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."

11 year old gelding claimed

While Heath Ledger has passed on, 11yo gelding Motel Staff, only slightly Heath's junior, is alive and kicking. In fact, he's turning a new page in his career after being taken out of a 16k claiming race from owner GCCI and trainer Cliff Delima by Steve Miyadi for CM Racing.

When asked why it was worth risking sixteen grand on a horse that is nearing the end of his career, Miyadi responds curtly. "He's finally learned how to run. He's really coming around now."

The stakes winning old timer has plenty of back class and can still perform at this level, evidenced by his second place finish Sunday. When pressed, Miyadi offers a more believable, albeit nefarious angle behind the claim. "Look, I kidnapped him. He's a member of the [DeLima/GCCI] family." Miyadi does not plan to drop Motel Staff into softer company to pick up a short priced win, as is often the approach with his claims. "They'll pay the ransom, so why should I give them a discount? They'll pay it, and in the mean time, he'll win."

The Jockey's Agent

Image courtesy of Emeldi.

A Leg Up

Kyle Kaenel, now comfortably up on his mount in the walking ring before the Friday night opener at Bay Meadows, let out a belly laugh like only a man at least three times his weight has the right to. A lot happened before we got to that chortle though.

While taking in morning works at Golden Gate Fields, at some point each morning I try to corner trainer Steve Miyadi to coax out opinions and observations. Miyadi has a significantly higher tolerance for my antics than any other backstretch denizen and if I’ve had enough coffee such that I can traverse the requisite salutary verbal sparing, I oft extract some key pearls.

On Friday morning while Movement’s trainer Jamey Thomas was working the phones and under lockdown with (other) needy owners, I set my sites on Miyadi. After I lobbed a few whos, hows, and whys, we settled on the topic of racing literature for a moment. There was a lot of “yeah, I read that,” “he really captured it in that book” and some “it was too much from the bettors perspective”. We’d read most of the same books and had mostly the same opinions of them.

Since conversations with Steve Miyadi are generally based on conflict and develop like a blend of a smart ass professor’s approach to the Socratic method and schoolyard hooligans particularly apt at playing cut down, this rare mutual ascent qualified as a moment. Jamey had no entries on Friday night’s card and this was the perfect time to cajole Miyadi into letting me and my buddies join him in the paddock at the races later.

That night, my friends hadn’t turned up yet as the horses in the opener were being saddled. As Miyadi walked out from the paddock to the walking ring I accosted the conditioner with a continuation of the mornings discussion of racing books and thrust a copy of John Sullivan’s Bloodhorses toward him intended to show my appreciation. The agreeable imposter from the morning had been vanquished and he let loose a tirade why Sullivan’s tome was merely a baseball book parading as equine literature for marketing purposes and was undeserving of a true racetrackers attention. This didn’t put me off and I argued back, albeit feebly, before he took jockey Chad Schvaneveldt aside for instructions. Then he gave Jockey Kyle Kaenel the low down on the other half of his uncoupled entry, which together comprised 40% of the field and attracted ~70% of the wagering dollars.

The horses were in the ring and the three horse had just passed me, the four and five horses being Miyadi’s. At this point he and Chad began walking along side the four horse as the trainer was about to leg him up and said “Brad, you’re going to give Kyle a leg up.” “Ummmkay,” I said meekly, knowing that I wouldn’t have time to say no anyway. Kyle needs to be on that horse in about four more seconds, as the two of us begin walking along side the mare’s path.

I’ve legged up exercise riders a few times, but that is with a stationary horse. Rocket science it is not but in the few brief moments as we approached Kyle’s mount I became acutely aware of the burgeoning Friday night crowd, all wanting to get a look at grand ol’ Bay Meadows before being razed. I also noticed the power of the horseflesh as one eager mare reared up and threw her head and mane about.

Now the five mare was even with us, eyeballing me with contempt, and Kyle’s step sped and shortened in a graceful skip, anticipating a leg up. All I have to do is reach down with one hand and lift up as the jock cocks his leg, I thought to myself. Then, as I reached down, Kyle took another mini step, reached out to mount the horse when I missed his leg. He came down hard, breaking his jaw with a vicious crack while the horse reared, freed herself from the groom, trampled Kyle, took out Miyadi, then hopped the rail and trampled four or five children and an expectant mother on the apron. That and about nineteen other equally as tragic scenarios went threw my head in those last few split seconds before Kyle was aboard the odds-on favorite. He looked back at my stone white face, unleashing that big laugh, saying “Shoot, I’m riding her, and you’re more nervous than me!”

To be in the walking ring, listening in on horsemen’s banter, seeing the tacked fillies and mares parading, and then legging up a jockey, make for halcyon moments for a fanatic of this sport like me. I’ll trade embarrassment for that any day of the week, and twice on Friday nights at Bay Meadows.

The Day in Pictures - Bay Meadows

There's no cure for the workweek blues like a day at the racetrack.

The story line went something like this.


Pictured, from left to right: Jamey, Dave, Trainer Ricardo Perez, Jockey Kyle Kaenel
Kyle Kaenel cracked wise about the spill he was in yesterday which caused him to take off mounts for the day. Kaenel went head first over the front of this mount, and then a trailing horse flipped over the downed horse. It is truly amazing he escaped serious injury, but does sport some battle wounds, his bandaged ear the most visable.


Hollywood Park track announcer, TVG personality, and occasional jockeys agent Vic Stauffer listens skeptically as the nation's reigning leading trainer by winning percentage, Steve Miyadi tells him how it is on the Bay Meadows apron.


Top trainers Armando Lage and Jerry Hollendorfer stare each other down before the second race. (note the four horse in the background. I swear that horse was eyeballing these two trainers right back.)


In the end, whatever Miyadi was telling Stauffer, he apparently meant it, getting his picture taken after the race.

TBA Meet-Up in South Florida

The forecast calls for pastel chinos and straw hat, with a slight chance of Cohiba Robusto.

A more full report on Gulfstream Park and the South Florida racing scene to come, but some brief tidying is necessary. In the meantime, John of Not to the Swift and Rubin of Average Horseplayer will likely be more timely about updates on our morning spent with (or at least in close proximity of) Birdbirdistheword, Invasor, Jazil, Better Talk Now, Kenny McPeek, Kieran Mclaughlin, Nick Zito, Dale Romans, Michael Matz, and other superstars of our sport.

-Thanks to Vic Stauffer for tipping me off to Le Tub for a spectacular burger and a an even better view along the waterfront. I also got an eyefull of some 50 year boob, as a boisterous boomer lectured her daughter and friends that flashing your tits on spring break is not sexy. "See. I pulled my shirt up. Is that cool?" (I believe the irony was lost on her). The exposure elicited some shrieking from the girls, but no one else seemed to notice. For someone likely eligible to Join AARP, she had a decent set, though.

-Sadly, I am unable to procure the Richard Dutrow autograph requested by Steve Miyadi, as Dutrow is currently ruled off. Perhaps Steve can join Dutrow and Frankel for Carnival in Rio (See Jay Privman's 2/14/07 column Racing to Rio for the big dance [subscription only] in the Racing From). I think the three of them would look good in feathers and high heels.

Nor Cal Flexes Muscle in Millions

Yesterday northern California trainer Steve Spect and Jockey Frank Alvarado landed in the Gulfstream Park winner's circle after wiring the field in the Sunshine Millions Classic. It's great to see a couple of our boys on the backstreatch get their piece of a million dollar race.

Nor Cal racing fans are extordinarily lucky to have such talent, and it doesn't stop there. Last year we enjoyed Russell Baze breaking the all time record for most wins. Jerry Hollendorfer was 4th in North America in wins. We also lay claim North America's leading trainer by winning percentage, Steve "Leftest Rebel" Miyadi.