News and notes from around the Thoroughbred racing world, compiled by Thoroughbred Racing Communications, Inc. (TRC) (212.371.5911..)

DERBY FANS TO SEE RACE FROM JOCKEY'S VIEW

Churchill Downs and ABC Sports may have jockeys wear 1 1-2-pound cameras in the Kentucky Derby. The plan had been approved four years ago by Churchill Downs's stewards.

ABC expects somewhere between three and six riders will wear the cameras. The jockey, owner and trainer all must approve the device beforehand.

'Car racing was in a lot of trouble 10 years ago, but on-board cameras helped open it up,' said Paul Noltemeyer, TV liaison for Churchill Downs. 'Within two minutes, you'll get to see all the strategies involved in a race.'

LONE STAR LURES SKIP AWAY

Lone Star Park, in Grand Prairie, Texas, has announced that last year's three-year-old champion, Skip Away, will run in the Texas Mile on April 20. The track increased the purse from $100,000 to $250,000. Corey Johnsen, Lone Star's vice president and general manager, said, 'This purse increase just reinforces the strength of our racing program.' 'We have received a tremendous amount of interest in the Texas Mile from the connections of the top horses around the country. With the opportunity to attract Skip Away and other top horses, we decided that this is the step we needed to make.'

MARYLAND RACING GETS SOME RELIEF

Legislation which will aid Maryland's horse racing industry was approved by the General Assembly on Monday. About $8 million will be channeled to the racing and breeding industries, mostly from lottery revenues. Thoroughbred purses will receive $4 million while Standardbred purses will get $2 million. In addition, tracks will not have to pay $1 million in salaries for state employees and $500,000 from uncashed tickets at Thoroughbred tracks will be used to promote this year's Maryland Million. Taxes on wagers made at off-track betting facilities will be kept at one-half of 1 percent and the number of allowable racing dates at tracks will be increased. Slot machines are not in the current legislation.

SPORTS JOURNALISM SEMINAR AT CHURCHILL DOWNS

The keynote speaker at the sixth annual Collegiate Sports Journalism Seminar, April 25-27 at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Ky., will be Mike Tirico of ABC Sports and ESPN. About 50 college students with an interest in sports journalism are expected to participate in the tuition-free seminar, which enables them to observe sportswriters, broadcasters and photographers as they cover a major sporting event.

Tirico, who joined ABC this past December as the network's golf show host, also serves as host of ESPN's NFL Prime Monday, College Football Scoreboard, The NFL on ESPN Radio and is a frequent anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter. Other sports journalists scheduled to join Tirico include Sports Illustrated Senior Writer William Nack; Jim Welch, deputy managing editor for sports for USA TODAY; Associated Press Sports Editor Terry Taylor; and Mike Mulvihill, manager of research and marketing for FOX Sports.

The seminar is sponsored by Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, the National Turf Writers Association, Thoroughbred Racing Communications (TRC), Turf Publicists of America and Triple Crown Productions.

THOROUGHBRED FEATURED IN DOCUMENTARY

Winloc's Very Own, a three-year-old filly racing at Suffolk Downs, in East Boston, Mass., will be a featured player on 'Discover Magazine,' scheduled to air April 16 at 9 p.m. (EDT) on the Discovery Channel. The show, titled 'Speed,' explores what science says about the physical limitations of race horses. Also included are the mechanics of drag racers; the world's fastest airplanes; and slowing down atoms. The show will be repeated April 17 at midnight and April 19 at 6 p.m.

LATE NOMINATIONS BRING TRIPLE CROWN LIST TO 388

Thirteen late nominations for the Visa Triple Crown have been received by the March 28 deadline, bringing the total of nominated horses to 388, the largest amount since 1992. (There were 361 nominations in 1996.) They are: Air Power, Cryptoo, Direct Hit, Dipiperon, Frisk Me Now, Glitter Woman, Hamilton Creek, Jack At the Bank, Lasting Appeal, Las Vegas Ernie, Mr. Sweeney, Phantom On Tour, and Statesmanship.

SHOOTIN' AND SCORIN'--HORSES WITH HOCKEY NAMES

In honor of the soon-to-begin chase for the Stanley Cup, we present a rink-full of horses with hockey names.

Naming a horse after a great player is always popular, so we have 'Gretzky,' 'The Great Gretzky,' 'Captain Messier,' 'Mogilny,' 'Tikkanen,' 'Tretiak' (a 'Goalie' who carried a 'Goal Stick' to stop the 'Puck') and 'Turgeon.' (Each one was probably a 'Rink Rat.') Sometimes a great player begets a great horse. Both Turgeon and Tikkanen were European champions while Tikkanen won the 1994 Breeders' Cup Turf. (Mogilny, Tikkanen and Turgeon were all named by owner/breeder George Strawbridge Jr., a huge hockey fan and a member of the Management Corporation Board of the Buffalo Sabres.)

How to play the game? Try 'Face Off,' 'Goal to Goal,' 'Hockey Fight,' 'Slap the Puck,' 'Skate Shoot Score' and 'Wristshot.' Those strange lines and circles on the rink offer a few names, such as 'Blue Line,' 'Face Off Circle,' 'Goal Lines' and 'Red Line.' Then there's the 'Penalty Box,' where you go if the referee finds you guilty of a 'Crosscheck' or a 'Highstick.' In about two months, a new champion will be crowned. And the last memory that hockey fans will have as they look back at the rink? Why, the 'Zamboni,' of course.

RACING TO HISTORY

April 12, 1873: Fair Grounds, the nation's third-oldest racetrack, began its inaugural meet.

April 12, 1948: After winning seven consecutive races, Citation lost the Chesapeake Trial Stakes by a length to Saggy, but rebounded to post 16 consecutive victories, including the Triple Crown.

April 12, 1969: Jockey Sandra Schleiffers, one of the first female riders in America and a former member of the Sisters of St. Francis convent in Clinton, Iowa, won her first career race at Turf Paradise. Schleiffers subsquently became the first woman to be admitted to the Jockeys' Guild.

April 14, 1936: The first Maryland race result ever decided by a photo-finish camera took place at Havre de Grace in the second race, in which a 7-1 shot, Alit, was declared the winner.

April 15, 1940: With the start of the racing season at Jamaica, New York became the last major racing state to adopt electronic parimutuel wagering, thus eliminating on-track bookmaking.

April 15, 1943: With many of the country's young men joining in the war effort, women exercise riders were first employed at Pimlico Racecourse.

April 16, 1995: At age 25, Kent Desormeaux became the youngest jockey to reach the 3,000-wins mark when he rode Maisonaire to victory at Santa Anita Park.

April 18, 1970: The New York State Legislature passed a bill enabling off-track betting.

RACING ON THE AIR

April 12, Wood Memorial Stakes, Aqueduct, 4:30-6:00 p.m., ABC
April 12, Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, Keeneland, 5:00-6:00 p.m., ESPN
Arkansas Derby, Oaklawn Park
April 12, Racehorse Digest, 6:00-6:30 a.m., ESPN

Arkansas Derby, 3yo, $500,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade II, Oaklawn
A large, contentious field from all points on the racing map are expected to run. Louisiana Derby winner Crypto Star will be charging late while Pacificbounty has already won the Golden Gate Derby at Golden Gate Fields and the Grade III El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows. Others to watch are: Stop Watch, second in the Louisiana Derby; Zede, winner of the Tampa Bay Derby; the local hopes rest with Phantom on Tour and Direct Hit, first and second, respectively, in the Grade III Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn.

Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, 3yo, $700,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade II, Keeneland
Pulpit looks to prove his loss in the Florida Derby was a fluke against a small but quality field. Acceptable was second in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile but was sixth and seventh in the Fountain of Youth Stakes and Florida Derby. Jules was fourth in the Jim Beam Stakes, March 29, while King Crimson was third the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, March 16. Stolen Gold was second in last year's Hollywood Futurity but is unplaced in two starts this year.

Wood Memorial Stakes, 3yo, $500,000, 1 1-8 Miles, Grade II, Aqueduct
Captain Bodgit, who defeated formerly undefeated Pulpit in the Florida Derby, comes to New York for the Wood, where he will meet a nine rivals. Ordway stamped himself as a quality two-year-old last year with a win in the Grade I Champagne Stakes and a third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. A bad last-place finish in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream was followed by a fast-closing second in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct to Smokin Mel, a horse whose early speed will help Ordway, Accelerator and Cpatain Bodgit. Wild Tempest and Accelerator are promising colts who have been racing Florida. Others entered include the Robert Perez entry of Droopy Stone, Jack At the Bank and Hoxie as well as Twin Spires and Activist.

Black Helen Handicap, 3&up; (f&m;), $200,000, 1 1-8 Miles Turf, Grade II, Hialeah

Bold Ruler Handicap, 3&up;, $100,000, 6 Furlongs, Grade III, Aqueduct

Fifth Season Breeders' Cup Stakes, 3&up;, $75,000, 1 1-16 Miles, Oaklawn

Lady Hallie Handicap, 3&up; (f&m;), $100,000, 1 Mile, Sportsman's Park

San Pedro Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 6 1-2 Furlongs, Santa Anita

Bay Shore Stakes, 3yo, $100,000, 7 Furlongs, Grade III, Aqueduct

Commonwealth Breeders' Cup, 4&up;, $200,000, 7 Furlongs, Grade II, Keeneland

La Puente Stakes, 3yo, $75,000, 1 Mile Turf, Santa Anita

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