Morning in Paradise

Ah, yes... another morning at Clockers Corner, Santa Anita, Arcadia, California. Yesterday was a successful opening day at Oak Tree, where we saw increases over last year's opening day in on-track attendance, as well as overall handle (only on-track handle did not reflect an increase).

So what's the buzz at C2 (Clockers Corner) this morning?

Yesterday, Oak Tree fans received a stein that featured a picture of trainer Richard Mandella, commemorating his unprecedented four victories in the 2003 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Oak Tree. I loved Mandella's quote that appeared in the L.A. Times this morning: "I hope they don't use it as a urinal." When I asked him about it this morning, he said, "Did they really run that?!"

Our weather is so fabulous during this race meet, that it's a bit like the Rose Parade in Pasadena -- people all over the world watch it (in the midst of their bad weather) and want to come to California. Owners and trainers actually have a pretty cool option if they want to bring new horses to race in California. The California Marketing Committee (CMC) has a plan in place to subsidize shipping costs for pre-approved horses shipping in from out of state. The program will pay $3,000 in shipping cost for new owners, and $2,000 for existing owners. The contact person at CMC is Gayle Van Leer at gayle@gaylevanleer.com.