– Should Todd Pletcher break Bobby Frankel’s four-year Eclipse Award streak later this month, the veteran trainer “appears ready for an all-out blitz” to retake his title in 2005. (TU)
– Jay Cronley confronts a chronic longshot winner. “Bystanders have rights.” (ESPN)
– More trouble for the Jockeys’ Guild: The California Horse Racing Board plans to look into claims that the Jockeys’ Guild double-billed the state and a Guild charity for the same expenses (SBJ); according to a recently-filed financial report, the Guild’s revenue declined 31% from 2002 to 2003. (BH)
– Santa Anita starts drying out. (DRF)
– Send links, comments to railbird at jessicachapel dot com
Posted by JC in Miscellany on 01/12/2005 @ 10:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
“American Dream Derby,” airing on the Game Show Network, premiered on January 10 and features 12 contestants vying for a prize of $250,000 and a stable of eight Thoroughbreds. Each week, one contestant is eliminated following a match race. The final episode will air live on February 21.
Episode 1: In which introductions are made.
The show opens with shots of the contestants wandering around Santa Anita Park intercut with interview clips. Here’s a determined-looking woman named Susan telling the camera, “There’s nothing I care more about than horseracing,” and a young man named LaVar looking dazed to be at a racetrack. “I’m from the hood,” he says. There may be no horses in the hood, but there are lots of horses in Delaware, where another contender named David grew up learning about racing from his handicapper/horse owner father. David is cocky — he’s not the only one to say he’s confident, but he is the only to say, “I feel I’m going to win.” I have a feeling he’s not long for this game.
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Posted by JC in Media/TV/Film on 01/11/2005 @ 9:05 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
For some fans, I suppose. “The anticipation for this year’s Eclipse Awards is the highest in years,” writes Ralph Siraco. “What makes this year’s racing Oscars so intriguing is the race for the gold trophy: Horse of the Year, 2004…. Although there have been many anticlimactic years in the past 33 announcements for the Horse of the Year Eclipse trophy, that will be far from the case this year.” Yes, which will win? The three-year-old with a whirlwind career who triumphed over other three-year-olds in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, or the four-year-old who ran four freakishly fast races? This may be the least compelling HOTY contest ever. (Las Vegas Sun)
Posted by JC in HOF/Awards on 01/11/2005 @ 9:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
