[ad_1] Pete Monaco | The Eighth Pole Owner gets too excited while watching his horse win On January 2, horse owner Sam Gray took celebrating a victory a bit too far when he watched his horse Notabadidea, win the feature race at Gilgandra Racecourse in Australia. As Gray watched his horse draw away in the
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On January 2, horse owner Sam Gray took celebrating a victory a bit too far when he watched his horse Notabadidea, win the feature race at Gilgandra Racecourse in Australia. As Gray watched his horse draw away in the stretch, the jubilant owner climbed up on the fence on the track apron and began spaying an extremely shaken-up beer towards the finishing horses.
But Gray lost his balance while celebrating and fell onto the course while several of the horses had yet to cross the wire. Thankfully, his actions had no impact on the horses or riders but Gray was fined $5,000, with $2,500 of that being suspended under the conditions that he stays out of trouble for 2 years. One on-track racing enthusiast witnessed Gray’s awkward celebration. “Yes, I was on course that day, not far from where this clown put on his performance. Some people shouldn’t drink alcohol, especially in the hot sun.”
43-year-old Australian jockey Jackson Morris (also known as “Wacko Jacko”) retired from riding after 334 wins. He went to to a betting parlor one day to catch a few races with his friend and former rugby star, Chris Johns. After losing a few races, Morris questioned the ride one of the jockeys gave his horse and went off a bit. This prompted Johns to challenge the former rider to get back in the saddle if he thought he could do better. Morris told racing.com: “We were having some bets and I was complaining about one of the rides. He (Johns) looked at me and said ‘look at you, sitting there saying that. You couldn’t ride it any better.'”
The boys made a wager for an undisclosed amount of cash (rumor has it, that it was large) that Morris would return to the saddle.
“I was pretty keen to get his cash, so that’s when I started to get back into it. I was doing a bit of boxing and a lot of walking. I lost 18kg (about 39lbs.) in a few weeks. All I ate was ice cream for three weeks. That is literally all I had. I was back riding not long after that, so I got his cash.”
Probable horse of the year for 2021, Knicks Go, will make his final start in the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park on January 29. He’ll look to go out a winner in the 1-1/8 mile contest before heading to stud at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky. His advertised fee is $30,000.
Channel Cat will also be making his final start in the secondary feature on the big day at Gulfstream in the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes. The 7-year-old son of English Channel ran second in his last outing in the Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct and he’s been breezing steadily on the Palm Meadows turf in Florida this winter. Channel Cat owns six victories from 30-starts, with 4-second place finishes and he’s run third five times, with earnings of $1,456,022. He’ll eventually head out to Calumet Farms in Kentucky, where his father, English Channel stood before his death last November.
Channel Cat’s advertised stud fee is $7,500.
Santa Anita’s beloved bartender, Frank Panza, passed away on January 12, at the age of 91 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Panza was employed by Santa Anita for some 59-years and was known by thousands of racegoers as the best mixologist with a great personality at the Turf Club Chandelier Room, and later on, at the main Club House Bar. Panza had a 65-mile commute (each way) from his house in Laguna Nigel to the racetrack, yet he often described his work as a “dream job.”
He was born in 1930 in Ohio and started work at Santa Anita in 1961, and this dude saw it all. He served regulars and newcomers with the same smile and remembers serving countless icons such as Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Howard Huges, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth, Elizabeth Taylor, Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason, and Walter Matteau, just to name a few!
“There’ll never be a (another) bar like that,” Panza said in reference to the Chandelier Room.
“I couldn’t wait to come to work! They would come in minks, dressed to the hilt. Elizabeth Montgomery used to give me (neck) ties! I don’t think there’s a saloon in the world that has that kind of clientele. I was like a kid in a candy store.”
When asked who his favorite customer was in 59-years of bartending, Panza responded, “The greatest? Sinatra. He used to call me Franza, my Italian nickname.”
Retired LA Times columnist Chris Erskine described Panza in a 2014 article: “This type of Panza is still a nice thing, though. Look at the hair; thick as a grass course. The smile full of Italian twinkle. And listen to his stories, gleaned over half a century as Santa Anita’s Damon Runyon.”
Funeral services for Frank Panza will take place this week, with a memorial to follow at Santa Anita in February.
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