Del Mar:: Where the Turf Meets the Surf

by Hank Wesch

Overview

For nearly seventy five years, summertime at Del Mar Racetrack has been a place for fun and entertainment, a place, as Eddie Read said, where nobody's in a hurry but the horses. Since its founding by Bing Crosby and his Hollywood friends in 1937, Del Mar has hosted some of thoroughbred racing's finest: from dancing Zenyatta and scrappy Seabiscuit to San Diego's own hall-of-famers Best Pal and Azeri. In this collection of vignettes, celebrated turf writer and San Diego sports journalist Hank Wesch recalls noted jockeys, infamous matchups, and the best of Del Mar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609493103
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	06/17/2011
Series:	Landmarks
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Hank Wesch completed a nearly fifty-year career as a newspaper sportswriter with his retirement in September 2010. The last thirty-six years of that career were spent at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where his assignments included covering horse racing, and the Del Mar summer thoroughbred race meeting, specifically, starting in 1985. He has been published in several newspapers and magazines, but this is his first book project.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Prologue. One Special Weekend, August 13-15, 2010 9

2000-2010

Zenyatta 1-2-3 13

Changes on the Surface 18

The Dark Side 23

The Magical Meeting of 2003 26

Azeri 1-2 29

Bridging the Centuries

What about Bob Baffert? 32

Bobby Frankel, from Claimers to Classics 36

PVal, Mr. Comeback 39

The 1990's: Boom Times

No Cigar 47

Glory Days for the Home Team 49

Everybody's Best Pal 52

The Walls Come Down 55

The 1980s: Along for the Great Riders?and Trainers

Chris McCarron 60

Laffit Pincay Jr. 61

Eddie Delahoussaye 63

Gary Stevens 66

Charlie Whittingham 67

D. Wayne Lukas 70

Ron McAnally 72

The 1950s-1970s: Little Big Men

The Pumper and the Shoe 76

Farrell Jones 80

1937-1950: From the Start

Hollywood Beginning 82

Putting Del Mar on the Map 85

Pre- and Postwar 89

Track Management, From Bing to Joe 90

1937-2010: Common Threads

Betting with the Stars 95

Where the Turf Meets the Surf 101

Sources 103

Index 107

About the Author 111