Triumphant Flight won his 3-year-old debut in the $70,000 San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. The California-bred colt (Chullo x Jetinwith Kennedy) is a half-brother to stakes winner Jet West. Tyler Seltzer is the winning owner, Eric Kruljac the winning trainer, Victor Espinoza the winning jockey, and Applebite Farms the winning breeder.

Triumphant Flight was purchased for $36,000 at the October 2007 Barretts California Yearling sale  under the advice of bloodstock agent Larry Zap (see video below). The dark bay/brown colt won the 2008 $130,000 Barretts Juvenile right here at Fairplex Park and then ran second in the $125,000 California Cup Juvenile at the Oak Tree meet.

-Marcie Heacox

A new satellite wagering facility is now open Wednesdays through Sundays at Barretts on the Fairplex Park grounds. It replaces the wagering area in the grandstand clubhouse.

Tracks across North America are on the betting menu.

Seating is available on an outdoor patio and indoors in the restaurant area or in the sales arena. The latter includes free electrical hookups and internet access.

The renovated food service includes drinks, salads, appetizers, sandwiches and desserts.

Parking and admission is free. Enter at Gate 12 on White Ave., south of Arrow Hwy.

Special dates:

• April 4: Santa Anita Derby Day, open 9 a.m.
• May 2: Kentucky Derby Day, open 7:30 a.m.
• May 16: Preakness Stakes Day, open 7:30 a.m.
• June 6: Belmont Stakes Day, open 7:30 a.m.

CLICK HERE for photos of a majority of the horses from the 2009 Barretts March Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. (two pages)

The Barretts March Sale of Selected Two-Year-Olds in Training was completed Tuesday. It was the first sale done in the renovated facility, which includes artificial grass in the outdoor ring (pictured), darker wood around the sales ring, and state of the art seating with internet access (pictured).

As expected, the sale’s numbers were down from last year, a product of the severely weakened economy. The sale topper was hip 121 (pictured), a bay colt by Tiznow out of the mare Hurricane Judy. He was calm as could be in the ring as the highest bid settled at $650,000. The winning bidder was Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables, who bid by phone through Barretts Vice President of Sales, Kim Lloyd (pictured). Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables, Inc. was the consignor. Stonestreet Stables was also the purchaser of last year’s sale topper, an $800,000 Silver Deputy filly.

Complete Sale Results

-Marcie Heacox

I have held “reality” shows in low esteem for a while now. Unfortunately, the first two episodes of Animal Planet’s “Jockeys” series (which I got a sneak peek at online) did nothing to change that.

The six-week series premieres this Friday, February 6, at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. The confirmed stars of the show are Jon Court, Aaron Gryder, Mike Smith, Alex Solis, Kayla Stra, Chantal Sutherland and Joe Talamo.

The lead-in to “Jockeys” is an episode of “Untamed and Uncut” about racetrack mishaps. Great.

I wonder if PETA is foaming at the mouth for this show to air and show people the “reality of horse racing.” Already there are calls to ban the show and boycott Animal Planet. If you went only by the commercials and/or first episode, most races have falls. If that were the reality of racing, I would not be writing this blog and would greatly dislike the sport. The reality is that falls are rare and an exception to the norm.

For your viewing information, I spotted these faults in Episode One:

• In the Ralph M. Hinds at Fairplex, they cut to reaction shots of people…at Santa Anita.
• There are shots of multiple races mixed into what is supposed to be the Ralph M. Hinds, and the shots from the Hinds are all mixed up and not chronological.
• In the race voice-over, it is Freesgood pushing Booyah, not Sensational Score.
• The horse Matto Mondo’s name is misspelled Motto Mondo on the graphic.
• The loose horse they show being caught at Santa Anita opening day is not the horse who fell (it was a turf race). Easy on the Eye was caught on the turf course.
• In The Morvich At Santa Anita, they cut to a reaction shot…at Fairplex.
• There is a staged race mixed into the title shots and other places. It seems the camera angles are from a truck driving alongside the field of horses, and that would never happen in a real race. Also…Gryder and Talamo throwin’ down on the track near the end - totally staged.

The mixed up time/location shots and staged racing shots continue in episode two. Hystericalady’s name is repeatedly misspelled (Hysterical Lady).

It appears that episode three will be on another rosy topic - eating disorders.

In an NTRA teleconference, jockey Aaron Gryder says, “Well, the one thing I would say to anybody that feels that way is make sure you watch all 12 episodes and not just, you know the commercial that you’ve seen…it’s very well balanced as far as not being just about spills.”

We’ll see. And I hope so.

To see the first two full episodes, go to this special link and go to “Footage.”

The official website for “Jockeys” is http://animal.discovery.com/tv/jockeys/.

- Marcie Heacox

The Sunshine Millions, one of the first major racing events of the year, is held jointly at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. and Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Each track runs four races that pit the best California-breds and Florida-breds against each other.

Ironically, the event coincides with Southern California’s wet season and is often an overcast day. There is a chance the seventh annual Millions will not contain sunshine. Weather.com predicts a 10 percent chance of precipitation and partly cloudy afternoon skies. Gulfstream’s outlook is a bit rosier.

A storyline involving Fairplex Park and Barretts Equine Ltd. is that of All Saint (pictured left), who runs in the Sunshine Millions Dash at Gulfstream. The gray or roan colt was bought by owner Eddie Gamez of Pomona for only $2,700 at the 2007 Barretts October mixed sale. He has now earned $122,400, easily paying for his purchase price and upkeep. He is coming off a victory in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, which was his trainer Triphon Dahl’s first stakes win. All Saint regularly trains on the dirt surface at Fairplex Park. For more of All Saint’s story, click here.

Todd Pletcher-trainee Icy Atlantic (pictured right) has run third and second in the Sunshine Millions Turf and is taking another stab at it. He was best known as champion English Channel’s “rabbit” before successfully branching out on his own. He is an 8-year-old un-gelded horse, an extreme rarity, especially for a stakes-level runner.

The Sunshine Millions Sprint boasts two grade I winners - In Summation and Georgie Boy. Georgie Boy comes into the race off of a third-place finish in the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes (Gr. I), and In Summation returns from a fourth-place run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Gr. I).

California-breds are poorly represented in the Florida races, with only seven horses total in four races. Trainer Barry Abrams has the lone Cal-bred in the Filly and Mare Turf, Bel Air Sizzle, and one of two Cal-breds in the Classic, Medzendeekron. Doug O’Neill-trainee and grade I winner Mistical Plan is one of two Cal-breds entered in the Filly and Mare Sprint. She won the 2007 Sunshine Millions Oaks.

The California-breds are once again the underdogs. There are less foals born each year in California than in Florida and less Cal-breds entered in the Sunshine Millions. It is also common for Florida-breds to be based in California, but not vice versa. Several Florida-breds who have always been based in California have good chances of winning their respective races, including Backbackbackgone in the Dash, Wild Promises in the Filly and Mare Turf, Dearest Trickski in the Filly and Mare Sprint, and Emmy Darling in the Oaks.

Past Performances:

Dash (pre-entries) (Gulfstream - 1:07 p.m.*)
Dash (nominations PP’s)
Filly & Mare Turf (Gulfstream - 1:36 p.m.)
Filly & Mare Sprint (Gulfstream - 2:05 p.m.)
Turf (Santa Anita - 2:23 p.m.)
Classic (Gulfstream - 2:45 p.m.)
Oaks (Santa Anita - 2:54 p.m.)
Sprint (Santa Anita - 3:26 p.m.)
Distaff (Santa Anita - 3:57 p.m.)

*All times Pacific Standard Time

-Marcie Heacox

A Dec. 22 Blood-Horse story by Deirdre B. Biles details L.A.C.F.A. president and CEO Jim Henwood’s vision for Fairplex in California racing.

With the impending demolition of Hollywood Park, a large void will be left in the racing calendar and many horsemen will be left without a place to train their horses. Fairplex Park officials want to expand the main track and add at least one turf course, among other upgrades.

From Biles’ story:

“Henwood would like to see Fairplex Park turned into an operation that would be a cross between Keeneland and the Palm Meadows training center in Florida.”

Some quotes from Henwood:

“We need to make certain that our racing programs (in California) are best suited to serve those two preeminent racing organizations [Santa Anita and Del Mar]. What we want to be is a great partner with them.”

“But the idea would be to create a facility that wouldn’t fall to land development interests. Its value would be based on its use for Thoroughbred racing and its importance for the economy in the state of California.”

Click here to read the full story.

Commercials for Animal Planet’s “Jockeys” reality series have started appearing on the channel. I saw two during “Whale Wars.” They both have rock music and a unique angle of horses running at the camera. One has a quote indicating that a jockey would break every bone in their body to win a race. Both commercials list the month of February as the premiere date.

A December 4 New York Post story says that Animal Planet describes the show as “Million-dollar purses, model girlfriends and trips to the mall to shop in the boys’ department - Animal Planet brings viewers into a world . . . ruled by short men with silk shirts.”

“Jockeys” is produced by Go Go Luckey Productions, who also produced “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.” The popular MTV show featured well-off high school kids fighting over boyfriends and shopping.

Okay, so I’m not a fan of Go Go Luckey’s claim to fame, but there is no doubting the film quality and their ability to produce popular shows that spawn several follow-ups and celebrities from average people.

The series began filming on the penultimate day of racing at Fairplex Park and continued through the end of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet. The crew of about 10 people, including a producer and cameramen, followed the jockeys around the track from early morning to afternoon. I saw one cameraman riding along in the ambulance that trails every field during the races.

Track patrons were notified by signs outside the Santa Anita admission gates that by entering the premises, they consented to any use of their image in the filming of the show.

When filming began at Fairplex, I was shown a card with the jockeys they were following - Jon Court, Garrett Gomez, Aaron Gryder, Mike Smith, Alex Solis, Chantal Sutherland, and Joe Talamo. Sutherland, the only female jockey featured, likely only left her home base of Woodbine so that she could be a part of the filming.

According to an Oct. 23 Los Angeles Times story, there are only six jockeys on the show. An Oct. 23 story from the Sports Business Journal says there are eight jockeys, including Brandon Meier, but leaving out Gomez.

Successful reality shows include extensive, creative cutting and editing to render an interesting story from something that in real life and real time would likely not be very interesting.

My first feeling about the “Jockeys” show is that it will be great publicity for the sport of horse racing. I am excited to see who and what they include, as many of the sights and sounds will be all too familiar to Southern California race-goers and industry insiders.

I also tense up at the thought that the edited image of the jockeys and horse racing may be an inaccurate portrayal, overdramatized and single-minded.

Ultimately, I am hopeful that professional athletes will provide for a better show than professional drama queens.

-Marcie Heacox

Now that the 2008 Fairplex Park racing meet has ended, I look back at some of the “little things” that made it fun.

Between races there was always some form of entertainment. A live band played near the top of the stretch on weekends. The always-popular bugler Jay Cohen wandered the stands between races, telling jokes and playing requested songs with his horn. The most popular is “Happy Birthday”, by far. A few times he played the Tequila song, and at the end a whole section of the crowd would scream, you guessed it, “Tequila!” Other musical entertainment included a wandering group of soul singers.

Throughout most of the meet a grandstand entertainer imitated people as they walked by, following closely behind them, and then pretended to look elsewhere when they noticed. Perhaps the most laugh-inducing joke was when he grabbed unsuspecting spouses’ or dates’ hands, pretending to be their significant other. When they realized who was holding their hand, the reactions ranged from a laugh to sheer shock. His second act was covering himself in a black blanket with outstretched arms, seemingly an inanimate object. He would then tap passersby on the shoulder as they walked by, with few people realizing that it was the black object. This blogger fell prey to this trick.

Sometimes just a change in the racing itself could add fun to the day. Nothing did this more than the sprinting “longears” - the mules. Sometimes “stubborn as a mule in the paddock,” their short sprinting speed could surprise someone who had never seen or heard of racing mules, and their jockeys were happy to pose for the camera. The first year of wiener dog racing at Fairplex Park dramatically changed the racing from equine to canine, and brought more laughs than anything! See this earlier blog entry for more on their antics.

Always fan favorites were the Budweiser Clydesdales. Their peppy theme song “Here Comes the King” started over the grandstand loudspeakers, and everyone knew who was coming. The jingle bell tune of their showy harnesses also signaled their arrival. Crowds gave them a rousing cheer when the 8-horse hitch did its intricate turns on the 75-foot-wide stretch. The Dalmatian atop the wagon seemed to the horses on with a bark heard throughout the grandstand.

Other miscellany also had a positive impact on the atmosphere. After races, some outriders brought their friendly ponies up to the rail for people to pet. This was always a hit with young children. One day the message on the infield tote board read, “Will you marry me Lynda?” Multiple voices in the crowd screamed, “Say ‘yes’ Lynda!”On closing weekend there were T-shirt shooters like one would see at a baseball game.

The screams coming from the carnival rides in the distance, large stuffed animals being toted around, a variety of delectable and/or strange foods, and even the Pace Pals cartoon handicapping symbols in the program all helped bring horse racing to the lighter side at the 2008 Fairplex Park meet.

-Marcie Heacox