Clotheshorses a Breed of Their Own for Derby Day at Santa Anita

It’s not the Santa Anita of yesteryear when racing fans could spot Fred Astaire taking the Turf Club steps three at a time or be dazzled by Cary Grant’s smile. Sure, there’s the occasional star sighting (Dick Van Patten, Joe Pesci or Tim Conway) but, in spite of a pricey face lift, just like the old gray mare, Arcadia’s great race place ain’t what it used to be.

Except on Derby Day (last Saturday).

Then it’s a paradise for people watchers. Not being much of a handicapper (I just bet on gray horses), the Santa Anita Derby is my favorite because that’s when the clotheshorses strut their stuff.

“I wouldn’t think of coming to the Derby without a hat,” said Turf Club regular Joanne Keyes of Eagle Rock from beneath a cartwheel of white cabbage roses.

Jenine Sahadi accepted champagne toasts as the first woman trainer to win the Derby with Chris McCarron aboard the Deputy.

On Sunday, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley was guest of honor at an elegant brunch at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Foundation. The 50-year-old L.A.-born Smiley, whose new novel, “Horse Heaven,” is about thoroughbred racing, knows a thing or two about the ponies. She lives in Carmel Valley with her three children and 16 horses, including a 25-year-old brood mare, that will soon be in foal again.

“When she switches that tail, the stallions almost jump the stall door,” Smiley said. “She’s the Mae West of the equine world.”

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Kate Edelman Johnson, widow of former Time Warner President Deane Johnson, comes from the old school of philanthropists--the ones who move the piano themselves. To establish a memorial for her husband, who died two years ago of Alzheimer’s disease, she hosted the first in a series of intimate cabarets in her Beverly Hills home. Her goal is to raise $250,000 for a garden in his name at the Alzheimer’s wing of the Actors Fund of America’s retired and assisted living facility in Englewood, N.J.

“Deane was vitally involved in the fund,” she said, “and I replaced him as a trustee. Doing this in his memory seemed a good choice.” The sentimental evening featured Michael Feinstein, performing tunes by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Harry Warren, including Warren’s “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,” which he sang to Kate’s sister Rosemary Edelman. Warren and Johnny Mercer wrote the song for her in 1938, he noted. Their mother, Rita, looked on with misty eyes as Feinstein played a medley of music from movies produced by her late husband Louis Edelman including “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” the 1951 film based on the life of songsmith Gus Kahn.

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The extended family of the late John Wayne turned out in force for the 15th annual Odyssey Ball sponsored by the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary on April 1. This year’s benefit, which raised $700,000, honored Peter Coors, CEO of the Colorado-based brewing company, which has used “the Duke’s” legendary macho image in its ads in its promotions in recent years. Coors says he considers his family part of the Wayne clan, having made a long-term commitment to the institute’s programs at Santa Monica’s St. John’s Medical Center. And between the two dynasties, it is some tribe.

Six of the actor’s seven children were there and a whole passel of his grandchildren, along with Frankie Avalon and his wife, Kay, with Avalon’s goddaughter Gina Portman, daughter of Avalon’s co-star Annette Funicello.

Chairwomen Joyce Krasny and Ina Lewis chose a Latin theme for this year’s event, which Cynthia Gershman underwrote. The Duke, who was partial to Latino culture, would have loved it. Between courses Latin dancers burned up the dance floor with the flamenco and tango.

Patt Diroll’s column is published Tuesdays. She can be reached at pattdiroll@earthlink.net.