ALLEN PAULSON RECEIVES ECLIPSE AWARD OF MERIT

Allen Paulson, owner of 1995 (and probable 1996) Horse of the Year Cigar, has been named the recipient of the 1996 Eclipse Award of Merit. Two decisions on Cigar's career marked Paulson's sportsmanship. First, his decision to race Cigar in 1996 after a 10-for-10 season in 1995 left little to prove, and second, sending his champion to Dubai to meet, and beat, the world's best in the inaugural $4 million Dubai World Cup. Paulson let Cigar's fans say goodbye with two appearances after his retirement, at Madison Square Garden in New York and at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Paulson won Eclipse Awards as Champion Breeder in 1993 and Champion Owner in 1995.

BAZE LEADS NATION IN WINS, BAILEY TOPS MONEY LIST

Jockey Russell Baze ended 1996 with 415 victories, 68 more than runner-up Jose Flores, to lead the nation for a fifth straight year. Baze has now won 400 or more races for five consecutive years. No other rider has won that many races more than three times. He will also receive the 1996 Isaac Murphy Award, which is given to the jockey with the highest winning percentage, for the second straight year.

Jerry Bailey broke his own year-old earnings record, ending 1996 with $19,457,531, more than $3 million more than last year, when he was honored with his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Jockey.

ECLIPSE AWARDS TO BE ANNOUNCED ON JAN. 9 TELECONFERENCE

All equine winners of Eclipse Awards, with the exception of the Horse of the Year, will be announced Thursday, Jan. 9, at 1 p.m. (EST) on a Thoroughbred Racing Communications teleconference. Several of the winning owners and trainers are expected to be on the call to answer questions. Members of the media wishing to participate may call (913) 661-9178.

ACTOR VAN PATTEN SHOPS FOR A HORSE

As long as actor Dick Van Patten is in Chicago headlining 'Showboat,' he decided to do some shopping. The actor, best known for his portrayal of Tom Bradford in 'Eight Is Enough,' went to nearby Hawthorne Race Course, Dec. 30, and put down $25,000 to claim a two-year-old filly named Yukon Blond out of the sixth race. She finished second that day for her previous owner and will join Van Patten's stable in California.

SANTA ANITA TO HONOR PINCAY

Santa Anita Park will honor jockey Laffit Pincay Jr., who turned 50 on Dec. 29, with 50-cent general admission Jan. 5. In addition, each fan entering the track will receive an envelope with Santa Anita discount coupons enclosed while every 50th envelope will contain $50. As of the new year, Pincay has 8,498 career wins, trailing only Bill Shoemaker, with 8,833. Pincay, who won his first race May 19, 1964, has won five Eclipse Awards. He holds the Santa Anita record for wins in a single day, capturing seven races out of eight mounts, March 14, 1987.

NOT YET CIGAR, BUT NOT BAD

When A Matter of Style won his seventh straight race, Dec. 29 at Golden Gate Fields, he moved to within nine of Cigar and Citation's much-publicized record. But this isn't a flashy stakes winner, just a solid claimer who has steadily moved up the ranks since he started winning on Sept. 7. Trained by 84-year-old Don Porter, who claimed the horse for owner Irvin Olean, A Matter of Style will have a harder time going for win number eight. As all Thoroughbreds did Jan. 1, he just celebrated a birthday and cannot run against three-year-olds anymore. 'It gets tougher,' said Porter, who has been training since 1932. 'He's basically been beating the same horses. Now he'll have to face some of those tough older horses.' A Matter of Style must be making a believer of Olean, he did something he has never done with any of his horses -- he watched his last race in person.

AKSARBEN PROPERTY TO BE SOLD

The Douglas County Board voted 6-to-1, Dec. 31, to sell 140 acres of AKsarben racetrack in Omaha, Neb., to First Data resources, which plans to build an office park and engineering campus for the University of Nebraska on the site. Local Thoroughbred owner Don Everett had offered $30 million for the land, and has indicated he will challenge the sale in court.

RACING ON THE AIR

Jan. 4, Racehorse Digest, 6:00-6:30 a.m., ESPN
Jan. 8, Racehorse Digest, 3:30-4:00 p.m., ESPN
Jan. 9, Racehorse Digest, 3:30-4:00 a.m., ESPN

RACING TO HISTORY

Jan. 4, 1946: Canadian-born jockey George Woolf, known as 'The Iceman' for his coolness in the saddle, died after falling head first from his mount, Please Me, during a race at Santa Anita Park the previous day. He was 35. During his career (1928-1946) Woolf had 3,784 mounts, 721 wins, 589 seconds and 468 thirds, with earnings of $2,856,125. Since 1950, Santa Anita Park has annually presented the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award to a rider who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.

Jan. 5, 1944: A bill permitting off-track betting was introduced in the New York State Assembly. Over the next several decades, a series of bills would be introduced in favor of OTB, which finally gained legal sanction in New York in 1970.

Jan. 5, 1980: Spectacular Bid began his undefeated four-year-old season, winning the Malibu Stakes by five lengths at Santa Anita. The gray colt finished his 1980 campaign a perfect nine-for-nine.

Monrovia Handicap, 4&up; (f&m;), $100,000, 6 1-2 Furlongs Turf, Grade III, Santa Anita
Klassy Kim, who reversed her fortunes with a win in the Dec. 21 Safely Kept Handicap at Hollywood Park, defends her Monrovia Handicap title against a probable field of 12, including Dixie Pearl and Ski Dancer, first and second in the Autumn Days Handicap in October at Santa Anita. Others entered are Tricky Code, winner of her last start, and Xianlang (IRE), a French-raced filly making her first start since Aug. 28.

Appleton Handicap, 3&up;, $100,000, 1 1-16 Miles Turf, Grade III, Gulfstream

Old Hat Stakes, 3yo fillies, $75,000, 6 Furlongs, Gulfstream

El Conejo Handicap, 4&up;, $100,000, 5 1-2 Furlongs Turf, Santa Anita

Spectacular Bid Stakes, 3yo, $75,000, 6 Furlongs, Grade III, Gulfstream

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