Predictions for 2002
If any of Bill Finley's predictions for the new year come true, it's going to be one wild 2002 for horse racing.
A new year is underway, bringing with it the excitement of a fresh start and unpredictability. Who will win the Kentucky Derby, the Breeders' Cup Classic? Who will be the stars, the disappointments of 2002? Who and what will dominate the headlines? You have questions. We have answers. A look at what to expect in 2002:
Februrary: In a surprising development, Frank Stronach announces in a brief press release that he has purchased the Hollywood Greyhound Track just up the road from Gulfstream Park. No further details are given ... Gary Stevens announces his retirement.
March: Stronach announces Puppies-versus-Ponies, a takeoff on the East-West challenge that pitted horses and jockeys from Santa Anita and Gulfstream against one another. Dogs from Hollywood will take on horses from Gulfstream in three separate races, ranging from an eighth of a mile all the way up to five furlongs. It's determined that they will start from a thoroughbred starting gate but in a concession to dog trainers (dogmen?), they must chase a rabbit. "People love horses. People love dogs," said Gulfstream President and general Manager Scott Savin. "How can we miss?" The series is cancelled after one race when Sir Bear accidently steps on a dog during the first race and crushes him like a grape..Gary Stevens announces that he is coming back.
April: Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Johannesburg wins his 3-year-old debut and lone Kentucky prep, by 43 lengths and is instantly declared the greatest horse that ever lived and a cinch to win the Kentucky Derby by the American media. "I am not the least bit discouraged by the failures of Arazi, Unbridled's Song, Holy Bull, Point Given or anyone else, this horse will make them forget Secretariat," writes ESPN.com's racing columnist Bill Finley ... Wayne Lukas' dreadful spring continues as he saddles the last-place finishers in the Blue Grass, Wood Memorial and Arkansas Derby. It appears that he is out of the Kentucky Derby for the second straight year.
May: Lukas is lambasted in the press when he announces that he has a Derby starter after all in Proud Citizen, who last raced in a $17,500 claimer at Turfway Park in March, where he finished eighth. "You guys better not discount this horse," Lukas tells a lone reporter following the colt's four-furlong work in :52.80 ... The Derby field is deep and talented, but Johannesburg, the 1-10 favorite, has already been crowned the sure Triple Crown winner in some circles. Still, he has to beat Siphonic, Saarland and a six-horse entry from Godolphin Stable, which includes their latest purchases, the one-two finishers in the Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park, and a first time starter ... With jockey William D. Troilo aboard, Proud Citizen outgames Siphonic in the stretch to give Lukas his fifth Kentucky Derby winner. Johannesburg is ninth ... Gary Stevens announces his retirement .... Proud Citizen does it again, beating Silent Fred by a nose in the Preakness. Johannesburg passed the race. On an unusually cold May day, the Pimlico air-conditioner gets stuck on full blast, leaving patrons shivering amid 37-degree temperatures in the grandstand.
June: Gary Stevens announces that he will ride the rest of the year in Belgium ... Triple Crown mania hits New York as Proud Citizen looks to join the list of immortals. But all eyes remain on Johannesburg. "He loves this racetrack," O'Brien says after Johannesburg gallops over the Belmont surface for the first time since arriving in from Ireland. "You'll see a different horse Saturday." With an announced crowd of 234,763 looking on, Nick Zito wins the Belmont with a horse named Svengali. Proud Citizen is seventh. Johannesburg is eased after a half-mile. "He hated the track," his jockey, Mick Kinane said.
July: Bobby Frankel, who has won all but nine stakes races run in the U.S. says that he's starting to get bored and announces he's starting a standardbred division ...The contentious battle to acquire New York City OTB ends when New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg announces that he is selling OTB to himself for the reduced price of $40 million. "Hey, I'm rich and I'm in charge," Bloomberg said. "I love this politics stuff." ... Gary Stevens begins a new chapter in his career as Del Mar opens, where he is named head of concessions.
August: Frankel-trained pacers finish one-two-three-five in the Meadowlands Pace. John Campbell drives the winner, but Jerry Bailey impresses everyone in his harness debut, finishing third with Frankel's Just Another Hanover ... With Saratoga underway, Video Lottery Terminals debut at Aqueduct, handling just over $850 million on the first day, despite the presence of riot police who turned back an additional 35,000 customers. NYRA Chairman of the Board Barry K. Schwartz announces that the Travers purse has been increased to $20 million ... Mary Lou Whitney, spotted at over 3,000 Saratoga events, denies a published report that she was the first human being successfully cloned ... Siphonic wins the Travers with Gary Stevens aboard.
October: The Bobby Frankel stable accounts for 73 of the 95 horses entered in the Breeders' Cup, including all 14 starters in the Turf. He wins every race on the card but the Classic, which goes to 94-1 shot Johannesburg. Frankel's feat is relegated to the back pages of America's sport sections as Joe Fan is too captivated by the Minnesota Twins-Montreal Expos World Series to pay attention ... Aqueduct opens for racing, the first time the horses have shared the stage with VLT's. The 2,308 fans who attend to play the horses are crammed into the Sunny Jim room, the lone area of the track that does not include the VLT's.
November: NYRA puts VLT's in the Sunny Jim room and closes down the last four mutuel windows dedicated to horse bets. "It's not that we're banning racing fans from coming to Aqueduct, but they were getting in the way," Schwartz says. "I here those new Off-Track Bloomberg parlors are awful nice."
December: Racing shuts down in Southern California after the California Horse Racing Boards suspends every trainer in the state for 30 days. It seems that new super tests have detected minute traces of a banned substance found in carrots. The Santa Anita meet does open, with dogs shipped in from Hollywood Greyhound track filling the card. A 2-year-old brindle bitch named Perfect Puppy romps in the Malibu, reduced to 1 3/4 furlongs.
