The Beach Or The Spa?
January 2nd, 2003by Jude T. Feld
Where The Turf Meets The Surf!
Benoit Photo
Saratoga versus Del Mar, the debate reigns supreme. Saratoga certainly has the finest horses on the continent competing on a daily basis, but man does not live by horses alone.
For starters, Del Mar has opening day. This year a record crowd of over 40,000 passed through the turnstiles that Bing Crosby built. There are few places on this wonderful earth where so many beautiful women can be seen wearing so very little. Every guy showers, shaves and dons his most attractive duds in the hopes of attracting just one beauty from the bevy assembled in the paddock gardens. It only gets better from there.
The first race of the meeting has a quality that even the Kentucky Derby would envy. Traditionally run at a mile, the crowd goes wild when track announcer Trevor Denman says, “The horses are at the gate.” When the stall doors spring open, a cheer erupts that can be heard all the way to the 18th Street beach.
A split of the Oceanside, a race all local owners want to win despite the fact that it is not graded, kicks off the stakes program. It is a great way to “get off the Schneid” early and set the tone for a big meeting. Owners love Del Mar. The ambience, the big crowds and the nice purses coupled with the short meeting make a Del Mar winners’ circle photo a coveted item.
Everbody is always in such a good mood “Where the turf meets the surf.” Trainer Howie Zucker, noted for his bleak outlook, sports a dapper straw fedora and critiques the local restaurants from high atop the guinea stand. Private clocker Gary Young upends fewer chairs at losing photos and first-class crepehanger Paddy Gallagher grins from ear-to-ear because after winning the Fleet Treat Stakes, he won’t be a maiden at the meet.
The beach scene is unsurpassed. It’s not every day you can see Hall of Fame jockey and movie star Gary Stevens catch a wave on his son’s boogie board or Grammy Award-winner Burt Bacharach walking through the shorebreak, not to mention that a “tall and tan and young and lovely girl” strolls the golden sand at the rate of about one every ten seconds. There is plenty of eye candy for the ladies too, with handsome, tattooed hunks, muscled up and bronzed, surfing and playing volleyball or bocce.
Del Mar has the best racing on the circuit. Bob Baffert unveils his flashy two-year-olds, Bobby Frankel wins more than his share of stakes, Richard Mandella’s stable kicks it up a notch and Laura de Seroux is set turn Horse of the Year Azeri loose. Bigger fields put smiles on longshot seekers and pick six players and this season, Julie Krone is giving Stevens, Solis, Flores and Nakatani all they can handle in the jockey standings, while “sunshine boys” Noble Threewitt and Leonard Dorfman, trainers who were there when Seabiscuit took on Ligarotti, will keep their “never missed a meet” streak alive.
Time flies when you are having fun and the Del Mar summer meeting is over in the blink of an eye so you’d better get there while you can. The guys and gals who showed up for the opening, usually return for the closing, only much tanner and better looking. Bing will sing for the first and the bugler will play taps for the last. The sun will set over the blue Pacific Ocean and anticipation will begin for the opening day of Del Mar in 2004.
