows trainer title coming down to the wire

With three racing days remaining in the meet, there is not yet a presumptive winner of the trainer's title. Perennial leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is ahead with 51 wins, however Steve Miyadi is only two back with 49 wins.

Miyadi has been stuffing the entry box in the waning days of the meet, entering two horses in many races. In less than a week he has closed the gap from eight to two.

It appeared Hollendorfer may have been caught off guard by the late charge by an insurgent Miyadi. However, when this weekends entries were taken, a strong Hollendorfer presence emerged. Dorf entered four on tonight's card and Miyadi entered nine, before scratches. On Saturday and Sunday, Dorf has entered horses in aggressive spots. While running horses where they will hold odds-on favoritism is his modus operandi year round, retaining his crown may also be an element of his drop-and-pop approach this weekend.

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."