GOLDEN GLIMPSES #128

August 18, 1998

By ED GOLDEN

When a 1,000-pound horse strikes the ground full force for three-quarters of a mile or longer on legs as spindly as Babe Ruth�s, it�s a wonder the beautiful thoroughbred animal is not prone to more injuries.

With perpetual racing, horses, bettors and everyone else associated with the so-called Sport of Kings hardly has time to come up for air. So, it would seem, horses should be running more often and enjoying it less.

But not so, points out Jeff Tufts, the morning line oddsmaker at Del Mar and Santa Anita, who maintains an industry-wide low profile yet is one of its most astute and lucid observers.

"Using too much racing as a reason for horses getting hurt, breaking down, or pulling up lame, I�m not sure is a legitimate reason," says the 54-year-old Tufts, a Pasadena native who got his start in the Hollywood Park publicity department in 1967. "For one thing, I recall statistics from The Jockey Club have shown the average number of starts per horse competing in North America has declined in recent years. So if horses are getting hurt because of too much racing, you would think horses are racing too much, too many times, when, in fact, it seems it�s just the opposite.

"That may not show a true picture, however. That statistic has to be examined carefully. With so much racing, a lot of it is cheap, maiden claimers especially. There�s no question maiden races make up a higher percentage of races than it used to in Southern California. Those races tend to get horses that run a few times and then disappear."

But doesn�t the proliferation of racing cheapen it and allow it to be taken for granted? The problem is too many racing dates, not horses running too many times, although a correlation seems inevitable.

Points out Tufts: "Still, if you have too much racing, and it�s causing horses to run too often, for example, squeezing one more start out of them before they�re sent to the ranch, well, that�s the kind of argument you hear all the time. If that were true, statistics would show that horses are running more times per year than they used to. But I don�t think that�s the case."

Then why are five and six-horse fields commonplace?

"It�s just a lack of horses needed to fill those particular races," Tufts said. "At the big tracks in Southern California, and certainly at Fairplex, too, races have to be written for top quality horses. Otherwise, there would be nothing but races for $10,000 claimers and maiden $32,000 claimers. You�d drive owners away, and you can�t do that.

"But because we don�t have that many top quality horses, some of those races can�t be filled, and when they are, there are small fields. If the problem is not enough big fields and quality horses, the only solutions are to get more quality horses or cut down on the number of racing dates."

And if you were racing commissioner?

"That would present such a complex problem because tracks have to focus on their income. It�s popular to ask why Del Mar doesn�t race five days a week. As an employee of Del Mar, I get paid by the day, and a five-day week would cost me money. I would lose a day�s pay every week if they did that. And yet, I would like to see five-day race weeks.

"And there are others who feel as I do, because you get burned out racing six days a week. But at the same time, Del Mar only has seven weeks to run its dates. It can�t afford to give up that sixth day. The same is true of other tracks. Extending the racing dates a week or 10 days and racing five days a week at Del Mar has been talked about for years. But where do you extend it? If you start the season earlier, Hollywood Park loses dates. If you start Hollywood earlier, then Santa Anita loses dates. If you extend Del Mar, it really doesn�t want to run that much after Labor Day, and then you would cut into Pomona.

"Everytime you talk about cutting back racing dates, you�re getting into politics. Who�s going to cut back where? There�s no easy answer that�s going to make everybody happy. But the question is, will there ever be a time when the pressure is great enough to force the tracks and the California Horse Racing Board to drastically realign the dates?

"There have been some changes. Some cutbacks in dates and races have occurred, but it hasn�t been drastic and it hasn�t been enough to produce a radical change in the overall quality of racing."

CONICAL -- Rallied well on turf in U.S. debut, should leave maiden ranks promptly for Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.

PREVALENCE -- English turf import finished third in two U.S. starts after breaking from No. 10 post. Better draw is all he needs to win.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Once again, Gaming Today, the Little Paper That Could, was early-on reporting in depth the horse breakdowns and deaths occurring at Del Mar when my column hit the streets and the Internet with the news last Tuesday, Aug. 4. And, once again, it didn�t become "big" news until TV stations and major newspapers like the Los Angeles Times came on board four days later . . . Agent Scott McClellan on how Chris McCarron got the mount on Free House, who had been ridden by another McClellan client, Alex Solis, in the Super Derby, and Kent Desormeaux in the Santa Anita Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont last year: "Free House was working for his comeback about midway through the Hollywood meet and Paco said he and the owners (Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan) wanted Chris to ride the horse. I kind of felt bad for Alex, but what are you gonna do? Free House was coming off a layoff and the last time Alex rode him, he bled and didn�t run any good. We lined up a work and Chris has been working him ever since. On days Chris rode at Del Mar, three different times he drove up after the races to work Free House at Santa Anita the next morning. He would work him at 6 a.m., then drive back to Del Mar that same day to ride." . . . Aug. 12 was something of a career day for Joe Steiner. The 34-year-old rider, who finds himself among the leading jockeys as often as O.J. Simpson makes financial restitution to the Browns and Goldmans, won two races, including the fourth on $98.40 winner Sterling Heights. "I don�t remember the last time I won two races in one day in Southern California," Steiner said. "I won a lot of races when I was an apprentice and (trainer) Johnny Longden rode me a lot. I remember winning five in one day a long time ago. Sometimes I only ride horse a day, so maybe this will open some doors for me." Steiner�s uncle and grandfather, both named Jack Leonard, were jockeys and that�s how he came to ride.

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