Racing! Trevor Denman to be honored at the longest lunch in broadcasting

Hello, my name is John Cherwa, welcome back to our horse racing newsletter and let’s get caught up on bits and pieces.

While we were away, here’s what happened.

Let’s start with veteran horse-racing announcer Trevor Denman being named to the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Also being inducted is longtime Lakers analyst Stu Lantz, who is more known for his signature phrase, “That’s right, Chick.” (If I have to explain it, you won’t care anyway.)

Denman, hating the 210 Freeway as much as the rest of us, works only the two Del Mar meetings, the real summer meet and the forced fall meeting.

Now I, and some of my colleagues at The Times, had the good fortune to attend the annual banquet a couple of years ago. My former boss, Bill Dwyre (Journalist Bill to all you Jim Healy fans) was being honored and he rounded up many of his former deputies to be there.

Now all I got to say is when you get a roomful of broadcasters, past and present, there is a lot of talking. A lot. It was so long I had to excuse myself from the table three-quarters of the way through to go to the bathroom and shave.

Keith Jackson must have gone on for 30 minutes and he was just introducing a winner.

Anyway, this year’s is Jan. 22 at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake. It’s a lunch. If you need more info, check with former Times turf writer Larry Stewart at elstewarte@aol.com.

It would be a great opportunity to chat with Trevor for a couple of minutes and there’s about a 99% chance he’ll be as cordial and welcoming as you think he would be.

And, in case you forgot, as if you could, here’s Trevor’s call of Zenyatta winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. (just click here)

Other stuff you might have missed

--Shaman Ghost, winner of his year’s Big ’Cap at Santa Anita, has returned to training after a procedure on his throat to help him breathe easier. Trainer Jim Jerkens seems to think the operation worked and Ghost is a better horse. He also finished second to Arrogate in this year’s Pegasus. He’s owned by Frank Stronach, who seems to enjoy going on the race course and leading him to the winner’s circle. Read more from Jim Dunleavy of the Daily Racing Form. (click here)

--Bolt D’Oro is looking to stick around Southern California on his way to the Kentucky Derby. Bolt was handed his first defeat in four races when he finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Most have excused his loss because he must have run about a mile and 1/8th in the mile and 1/16^th race. He drew the 11 and ran a very wide race, never able to get inside.

“We appreciate having stalls at Santa Anita and we want to run our horse here,” trainer Mick Ruis told Mike Willman of Santa Anita. “Right now our plan is to run Bolt D'Oro in the San Felipe Stakes (Grade II, $400,000 in March) as a steppingstone to the Santa Anita Derby (Grade I, $1 million in early April). From there, if all goes well, it's on to the Kentucky Derby on May 5.”

--While on the subject of the Breeders’ Cup, the Del Mar stewards handed down some fines. Most notable is the $1,000 penalty they gave jockey Javier Castellano for excessive whipping of West Coast in the Classic. Jockey Flavien Prat was also dinged $300 for too much whipping on Battle Of Midway, as he won the Dirt Mile. The rule reads that you can hit a horse only three times and then have to wait to give the horse time to respond.

--Wonder what happened to the horses that ran in this year’s unremarkable Triple Crown series. Natalie Voss of the Paulick Report catches us up with some of the names we may have put out of our memory as of late. (You can read it here.)

Del Mar racing

It’s a usual Thursday card at Del Mar with eight races, none of them a stakes. Now, you still have to give Del Mar credit as they are putting up $313,000 in purse money on a weekday card that will draw few people during a meet they wish they didn’t have.

There are eight races, four of them on the turf, four of them for maidens and three allowance optional claimers. The turf races are the second, fourth, sixth and eighth.

Bob Ike’s DM play of the day

THIRD RACE—No. 9 Snazzy Dresser (5-1)

Juvenile maiden claimer from George Papaprodromou barn was a well-meant second when debuting at this level on Oct. 7, then faded through the lane when raised up in class for his second start. Back with his friends now and drawn favorably outside, look for him to fire a good shot in this spot.

Sunday Result: Late 'n Left didn't get the anticipated easy trip on the lead we were hoping for and tired to third in the stretch.

Bob Ike is a Partner/VP of Horsebills.com and the proprietor of BobIkePicks.com (full-card picks, 3 Best Plays and betting strategy).

Final thought

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And now the star of the show, Thursday’s entries.