While most people were prepping their grills for the July 4th barbecue, a pair of horseplayers, noted author Mark Cramer and his buddy, Alan Kennedy, an East Asian art expert, were beginning Stage 2 of their charitable odyssey in, appropriately enough, France, author of the Statue of Liberty.
Their travels puts a new spin on the Tour de France, so to speak, the 1,000 kilometer “Racetrack Tour de France’” to benefit retired Thoroughbreds. By the time all stages are complete, the two Americans will have visited 13 racetracks. If you wish to learn more about the itinerary, do so by visiting http://ridingfortheirlives.blogspot.com/.
In his recent e-mail, Cramer, whose “Tropical Downs” is the only known work of fiction to incorporate real life handicapping within a crime novel, was lamenting the fact that American racetracks are so far from each other.
I didn’t have to remind him that, given present trends, they’re likely to get farther apart in the future. He did come up with one plausible link, beginning at Fort Erie in Canada, crossing the border down into a stopover at Finger Lakes en route to Saratoga. I’m sure Cramer would plan it as a summer sojourn.
Every place seems to be “the Saratoga of…” somewhere else where people like to congregate. And, although, I’ve never been, everyone familiar with Chantilly calls in “the Saratoga of France.” And aesthetics notwithstanding, why not? The first race at Chantilly was run in 1834. Chantilly is as much about history and horses as is the Spa.
On the backside of the race course are the “Great Stables,” erected in the early 1700s. This beautiful horse stable, replete with Versailles styled gardens, serves as the Living Museum of the Horse. Of course, we’re referencing Ver-sigh here, not Ver-sales.
“Tropical Downs,” meanwhile, is the first book I’m touting as a fun summer read. Also, please find time, especially you Feature Race Analysis fans, to wager one betting unit on the future of some thoroughbred that gave all it had on the racetrack. Please help the organization of your choice help all those that provided a lifetime of entertainment.
TWO MORE GOOD MEN, and a GOOD READ
If you’re unfamiliar with the history of the impact Cajun race riders have had on the sport of thoroughbred racing. If that’s the case, I have two words for you: Calvin Borel. And how about two more: Robby Albarado.
Of course, Borel and Albarado are closely associated with Rachel Alexandra and Curlin, respectively. Well, before them on the national stage came, among others, Randy Romero, slated to be inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame next month. The Romero family, in fact, was the template for the popular movie “Casey’s Shadow.”
Romero was, of course, the regular rider of Personal Ensign, the great undefeated Hall of Fame race mare whose perfect record recently was eclipsed by this generation’s great race mare, Zenyatta.
“Randy Romero's Remarkable Ride,” penned by the prolific Eclipse Award-winning author Bill Heller, is the biography of the jockey who not only survived countless injuries but also a freak “sweat box” fire that nearly killed him.
Romero’s career and life is a true profile in courage. The record books will show that in addition to guiding Personal Ensign’s career to a remarkable conclusion--defeating Derby-winning filly Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff over a sloppy Churchill track that she wasn’t handling--he won 25 riding titles at 10 different venues.
Only recently did Romero give up galloping horses for trainer Dallas Stewart. It seems that restraining highly strung eleven-hundred pound animals requires a little extra strength when your attached to a dialysis machine three times a week, a remarkable ride indeed. The Romero-Heller collaboration is available at Pelican Publishing Company.
NAME HORSE, WIN MONEY
You might have seen the Empire City Gaming at Yonkers Raceway commercials with the talking horse chatting up the customers in the dining room. “Hey, how ’ya doin?” The problem is that if your winning suggestion is chosen and the spot turns out to be the Geico Gecko of horse racing commercials, $1,500 doesn’t sound like enough cash.
However, if you have a fertile imagination and need some cash for a Saratoga sojourn, log onto http://www.EmpireCityGaming.com. Players can view the series of commercials on line. The promotion runs through July 31. If you were thinking possibly of a man’s name, forget something like Mr. Ed. Anything like that could never work.
LOTS OF WINNERS ON THE WORK TAB
We’ve always subscribed to that theory. When we were at Newsday and the NYRA compiled the work tab using Daily Racing Form personnel, we studied the list that hung on the wall in the New York press boxes.
The work tabs contained all the splits so that, after a while, the study provided some pattern matches if you were paying attention. Like we said, there are lots of winners on the work tab.
The best workout service we have ever come across was anything produced by an ace West Coast-based clocker, Bruno Dejulio. I’ve been a fan for some time but only met him for the first time at this year’s Belmont. De Julio has a great eye with an opinion to match.
And now he has an interesting product. His new Workout History Report features a user-friendly format with a complete workout history within the last 60 days. Each entrant on a day‘s card is sorted by race number and post position.
Obviously, workout information is significant with respect to first, second or third-time starters and layoff horses. Key works are highlighted. Dejulio subscribes to the philosophy that less than 20 percent of the workouts on any given day are worthwhile noting.
Rather than “rating” the works, Dejulio supplies text describing each work so that players can evaluate for themselves the strengths or weaknesses of a particular move and how certain trainers bring horses up to a peak effort. For more information, e-mail Dejulio at .
