Friday, October 24, 2008
Anybody But Arnold
When the announcement came across that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to present the trophy in the winner's circle after the Breeders' Cup Classic, I was reminded of the 1981 Eclipse Awards dinner. Before the night at the Century Plaza Hotel was over, John Shapiro, owner of Laurel Race Course, would be honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit.
Lynn Stone, who was president of Churchill Downs as well as the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, was tapped to present Shapiro with his trophy. A couple of nights before the dinner, learning of this assignment, Stone looked askance at a few colleagues. "Let me get this straight," Stone said. "Laurel dropped out (of the TRA) a few months ago, and now we're giving this (blankety-blank) a trophy? And you say I'm the one who's got to give it to him?"
Laurel had indeed defected, the sponsoring TRA, Daily Racing Form and National Turf Writers really did go ahead and honor Shapiro, and Stone, acting like a man who had a gun at his head, mustered enough courage to hand over the award. But photographers on both sides of the stage were alerted, so they wouldn't miss shooting whoever threw the first punch.
When the voters ousted Gray Davis in favor of Schwarzenegger five years ago, there was hope within the industry that the long history of California governors virtually ignoring racing's needs might finally be at an end. You couldn't have booked this bet, that the new governor and the head of Santa Anita, Frank Stronach, were both from Styria, Austria. Sure, they were born 15 years apart, and had never met, but you got the feeling that Schwarzenegger was capable of doing a pretty good Frank Stronach imitation, and vice versa.
A proactive industry would have somehow seen that Stronach put on his best Sunday suit and, posthaste, wrangle an invitation to see Bulging Biceps in Sacramento. Alas, by the time Frank got to Arnold, the Indian tribes' stranglehold on casino gambling in the state was getting another gubernatorial shot in the arm. While Stronach was trying to get to first base with Schwarzenegger, the Indians were already rounding third. I asked someone with knowledge of the belated Schwarzenegger-Stronach tete-a-tete, and he said diplomatically, "It did not go well."
So it has been for a parrot's age, the California racing industry looking longingly at Sacramento and, as Marilyn Monroe said in "Some Like It Hot," winding up with "the fuzzy end of the lollypop." At the Breeders' Cup's post-position draw, I asked Barry Irwin, president of Team Valor International and in another life a journalist who covered California racing, if the last California governor to look kindly upon racing had been Ronald Reagan. "Yes, I'd say that's right," Irwin said. "Reagan was a true horseman, and if I'm not mistaken he was the head of one of the California breeders' organizations at one time." Before he got a better offer, Reagan's two terms in Sacramento ended in 1975. That's a long time for a sport to go without a friend.
At least Joan Gaines, the widow of John Gaines, the Breeders' Cup's founding father, will share winner's circle honors with Schwarzenegger after the Classic. It's a little late in the game (the last time race-track slot machines were on the ballot, the industry bailed out even before the vote) to be currying Arnold's favors. The other night, at the turf writers' dinner in Pasadena, Mike Pegram, who raced Real Quiet, stood up and tearfully talked about his late friend, the racecaller Luke Kruytbosch. Pegram loved Kruytbosch because Kruytbosch loved racing, and is it too late to announce, "Now batting for Schwarzenegger, Mike Pegram"? Winner's circle guests ought to be guys who are used to being there.
Written by Bill Christine
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