Happily Unbridled

Horse racing fans are in for a real treat on October 18. Oak Tree Racing Association is hosting a unique competition during the fourth race on that day which brings eight Hall-of-Fame jockeys out of retirement. These eight jockeys are competing in a $47,000 allowance race for California breds at seven furlongs. This is not an exhibition race but an official race which offers a wide variety of pari-mutuel betting opportunities.

The eight jockeys who are coming out of retirement — for one race on one day — are Jerry Bailey, Sandy Hawley, Pat Day, Jacino Vasquez, Gary Stevens, Chris McCarron, Julie Krone, and Angel Cordoro Jr. In addition to these “old-timers”, fellow Hall-of-Famers and Living Legends Ambassadors Laffit Pincay Jr, Eddie Delahoussaye, and Jorge Velasquez will be joining the competitors in the winners circle right before the fourth race. These 11 former jockeys together have earnings of almost $2 billion from 71,872 racing victories. Of course, after the fourth race, that number will have grown to 71,873 victories. All the jockeys will be in the East Paddock Gardens from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to greet their many fans and sign autographs.

Jerry Bailey drew the morning-line favorite, Dee Dee’s Legacy with Chris McCarron on the second choice favorite, Waafi.

This will be a great once in a lifetime match-up of eight of the true “living legends” in horse racing. They’ve all been retired for some time and there’s no doubt they’ve all been busy getting in shape for this event. They’re all very competitive and we can be sure they will each ride the race to get to the finish line first. This may be your last chance to wager on one of your favorite jockeys so be sure to be close to your online wagering account at race time, or at your local race track or, best of all, at Santa Anita Park in person to cheer your favorite on to victory.

I won’t be at Santa Anita but I’ll for sure be watching TVG and analyzing the race to choose my favorite horse and jockey. It’s going to be a fun day …

Go Baby Go!

Early Saturday morning, during a private session which curiously attracted virtually no media attention, retired hall-of-fame rider, Gary Stevens, breezed a horse over the latest version of the synthetic Santa Anita surface.

Santa Anita had problems with the synthetic surface installed in 2007 in compliance with a State of California mandate for all tracks in California to switch from dirt to synthetic. The first track had a multitude of drainage problems and racing days had to be canceled several times while the track was reworked to a suitable surface for racing. When the meet ended, that entire surface was removed and replaced with Pro-Ride, a synthetic surface created in Australia.

Stevens gave a ringing endorsement of this overhauled surface and even went so far as to say this is the best track he has ever been on. Coming from a jockey who has ridden over an estimated 200 to 300 tracks all around the world, this is high praise indeed.

This has to be good news, not only for the connections of Santa Anita Park who have worked so tirelessly to get this track as good as it can be, but also for the connections of all the horses from around the world who will come to the Breeders’ Cup.

Let’s hope they can keep this track surface properly maintained so that when the Breeders’ Cup comes to Santa Anita in late October, all the horses will have a quality surface upon which to race and the best horse in each race will have his or her chance to win.

Go Baby Go!