GOLDEN GLIMPSES #134

September 27, 1998

By ED GOLDEN

In the first three races at Bay Meadows recently, there were three five-horse fields. It raised the question, "Were those races necessary?"

In the old days, when Kenny Noe Jr. was racing secretary at Garden State Park and I was still a boy, he would have sooner mucked stalls than go with a five-horse field.

He’d have had his underlings hustle horses until they had seven or eight in the race, at least.

But such is the state of racing these days. No horses to hustle. Where’s the beef?

Which is why, at Pomona on Sept. 18, the California Horse Racing Board, in its infinite wisdom, approved a racing calendar for 1999 that cut 11 days from the thoroughbred schedule and reduced by three percent the number of thoroughbred races to be run in the state.

A CHRB release read: "With full support of racing associations and horsemen, who worked together and with the CHRB Racing Dates Committee to come up with a racing calendar marked by compromise, the Board approved a 1999 schedule that takes three days each away from Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows, two days from Santa Anita, and one day each from Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and Oak Tree at Santa Anita."

As the punch line goes to the question, "What do you call 1,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?"--it’s a good start.

But not in the minds of some horsemen, among them Eddie Gregson, an erudite trainer who graduated from Stanford with a degree in European history and did post-graduate work at Cal-Berkeley.

"They took away what amounted to nothing," said Gregson, who admittedly finds himself in a quixotic quandary, because he’s on the Board of Directors of the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, which wants "very much to keep the racing calendar as it is."

"But my own personal beliefs are that there are too many racing days," said Gregson, 50, who saddled Gato del Sol to win the 1982 Kentucky Derby. "So I need to qualify what I say by stating that as a member of the Board of the CTBA, I have to honor the majority feeling of the Board, and that is there has to be racing opportunities for California-bred horses.

"But, by the same token, my personal feeling is that the racing calendar is overloaded, especially in December. But by eliminating December racing--and I gave testimony on this in Sacramento--we have to do something about the Pomona Fair (Fairplex Park).

"I want to reduce the racing calendar, but mainly I want to reduce the calendar of the fair circuit, because it’s destroying us. I have said this about Pomona before and I will continue to say this about Pomona: there’s not a reason in the world the Southern California circuit should have to endure racing at Pomona in September. Let them race in December.

"As far as I’m concerned--and the Fairs went crazy when I gave this testimony--the fair circuit, without any turf course and with race tracks less than a mile (in circumference), should have only other breed racing and not thoroughbred. The fairs should run at nights with other breeds. And that includes Northern California fairs.

"Ideally, we should race Del Mar/Hollywood in September, then Santa Anita in the fall and eliminate racing in December."

Well, that may come to pass in his dreams, or perhaps in Hollywood, where, as it turns out, Gregson did enjoy an 18-month stint as an actor while under contract to Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox. He appeared in the film, "The Naked and the Dead."

But if Gregson had his druthers, the future of racing would unfold something like this: "I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t race 30 days at one track (Santa Anita), then 30 days at the other (Hollywood)," Gregson said. "I don’t know why we have these long, projected race meetings, where the turf courses get beat to death.

"If so many trainers are stabling year-round at one track or the other, and vanning is done daily, and it’s very simple to van, why don’t we take advantage of that and do what’s best for the turf courses and best for the fan base? It can see live racing for 30 days and then watch simulcasts for 30 days. What’s the point of an 85-day meet?

"When this circuit was like a road show, the long meets made sense, because everybody stabled at the track that was running, and the other track’s stable area was closed. Now both the Santa Anita and Hollywood stable areas are open year-round and there are Santa Anita-based trainers and there are Hollywood-based trainers.

"The whole racing calendar needs a much more radical change than just a pruning. And that includes the fair circuit. They have no turf courses, their stable areas are deplorable and they have less-than-mile race tracks. That does not qualify for this major circuit. Not the way racing is going."

THE HOMESTRETCH: CHRB Commissioner George Nicholaw on paring the dates: "It’s a step in the right direction to do something about the short fields. Everyone understands where we are going and why. I have set a personal goal of increasing the size of our fields to nine horses in every race." But Commissioner Christo Bardis says more must be done: "We’re not going to solve the problem just by cutting dates. The racing associations and horsemen need to get together and come up innovative methods. Now is the right time. With the passage of SB 27, there will be an additional $20 million for purses next year. There’s money on the table. People have to look at where that money will be spent." . . . Fernando Valenzuela says his oft-suspended cousin, Patrick Valenzuela, whose career has been marked by substance abuse, could reapply for his riding license at Santa Anita which opens on Wednesday. Patrick, who will be 36 on Oct. 17, is serving a ban that’s approaching one year in duration. "I’m crossing my fingers and hoping to see him back in the business," says the 29-year-old Fernando. "I wouldn’t like to see him ruled off for life." Fernando says he doesn’t really have much contact with Patrick. "When things like this happen, he just wants to be by himself and do his own thing." . . . Add Gregson: "I have some horses that were injured at last year Hollywood that were among the most promising 2-year-olds I’ve had in years. I only got to run one at Del Mar and he ran with a sore shin and finished in mid-pack running. He’s a Bertrando horse named Bensawsam. And I have a Cal-bred filly named Controlled who won a stake at the end of Del and she’s two-for-two. I’ve got 20 head at Santa Anita, which is the most horses I’ve had in years. And I just came back from the Keeneland yearling sale where I bought an A.P. Indy filly and Nureyev filly. So things are looking up."

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