Newsman presses his luck, wins

When you’re hot you’re hot, as Jerry Clark, executive director of the Southern California Sports Broadcasters, discovered Wednesday at the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

It was the group’s annual “Day at the Races” and Clark did well playing hunch bets. Two by the longtime Los Angeles newspaper man were Stormin Story and Your Quote. A third was El Manuel in the feature race -- Clark is a graduate of Los Angeles’ Manual Arts High, so El Manuel was close enough.

His horses paid $7, $6.80 and $7.40.

Trivia time

What two former Los Angeles football coaches squared off in a college game last Saturday?

Not foolproof

Hunch bets sometimes work, and sometimes they don’t.

Jack Disney, who works in Santa Anita’s publicity department, recalls when he was writing for the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner and made special note of the seventh race at Hollywood Park on 7/7/77. The horse, Kettle Miss, ridden by Sandy Hawley, went off at, of all things, 7-2.

Unfortunately, she finished seventh.

Sour note

Horse racing bugler Jay Cohen says he recently liked the No. 5 horse in a fifth race, and of course the horse finished fifth. “The worse part was he finished eighth in the replay,” Cohen said.

More horse humor

Heard the one about the horse player whose wife found a piece of paper in his pants pocket with the name Laura Lou on it?

“Laura Lou was one of the horses I bet on,” the horse player said, and his wife accepted his explanation.

But three days later she smacked her husband upside the head, and he said, “What was that for?”

She replied, “Your horse called.”

Ouch

Monday’s Morning Briefing touched on how the sports scene in Boston is currently a lot better than the one in Los Angeles.

That prompted an e-mail from Jerry Sondler, a former L.A. resident who now lives in Rhode Island: “There is only one item of unfinished business for Red Sox Nation: 2007 World Series co-MVPs: J.D. Drew and Eric Gagne.”

Hot flashes

From Jay Leno, on the heat wave back East: “People are sweating like Joe Torre every time the phone rings.”

David Letterman had a Top Ten list this week titled “Answers to the Question: How Hot Is It?” And No. 10 was: “It’s so hot, George Steinbrenner just fired Al Roker.”

Attention, George

From Rob Dibble on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period”: “They think it’s Joe Torre’s fault that they haven’t won a championship. They don’t give credit to Cleveland or Boston or the White Sox. You’ve got to give some credit to some of the other people. If you let Joe Torre go, you’re stupid.”

Strange comparison

Of Stanford’s stunning victory over USC, Rob Oller of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch wrote: “Major upsets have a way of changing minds. Stanford still stinks, but suddenly [Coach Jim] Harbaugh is being hailed as the next Charlie Weis -- pre-2007, of course.”

Trivia answer

Stan Brock, the Avengers’ first coach, guided his Army team to a 20-17 overtime victory over Tulane and former UCLA coach Bob Toledo.

And finally

An item in Thursday’s Morning Briefing about the Eagles and lead singer Glenn Frey probably entertaining at halftime of the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 at Glendale, Ariz., prompted this e-mail from Dan Daly: “Maybe the Tennessee Titans will make it to the Super Bowl, and then we’ll have LenDale in Glendale.”

larry.stewart@latimes.com