Track Times

Bootlegger’s Pet set the record of 1:09 flat on Jan. 26, 1974, long before Steve Crist began to incorporate hundredths in the clockings of races in The Racing Times in the early 90s. Since the achievement of Bootlegger’s Pet there have been precious few sub-1:10 clockings in Oldsmar, mainly because the more prestigious - and richer - events at the track, such as the Tampa Bay Derby and Florida Oaks, are run around two turns. Crack sprinters haven’t had the same opportunities to run for higher purses - yet.

Because there were no recordings of clockings in hundredths in the "old days," we don’t know just where Bootlegger’s Pet actually stood - at 1:09 on the button or closer to 1:09:19, the last tick before it would have become 1:09 1/5. So we can’t assess just how close Lookinforthesecret came to the record when he captured the $65,000 Pelican Stakes last Saturday. The 6-year-old son of Cimarron Secret scored by 2 1/2 lengths over He’s So Chic in 1:09:30 for the three-quarters and continued an improbable run for owner Balkrisna Sukharan and trainer Jamie Ness.

When the Florida Horse Stallion Register was published in late 2006, Lookinforthesecret was listed as just one of many winners for his sire - and the blurb read "4 wins at 3 and 4, 2006, $45,414." After the Pelican, Lookinforthesecret is 13-6- 1 in 28 starts and his earnings have reached $275,618. His record for 2007 was 8-4-0 in 13 starts with earnings of $192,580. And, one of the bonuses for his owner and trainer is that he’s equally at home on turf (12-4-3-1, $105,400) or dirt (16-9-3-0, $170,218), along with the fact that he’s at the top of his game. In his previous start on Dec. 22, Lookinforthesecret won a $23,500 allowance race by 1 1/4 lengths, racing five furlongs in 57:79, not far off the disputed track record of 57 1/5 set by Arion Fair in 1982.

Cimarron Secret stands at Cimarron Farm in Ocala for Francis (Skip) McDonnell, who is the breeder of Lookinforthesecret.

What happened next was totally unexpected, though. Hewitts, who was the first foal out of the Cozzene mare Romance Me, worked a quarter of a mile in 21 3/5 at the under tack show, and promptly sold for $225,000. "We didn’t expect it," Mrs. Cotter said, "either the work or the price. It was a wonderful surprise." Hewitts, a ridgling, didn’t show up in the entries for a year, until the next April 11, in the barn of Robert B. Hess Jr. at Santa Anita.

With David Flores aboard, he finished second by 2 1/2 lengths in a $47,000 maiden special at 6 1/2 furlongs. A few weeks later, at odds of 3/5, Hewitts broke his maiden over the synthetic track at Hollywood Park, winning by nearly three lengths in 1:15 4/5 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. On May 28, he made it two straight with a two-length victory in a $51,000 allowance, racing seven furlongs in 1:23 1/5.

Then Hewitts took another vacation, not reappearing until last Monday in the seventh race at Santa Anita. And, there was a slight change on his breeding line in Daily Racing Form. "They gelded him last year," Mrs. Cotter said, "after the last race he ran."

Hewitt’s return came in a $57,000 allowance race at seven furlongs and the uncertainty over his odd career sent him away at 2-1. With Michael Baze aboard, the same jock who had broken his maiden last May, Hewitts was not only much the best, winning by nearly two lengths, but he raced the distance in 1:20:41, just a tick away from the track record.

Breeding a solid runner by Concerto is nothing new to Mrs. Cotter. "We also bred Bellamy Road," she said. "We’ve been very lucky. And we bred a mare to Bellamy last spring."

As for Romance Me, the dam of Hewitts, the 4-year-old was her first and last foal. "She died the following year," her breeder said, wistfully.

Alan Marzelli, president and chief executive of The Jockey Club, told the Blood-Horse that "sadly, there isn’t proper cooperative technology in place to accurately analyze the handle figures." I have no idea what that means, maybe you do.

Said Marzelli, "I don’t know what to make of the trends of the last few years. Yes, they are flat. But the questions our industry can’t answer are: Why are they flat? Are we suffering leakage? Are people betting off-shore with bookmakers, or in other ways that are not permitted under U. S. laws? Are they turning to other sports because our sports are not competitive?"

The prez and CEO went on to ask more questions which have absolutely no relevance to the subject. I have never met Alan Marzelli, but I am willing to make a huge wager that he is not a bread-and-butter, everyday bettor on the country’s races. You know, the kind of bettor who frequents his local OTB or ITW parlor and picks out several venues on which to make his bets. Or sits on the couch watching TVG and HRTV while betting on the telephone.

If he did, Mr. Marzelli would know that racing in the United States, for the most part, has never been in a more abominable condition. He would get the feel of what it’s like to bet on four and five and six-horse fields. He would realize that racing in New York and Philadelphia and Kentucky in the dead of winter is unacceptable to real players, what with the falling snow, muddy tracks, an inordinate number of program scratches, an absence of color, barren grandstands, and a 30-length margin separating the winner and the last-place finisher in too many races.

If the head of The Jockey Club professes not to comprehend the problems that have been imposed on the betting public, he’s not the man for the job. As a horse player of some 55 years, who was there before Jamaica went out of business, who watched Aqueduct being built, who suffered from withdrawal pains through the renovation of Belmont Park, who was sitting in the upper level of the Big A the day JFK was shot, and who drove from Fort Bragg, N. C. to Laurel to watch T. V. Lark beat Kelso in the Washington D. C. International in 1961, I abhor the racing of the 21st Century.

The moguls who make up the boards of all the major racing organizations have immersed themselves so deeply into horse slaughter, medication issues, the installation of synthetic surfaces and the like, along with the building of casinos, that they have forgotten the No. 1 priority of the sport - the tote board and the people who light it up.

So, Mr. Marzelli, if you want the answer to your question, here it is. The handle is going down because the product your racetracks are shoving down the throats of the bettors is choking them to death.