GOLDEN GLIMPSES #120

June 23, 1998

By ED GOLDEN

The demise of racing may be told in three little words, and they ain’t Go Baby Go.

They are: Too Much Racing.

In California, it’s a case of racing here, there and everywhere. From hot walker to high roller, there’s barely time to catch your breath between daily doubles and exactas, not to mention simulcast imports from such historic racing bastions as Lone Star Park and Canterbury Park.

But now there’s a move afoot to cut 10 percent off the racing schedule, which presently runs flagfall to finish. Overkill would be the most descriptive word. As scholarly trainer Eddie Gregson, a Stanford graduate, pointed out: "If baseball were played all year, fans would lose interest."

Not only have fans lost interest, horses have, too. Breeders can’t get them to the races fast enough, and most that get there are diluted in quality. Anyway you put it, the horse population is thin. There are more six-horse fields than 12-horse fields, even when $1 million is on the line.

This has raised the antenna of California Horse Racing Board chairman Ralph Scurfield, among other realists. Scurfield would like to see a 10 percent reduction "in number of opportunities in California in 1999." He’s talking about eliminating six-day weeks (except at Del Mar).

Trainer Richard Mandella, California-bred through and through, presents another consideration.

"All you have to do is take away those big purses Kentucky is offering and you’ll get a lot of horses back in California," said Mandella, born in Altadena and a resident of Bradbury. "I’m serious, very serious. Kentucky has developed a really first-class racing calendar. Churchill Downs and Keeneland both have great big purses."

Other than money, there are sound reasons Kentucky is tarnishing the Golden State’s reputation as the nation’s premier presenter of thoroughbred sport.

"Most of the horses are right there close to home, where they start from," Mandella explained. (More thoroughbreds are bred in Kentucky than any other state). So consequently, more people are racing there. The Kentucky people really want to make it a go. It’s their home state, why not? And that’s a tough trend to buck."

But Mandella wasn’t ready to concede the top spot to the Blue Grass State.

"I wouldn’t say Kentucky’s taken over," Mandella said. "I still think California has a very strong hold. We just don’t have the depth that we’ve had over the last 25 years. In the last five, it’s thinned out. There aren’t as many numbers (horses). There’s too much racing in general in all states. In California, racing is year-round. We have no breaks and that’s not good. It wears out the game. There’s no end to the tunnel. If we took a break once in a while, it would give everyone a chance to freshen up."

That’s logical and laudable in theory, but realistically, there’s a better chance of construction coming to a halt in Las Vegas than there is of paring racing in California.

"Economically, it would be very tough, because of simulcasting and inter-track wagering," admitted Mandella, who is readying Gentlemen for a showdown with Silver Charm and Skip Away in Sunday’s $1 million Hollywood Gold Cup. (At press time, it was undecided whether Skip Away would make the race. The horse’s trainer, Sonny Hine, was concerned with "minor" filling in the 5-year-old’s front legs following a mishap during a routine gallop Friday at Belmont Park, where Pacificbounty cut in front of the son of Skip Trial and fell. Skip Away ducked to the inside to avoid Pacificbounty and dropped his rider. He was loose approximately 20 minutes).

"There are so many factors to consider," Mandella continued. "Even though the big on-track crowds aren’t there any more, just opening the doors at the tracks makes them money. I don’t know how much, but I know it’s significant. So saying no and giving up (racing) days would be very tough."

Excluding the Breeders’ Cup, Mandella has saddled the last six winners of $1 million races for older horses in California. In this year’s Santa Anita Handicap, Malek won in a race that drew only three rivals, including Gentlemen. The big money is there. Where are the horses?

"I don’t understand that myself," Mandella said. "That can’t last forever. If you put up $1 million, people are going to come. The ranks have been a little thin, but, on the other hand, California has always had a line of real class horses, so I don’t think anyone is jumping on a bus to come out here and run against them.

"Who wanted to come run against what looked like Silver Charm and Gentlemen (in the Santa Anita Handicap) when they both looked like they were at the top of their game going in? Turns out it was a catastrophe. One didn’t run and one shouldn’t have run. But going in, you’d have thought there’s no way to beat either one of ‘em.

"So people aren’t going to come across country to run third or fourth."

And if the future Hall of Fame trainer had his druthers?

"I’d like to see a couple weeks break around Christmas, and work in another few weeks off somewhere along the line," Mandella said.

He can dream, can’t he?

BAH BYE -- Claimed for $12,500 by red-hot Sandy Shulman, Cal-bred mare won for fun for $32,000, can continue up the ladder.

CALOY -- Good-looking son of Bertrando broke dead last as 6-5 favorite in debut, rallied resolutely through stretch to get third. Can break maiden next out and price won’t be much less palatable.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Nice that Hollywood Park is taking credit for coming up with that blockbuster $1 million-guaranteed pick six promotion it offered on June 14, but I had the idea first and put it in writing a full six months ago. "We could give away caps or T-shirts," Hollywood racing secretary Martin Panza was quoted in the June 14, 1998, Daily Racing Form, "but people want to gamble. Why not allow people to do what they want to do?" Count this among News You Can Bet On: In Gaming Today’s editions of Dec. 30-Jan. 5, 1998, I wrote: "Wishing the National Thoroughbred Racing Association nothing but the best, but all the money, marketing, massaging and magic won’t bring racing close to what it once was (and never can be again because of simulcasting). Neither will repetitively monotonous giveaways of T-shirts, mugs and umbrellas. Better to take $50,000 from the T-shirt budget, and, everytime there is no pick six carryover, throw 50 grand into the pick six pool. I’m no exotics devotee, but if pick six carryovers attract the gluttonous fans, then give it to ‘em." Sounds like one helluva coincidence to me . . . How good are the horses in Bob Baffert’s barn? Good enough for Gary Stevens to change his mind and stay in Southern California to ride regularly instead of moving to New York this fall, as he previously announced. "I’m giving Gary first choice on all my horses, whatever he wants to ride," Baffert said. "David Flores gets second call." What about Kent Desormeaux? "He’s in there. He’ll still ride a few." Said Stevens’ agent, Ron Anderson: "Bob made us an offer on a lot of his nice, young horses and we’ve taken him up on it." Stevens, regular rider of Gentlemen, will stay on Silver Charm in the Gold Cup. Corey Nakatani, who rode Gentlemen in his first three U.S. starts, winning twice, will ride the Argentine-bred . . . Trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Laura Pinelli, a long-time item, tied the knot in Las Vegas on June 15.

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