Hollywood Park

Trevor Denman will be honored with the Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence, according to a release by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters on Monday. Denman's award will be celebrated at the 55th annual Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards at the Breakers Palm Beach in Florida on Jan. 22. "What a wonderful way to end a 53 year career," said Denman "I am so honored to receive this award and will treasure it forever. I wish to thank Alan Balch of...

Champion jockey Alberto Delgado, whose Eclipse Award came in 1982 when he was crowned the Champion Apprentice Jockey, has retired from racing. "It's been coming for a long time," Delgado said. "Over the years, I retired, but never because I wanted to. [It was] because of injuries, concussions. At some point, I was heavy, so I had to retire and get everything straight. Last year, I kept telling myself this would be my last year, and I had to build myself up for it. I still love it, but at...

Courtesy Santa Anita The news late Saturday of the passing of Jeff Siegel, the legendary handicapper and longtime member of the Santa Anita Park family, hit with an unexpected weight. Not that his passing at age 74 was unexpected, as he had been fighting aggressive cancer since earlier this year. But the finality of the news brought with it the realization that Jeff was gone and the hole that he left behind is unlikely to be replaced. "Jeff Siegel was, and will always be the epitome of Santa Anita Park,"...

At first glance, Jay Hovdey's latest literary output, "The Oak Tree Story: A History of Racing's Most Generous Benefactor," might seem an exercise in nostalgia only, recounting as it does the origins, lifespan and ignominious death of an organization that last put on a show nearly fifteen years ago. The Oak Tree Racing Association came about as an industry-led non-profit to operate a race-meet during the then barren autumnal months when there was no major racing in Southern California, only to grow into a philanthropic powerhouse and gamechanger for the...

The folks who fought to preserve racing at the Northern California's remote half-miler in Ferndale deserve tremendous respect and credit for soldiering on to the bitter end. Make no mistake, the cessation of racing at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in the coastal region of NorCal definitely rates as "bitter." There is no sugarcoating this one like a sticky tuft of cotton candy from the midway of Humboldt County's charmingly rural fairgrounds, whose ties to the sport date to 1896. Advocates for racing at Ferndale (pop. 1,398), a Victorian village with...

   The following continues a look at how long-term economic developments shape today's Thoroughbred sport. To read part I, click here. Defining Development #5--Real Estate Realities Has there ever been a time when rising real estate values have not heavily influenced the physical locations of Thoroughbred breeding farms and racetracks? This economic maxim has been especially dominant in the U.S. in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. As for breeding farms, anyone who has driven over the past four decades along Harrodsburg Road south of New Circle Road  in...

In 1976, 23-year-old Trevor Denman took a vacation from his race calling gigs at three tracks in Natal, South Africa, to venture to the United States to see what racing in a different part of the world was like. Because it was January, he left in the middle of a long, hot summer at home, packing only lightweight clothing and traveling in a dapper Palm Beach suit. His wardrobe choices left him ill-prepared for the first several stops on his cross-country tour of America, which happened to be the winter...

After 40 years on the mic, predominantly at Santa Anita and Del Mar, but also for a time as the voice of the Breeders' Cup and Triple Crown races, track announcer Trevor Denman has announced his retirement. "This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," Denman said. "But my soul is telling me that now is the time." Denman, 72, began calling races in 1971 in his native South Africa and came to America in time to assume racecalling duties at Santa Anita in 1983. At one...

Eddie Truman, a trainer as renowned for his patience with the Thoroughbred as for a perennially genial disposition, has passed at the age of 77. "A great horseman and an even greater individual," said veteran trainer Gary Stute. "I never heard him say a bad word about anybody--anybody--and on the racetrack, that's few and far," Stute added. "Once you met him, you stayed friends with him. The ultimate honest good person." Over a career spanning nearly 50 years, Truman trained 763 winners and collected $15.7 million in earnings. He had...

Without a doubt, I did not have the most conventional entry into horseracing. Growing up in Montreal, Canada, I was much more likely to have ventured into the world of harness racing rather than its Thoroughbred counterpart. Courtesy of Blue Bonnets (later re-named Hippodrome de Montreal), Montreal's racing landscape hadn't seen Thoroughbred racing since 1973, an era in which racetrack attendance in the province was at its zenith. One of three daughters of Greek immigrant parents, I simply did not have the access to horses or racing like many others...

How did we get hooked on this sport? We all have stories about how our love affair developed and blossomed. The TDN will be reaching out to numerous notable people in the industry to get their stories to find out how they got hooked and stayed hooked on the sport. When I was very young, we would go to the races, my dad, my mom, my brother and I. My dad liked to bet, so he wasn't passionate about racing. But I became passionate very quickly. I started reading the...

DEL MAR, California--History can be a sprint from one anachronism to the next, but every now and then it hands us spectators something unique across generations. You know, one of those full circle moments where we can witness a learner transforming into a future master. A little over 40 years ago at the inaugural Breeders' Cup World Championships hosted by Hollywood Park, Monsieur Alain de Royer-Dupre saddled Lashkari (GB) (Mill Reef) for His Highness The Aga Khan. The 3-year-old took home the very first Breeders' Cup Turf, which was one...