Noted: January 5
– Funny Cide makes his comeback this weekend. The six-year-old veteran will start in the Mr. Prospector Handicap at Gulfstream on Saturday. “I wanted to get a competitive race under his belt,” said trainer Barcley Tagg, “and whether he wins or loses, it shouldn’t exhaust him.”
– After a two month vacation, Lost in the Fog is back in trainer Greg Gilchrist’s barn. Gilchrist plans to train Lost in the Fog lightly this month and is considering the April 22 Golden Gate Fields Breeders’ Cup Sprint for the colt’s 2006 debut. Unlike last year, Lost in the Fog won’t be criss-crossing the country for races this year. “I don’t think he is going to take that many trips,” Gilchrist said. “If he stays sprinting, we will try to stay in California.”
– Jennie Rees has a few wishes for the new year: A Kentucky Derby winner that races past June, 10-cent superfectas at Churchill, and one racing network that allows betting on all racetracks. The last is my most fervent wish for 2006 — living in TVG land, with no hope of subscribing to HRTV, I am without both Santa Anita and Gulfstream right now, which does not make me a very happy racing fan.
– “Horse racing — having let television slip by — cannot afford to give up print media without a fight,” writes Stan Bergstein in his latest DRF column. Sorry, Mr. Bergstein, print media has already been lost (and not just to racing). The real situation the sport is facing that’s analogous to TV is the Internet, and racing is letting online opportunities slip by with barely a murmur.
