The Gallop Out

Click the link below for the rest of the picture.

I'm not one for anthropomorphizing animals, but you've got to see the rest of this promotional artwork for the Mike Smith jersey signing tomorrow at Del Mar.

I donated the following four items to the Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue's silent auction benefit  this Saturday, Aug. 7, at Del Mar. Their tables will be located under the Peb mural in the clubhouse atrium, so come on by and support them if you can!

E Z Warrior - 9" x 12" graphite drawing on construction paper, unframed.

The Tin Man - 8.75" x 11.75" graphite drawing on construction paper, unframed.

Zenyatta Abstract #1 - 18" x 24" acrylic painting on canvas board, unframed.

Zenyatta Abstract #2 - 18" x 24" acrylic painting on canvas board, unframed.

I love finding horse racing in popular culture, however short or small, and here's the latest discovery. I've seen this commercial too many times to count as I watched the X Games this past week. BMX rider Scotty Cranmer plugs Axe deodorant and describes his superstitious rituals.

Who would play Frank Stronach in a movie? It has to be Malcolm McDowell, a character actor who happens to often play the bad guy. See pictures here and here. This one is the best. Thanks to my friend Vicki Vinson for pointing it out.

If you're a member of social networking site Facebook, you've probably noticed some pages dedicated to famous racehorses, past and present. This is a great new way to try to get people interested in horse racing again! Unfortunately, many are lacking. According to Facebook rules, one must be an official representative to create a page. Some people ignored the rules and took it upon themselves to set up horse pages with unoriginal info and stolen pictures, which they then abandoned after a few posts. Some are written as if a 13-year-old girl is texting her friends.

I wanted to improve horse pages and help promote horse racing, so I got permission to make pages for two Jerry Hollendorfer-trained stars, Blind Luck and Tuscan Evening. I'm providing my photos and videos, and fans have added some of their own content. Assistant trainer Dan Ward helps me by providing workout and race information. Counted among the official fans so far are Tuscan Evening's owner and his family, and Blind Luck's breeder and his family. Hollendorfer and jockey Rafael Bejarano have also checked the pages. I dedicate as much time as I can to maintaining the content, and wish I lived closer to the track so I could do even more!

If you're a Facebook member and a fan of Blind Luck and/or Tuscan Evening, be sure to click the "Like" button at the top of the pages and you'll get news, photos, videos, etc. in your news feed. Here are the links:

Blind Luck

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blind-Luck/116750081697239

Tuscan Evening

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tuscan-Evening/123701767643682

Other horse pages I recommend:

The Usual Q.T.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-USUAL-Q-T/239572723640

Unusual Heat

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1346796949&v=info

Uptowncharlybrown

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1346796949&v=info

Sidney's Candy

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sidneys-Candy/109973885698627

Lava Man

http://www.facebook.com/pages/LAVA-MAN/120024411344140

If you know of any other good horse pages on Facebook, please share!

I've been helping out local Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue for a few months, and yesterday I took photos of three of their horses currently up for adoption. They are Warrens Justastorm, Lulu's Nick, and Ashland Rose. Check them out and spread the word!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4632431&op=1&o=all&view=all&subj=54037057570&aid=-1&oid=54037057570&id=678702425

Here's a rough summary that I typed as I listened to the June 22, 2010 California Horse Racing Board meeting as they discussed the hot topics of Oak Tree and Magna:

MID PLANS ~11:39 a.m.

Frank Stronach - Certain statements at the previous CHRB meeting were incorrect and inappropriate. I never threatened to close SA. I love horse racing, etc. SA & GG will remain racing entities. Misconception and slandering we’ve had to endure. “If you don’t know you’ve got a problem, you’ve really got a problem.” “Free enterprise - that’s why everybody wants to come to America.”

Discussed plan with CARF yesterday to make fairs viable again.

Looking at competitors - lotteries went up as racing went down. “We cannot ignore the public...we have to cater to the public.” Make jackpot bets available. “Laws are made by people, and changed by people.”

[That’s your specific plans? - Keith Brackpool (?) ]

Stronach - We won’t solve everything here today.” We need to consult everybody (owners, breeders, etc.), racing will quickly disappear.

[Do you have any specific plans to change SA or GG? - Brackpool]

Stronach - “We have to sit down and come to a consensus.” [getting combatative] It seems you get great pleasure out of laughing at other people here.

[Brackpool - We have to exist within the laws until the laws are changed.”]

Stronach - I have some ideas, I brought forward some ideas, but we have to sit down.

[David Israel - Is it not true that SA and GG were profitable?]

Stronach - Luckily I am the controlling shareholder...but I must do what makes sense.

[Israel - How do you reconcile free enterprise with the bankruptcy laws that allowed MEC to become MID?]

[Israel - Your Gulfstream and Palm Meadows investments never came back.]

Stronach - Palm Meadows was supposed to be an example. Here at SA it’s a shame the way people live.

[Israel - You said you’d spend $18 million to improve SA. How are you not responsible for improving that?]

Stronach - We asked for help to build new dorms, but no one (CHRB, et al) wanted to support us. We applied the money at Gulfstream.

[Israel - Do you want govt. involved or not? Now I’m really confused.]

[Bo Derek - What did you want the CHRB to do?]

Stronach - You understand free enterprise or you don’t.

[How did that answer her question? Derek - It didn’t. Brackpool - In a letter to Arcadia you wrote that you had no intention of improving barns. Nowhere in statement did it ask for CHRB or anybody else to help.]

Stronach - The COO wrote that letter. I came out here and fulfilled the promise to horsemen with the barns.

[So you’re saying that you did improve the barns?]

Stronach - In 2007 we spent money on the new track. You should say you want to sit down and come up with plan to improve racing.

[Jesse Choper - Horses are leaving for higher purses. When you say everyone should sit down together...the chairman created a committee. We need legislative support. It’s a very difficult task. We’ve tried new things, but they were rejected by legislature. Realistically, is there anything this board can do to make a dent?]

Stronach - Free enterprise, but then there are realities like laws. It’ll take time. We as an industry must come together.

[Brackpool - Choper made articulate statement. We’ve always believed legislative change is necessary. There are certain things this board can do, and there are certain things this board can’t do. I think you and I think the same, but is there an idea we can get behind to make a bill.]

Stronach - I said before...unless we sit down, and SA and GG will remain racing entities....

[Brackpool - At present you don’t have a specific idea, but you think we all need to sit down and discuss. .... And those ideas are?]

Stronach - Jackpot payout bet. Quadruple quadfecta. And open to get as many customers as we can.

[Derek - I’m very concerned for CA racing. I’m very concerned that you drove away Breeders’ Cup.]

Stronach - That’s a completely wrong statement.

[Brackpool - BC said the uncertain situation did it.]

Stronach - Oak Tree lease didn’t make sense. We didn’t drive BC away. We wanted it.

[Israel - The synthetic mandate was done very badly. I’d like to see slots at tracks.I don’t see a racetrack as a store. To me it’s a public trust. The track is like a sports league, the owners/trainers are the teams. The leagues all operate as not for profits. The teams in league work together. Sometime’s you’ve got to do what’s good for the whole.]

Stronach - You’re not asking a question, you’re making a statement. Everybody had a chance to buy SA, nobody came forward, nobody came close.

[John Harris - You’ve always spoke of deregulation, but it’s a lot more complicated in racing because of the state legislature. I agree we need to work together, but we need concrete things to work on. I don’t think deregulation will get us anywhere.]

Stronach - That’s your opinion. We need a long run concept. The fairgrounds are important, we’d love to work together with them.

[Brackpool - You delivered a manifesto about dereg in June 2007. Have you ever introduced legislation? If not, why not?]

Stronach - Tracks need owners. It’s deteriorating. I think with owners, breeders, fairgrounds we can come up with something.

[Jerry Moss - I know how much you love racing. I also know you’re close to our governor. We all know there are laws we have to deal with. Will take a long time. Don’t you believe having BC at SA for five years is beneficial to CA industry?]

Stronach - But you won’t give us the dates to run the BC.

[Moss - You didn’t request dates.]

[Choper? - We said Oak Tree is important at last meeting.]

Stronach - We put in $130 million, Oak Tree put in $5 million last few years.

[Harris - You’ll be here the next few days?]

Stronach - I’m here tomorrow morning meeting with horsemen.

I’m very resentful when you trash my reputation.

[Brackpool - Who’s trashing your rep? It’s all on the transcript. Your July 1st deadline for a plan needs some details/specifics on your plan.]

Stronach - We do not want to dominate racing. We want to be part of it. ... We’ve got be sure the backstretch in included.

PUBLIC SPEAKERS

Terry Bingham (sp?) - native Californian, involved with Arabian racing. The middle eastern royal family is sponsoring races. We need the tracks to support this. But there’s no Arabian racing in CA. Here’s your idea to save racing. The betting from Arabian races will eventually support TB racing.

Mace Siegel - I think this is the greatest CHRB board ever. Fifteen years ago myself and others formed the TOC to stand up to CHRB. We thought tracks were the enemies, but that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to try to bring some reason. My point is that I once considered going to Canada. I had no business going somewhere where I didn’t know the laws. Here we have Stronach coming in, an immigrant, trying to dictate our laws. I think we need to definitely run Oak Tree at SA and then come to a solution afterwards.

Stronach - I think Mace is wrong when he says I try to dictate.

Michael Wellman - I’m heartbroken with the comments of Stronach. Clearly we must seek someone to control MID’s dates and get them out. Allow someone else with different ideas to take the chance.

Jerry Jamgotchian - Reality is that the man controls CA racing. I think whatever his plan is, it will eventually be adopted. It will become your [CHRB’s] plan. You made some bad plans. Israel made a Shapiro-esque statement about Arcadia using eminent domain to take over SA. This board opposed Bay Meadows slots...

[Moss - I think you’re wrong. I didn’t say that. Brackpool - [to Jamgotchian] Your time’s up.]

Jamgotchian - CHRB needs to listen to Stronach

John Buccalo from Barona Casino - I think we need Oak Tree at Santa Anita. We need to fill empty seats.

OAK TREE

Sherwood Chillingworth - Oak Tree was successful 41 years. Thought he had lease in April, would be final in June, lease negated in May. We’d rather be at SA, but probably going to Hollywood. Arcadia and SA employees will be hurt by this. We don’t understand the economics. Over last years, we’ve given them $50 million.

Dennis Mills - We couldn’t meet the June 4 deadline Oak Tree set.

Stronach - our board concluded that it doesn’t make economic sense.

[But does it make sense to have no meeting at all?]

Stronach - No it doesn’t, but we must get a uniform plan.

Brackpool - Mills, you couldn’t make the deadline of June 4 because you were traveling, but Stronach said a decision had been reached before that.

Brackpool - Harris asked you if it’s better for you to have no tenant in that time unless the board changes things.

Stronach - We’d prefer racing there, but in the long run, the present arrangement isn’t good for our plans. It’s up to you.

Brackpool - So you believe it’s better to have no racing there instead of having this year and then coming up with new terms? We need to sit down and need new framework for CA racing in long run.

Brackpool - You had a legal right to cancel the lease. We’re trying to clarify that you said you’ll have no tenant.

Brackpool - let’s hear Chillingsworth’s reaction.

Chillingworth - If Stronach’s saying he’ll have no tenant, I need a formal statement and written form.

Stronach - Legal department, I’d be happy to send you written statement.

Harris - I don’t understand the short term argument. Need new plan.

Stronach - But it’s your decision.

Brackpool - Don’t say it’s our decision. The dates belong to Oak Tree. I think you

should take a deep breath and reconsider short term plan.

Siegel - This argument is a case of non-communication.

Stronach - I would commit to have Oak Tree this year, but then we’d have it no more.

Siegel - This has become a silly argument, grown men going on emotion alone.

Brackpool - If Stronach says a one-year agreement is possible, is it possible for you Chillingworth?

Chillingworth - We’ve previously said we’d either have it all the way through our lease or not at all, but may reconsider.

Jamgotchian - Stronach just outsmarted the whole board. He’ll get $5 million this year and look like the good guy. I think it’s best to let him race with the dates the state gives him.

...

Moss to Stronach - What are your feelings about changing the racetrack?

Stronach - I’ve always said I don’t think synthetics will work. Majority of owners want change. I feel confident we have a surface. Stuff at his equestrian center surface in Austria, also in Spain. We’ll put in a test track very quickly. On Palm Meadows training track by December. Test it for a few months. Right after 2011 Santa Anita meeting. It is pipes, filter, silica sand.

...

Jack Robbins of Oak Tree - I hope the track works OK. [To Stronach] I can’t see you giving up the $3 million each year. ...We will have a one-year lease.

Chillingworth - This is for one year only. We want to thank the people from Hollywood and Del Mar.

Brackpool - Maybe this is a new opportunity to start working together. We have a short-term resolution.

CLOSED SESSION - 1:42 p.m.

Jockey Jesus Velasquez sports the purple and gold silks of owner/trainer Jack Van Berg on Warrens Flyin High before race 7 at Hollywood Park, May 29, 2010.

     Good luck to the Los Angeles Lakers tonight as they face the hated Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals. The game starts at 6 p.m. on ABC. The Lakers - Celtics rivalry is possibly the best rivalry in all of sports, and as a lifelong Lakers fan I would want nothing more than to beat those evil seven-foot leprechauns.

     I couldn't help but take this photo of the Lakers-colored silks when I first saw them. Many fans at the track that day wore Lakers paraphernalia as their team was going to play the Phoenix Suns later on to clinch the Western Division title. Literally across the parking lot from Hollywood Park in Inglewood is The Forum, the former home of the Lakers and such stars as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Ironically, current Celtics star Paul Pierce grew up as a Lakers fan in the city.

Azeri, my first favorite racehorse and the one who got me into horse racing, has been elected to the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. She deserves it!

DRF story: http://drf.com/news/article/113353.html 

It looks like typical Disney, and seems to be 75% about the humans if you go by the trailer, but it should at least have quality acting and production value.