Tag: Hollywood Park

Former Jockey, Racing Official George Taniguchi Passes At Age 94

George Taniguchi, believed to be America's first Japanese-American jockey and later a highly respected Southern California racing official, passed away at age 94 following a brief illness at his home in Palm Springs in early March, according to his niece Donna Johnson, who had served as his caretaker.

Born in 1926 in the farming community of El Centro, CA, Taniguchi's family moved to Los Angeles following World War II and he quickly became enamored with acting—which led to a chance encounter with major league horseracing at Hollywood Park in 1950.

In search of a producer whom he hoped would give him a leading role in MGM's “Go for Broke,” Taniguchi high-tailed it to the Track of the Lakes and Flowers, only to be denied entrance to the Turf Club. Although dejected, Taniguchi soon liked what he saw on the track and was told to contact a quarter horse trainer in Bakersfield named Jimmy Monji—who would later train quarter horses for Ed Allred, who would later become the owner of Los Alamitos Racecourse.

According to Taniguchi, in a story published in Discover Nikkei on Aug. 10, 2020, it was Monji who taught him how to ride with a horse, not just on a horse. His experience with Monji in Bakersfield led to him becoming a freelance exercise boy at Hollywood Park in 1952 and then a licensed jockey in 1954.

Hollywood Park's leading apprentice and a winner of a career-high 230 races in 1954, Taniguchi more than held his own riding at tracks around the country with the likes of John Longden, Bill Shoemaker, Eddie Arcaro, Ray York, Milo Valenzuela, Bill Boland, Donald Pierce, Jerry Lambert and other top riders of the 1950s and 60s. With 203 wins in 1959, Taniguchi enjoyed his best money-won year, as his mounts earned $934,711, placing him 12th nationally.

A multiple leading rider on Pomona's half mile bullring, Taniguchi, who retired from the saddle in 1968, booted home a total of 1,597 winners from 11,354 mounts.

“My dad loved George and he won a lot of races with him at Pomona,” said trainer Gary Stute in reference to his father, the late Mel Stute. “My dad always said nobody rode that bullring out there better than George. He was fearless and a great judge of pace. I can tell you this, he was a great racing official also. He knew the game and he respected everyone.”

Among his biggest wins, as reported by Steve Andersen in Daily Racing Form, were the $218,940 Arlington Futurity in 1960 aboard Pappa's All, with whom he also won that year's Hollywood Futurity.

Taniguchi also rode Hall of Famer Round Table to victory in the 1957 El Dorado Handicap at Hollywood Park and in 1958, he won Santa Anita's San Felipe Stakes aboard Carrier X. A multiple stakes winner at Pomona, Twenty One Guns and Taniguchi also won the Del Mar Handicap in 1959.

Following his retirement, Taniguchi worked as a racing official at all major California tracks and served as Assistant Racing Secretary at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

“George was a good friend and a tremendous official,” said longtime Santa Anita Placing Judge, Bob Moreno. “He was always upbeat and he made the job fun. He was professional at all times and he knew the game thoroughly. A first class man in every respect.”

George Taniguchi is survived by his son Ryan and niece, Donna Johnson.

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Illinois Racing Board Member Criticizes Churchill For ‘Shortsighted,’ ‘Self-Defeating’ Decision To Sell Arlington

One member of the Illinois Racing Board, author and journalist Alan Henry, had a lot to say about Churchill Downs Inc.'s decision to put Arlington Park up for sale at the monthly board meeting. According to the Chicago Daily-Herald, Henry called CDI's refusal to sell the property to another racing entity “a shortsighted and self-defeating posture” that would irreparably tarnish the company's brand.

“While CDI's stock is currently riding high, the corporate graveyard is full of companies whose leaders lost sight of their brand and in doing so lost the loyalty of their customers,” Henry said. “In the long run, the company that trumpets its bond to horse racing and wants to keep the brand in good standing across all its platforms has to respect current horseplayers and keep attracting new ones. To do that, you've got to honor the horse and the horsemen and mean it, and that starts by keeping tracks open, not closing them down.”

Henry referenced CDI's shut downs of California's Hollywood Park and Florida's Calder Race Course, adding that CDI now sees Arlington as “disposable” in an effort to protect the nearby CDI-owned Rivers Casino.

CDI announced the sale of Arlington on Feb. 23, 2021, indicating that it would host live racing at the Illinois track through the 2021 season, which is scheduled to end on Sept. 25.

Read more at the Chicago Daily-Herald.

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Longtime Racing Executive Nat Wess, 81, Succumbs In Minnesota

Nat Wess, one of the premier publicists in horse racing in the 1970s and '80s when he served as director of publicity at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif., died on Thursday in Minnesota. He was 81.

Wess had been hospitalized since Dec. 31 after suffering a hip fracture and requiring surgery. While hospitalized, he tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email distributed to members of the Minnesota Racing Commission shared with the Paulick Report.

While he began his career as a publicist, working first at Santa Anita and then moving to cross-town rival Hollywood Park, Wess would go on to other racetrack and association management positions, including assistant general manager at Canterbury Park in Minnesota and general manager of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

But it was promoting racing that Wess was best known for, especially during his years at Hollywood Park, when “giveaways” and the launch of the Pick 6 routinely brought weekend crowds of 50,000-plus (the first giveaway, when all paid attendees received a free tote bag, brought out a record 80,348). During his tenure at Hollywood Park, daily average attendance hit a highwater mark of 31,150 in 1980.

Wess left his mark on two other big events. In the early days of the Claiming Crown, when it was held at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing) and Canterbury, he  promoted it tirelessly on behalf of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. During his time at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Wess was part of the braintrust that created the California Cup, an event that had its 31st running two days after his death.

Wess, who always appeared to be a bundle of nervous energy, is remembered by racing writers for the patience, helpfulness and kindness he showed to those who were just beginning their careers. He was an old-school promoter, learning the ropes from the late Bob Benoit and employing props and publicity photos to promote big races and star horses

He is survived, by Ellen, his wife of 58 years, daughter Deborah and son David. A private memorial service for family will be held, and a public memorial is being planned for summer.

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View From The Eighth Pole: Del Mar Can Add Year-Round Stability To California’s Racing Industry

California's horse racing industry has never been good at long-range planning. Instability will do that. Historic Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo in the Bay Area was shuttered for development in 2008. The same company that closed Bay Meadows had purchased Hollywood Park in Inglewood near Los Angeles in 2005 and almost immediately threatened to close that track, too, unless some form of relief from expanded gambling came along. It never did, and the “track of lakes and flowers” ran its last race in 2013. Despite advance warnings, the industry seemed unprepared when the tracks closed.

Thoroughbred breeders and owners like stability. The timeline from planning to breeding to foaling to racing is a four-year process. Owners who buy yearlings or 2-year-olds in training at public auction are looking at months to years before they can see their investments competing on the racetrack.

Instability, along with challenging economics, have led to serious declines in California breeding. The state's Thoroughbred foal crop in 2006 – the one eligible to race in that final year at Bay Meadows – numbered 3,320. The most recent California foal crop was 1,594 in 2019, a 52% drop over 13 years. There appears to be no slowing down, either. The number of mares bred in California fell by 12.5% from 2019 to 2020, from 2,018 to 1,766 mares, according to the breed's official registry, The Jockey Club.

Looking down the road, at least one more California racetrack is destined to close in the not-so-distant future. Dr. Edward Allred, the 84-year-old owner of Los Alamitos in Cypress, has made no secret of the fact his track will be developed in a matter of years. To his credit, Allred stepped up to provide additional stabling when Hollywood Park closed and expanded the Quarter Horse racing surface to accommodate year-round training, plus several weeks of Thoroughbred racing annually. Allred has been sufficiently compensated; in addition to host simulcast revenue during live Thoroughbred race meets, Los Alamitos receives $12,500 daily from the state's Stabling and Vanning Committee for providing 825 stalls.

Stabling at Los Alamitos was a stopgap measure. It's time for the California horse racing industry to develop a longer-term solution that provides some stability to the state's owners and breeders if this industry is to have a future.

Del Mar, just to the north of San Diego, could be the answer. The track races 12 weeks annually, with separate summer and fall meets, then closes its stables the rest of the year.

The racetrack property is owned by the state of California and leased by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club from the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which until 2020 has hosted the annual San Diego County Fair – one of the largest in the United States. The fair represented a sizable percentage of the 22nd District's annual revenue, but so did its lease agreement with the Thoroughbred Club, especially since the races traditionally attract large crowds that spend significant sums on food and beverage.

This year's fair, along with on-track attendance at Del Mar's summer and fall meets, were nixed by the coronavirus pandemic. The 22nd District took an enormous financial hit – revenue is down 90% – and without deep cash reserves it was forced to lay off 60% of its work force of 157 full-time employees.

Year-round stabling would supply a significant financial boost to the 22nd District, provided Del Mar would get the same per diem arrangement Los Alamitos currently enjoys. There would be hurdles to clear to make this possible, one of them being the San Diego County Fair that traditionally begins in early June and runs through July 4 is so big that it spills onto the racetrack and into the stable area. Downsizing the fair, however, may be a necessity in the wake of COVID-19.

Because it is a state-owned facility and not subject to the pressures of development, Del Mar presents an excellent long-term option for year-round training and, if given the opportunity, expanded live race meets. The track has already satisfied federal Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) water runoff requirements, something many other tracks are struggling with.  Another benefit to year-round stabling could put the city of Del Mar in compliance with a state law requiring a minimum amount of housing for low-income families. Stable employees living on the backstretch might check that box.

California trainers surveyed for this story said they would jump at the opportunity to maintain part of their stable at Del Mar. Some speculate that Midwest or East Coast trainers would be more inclined to maintain an auxiliary string of horses in California if Del Mar played an expanded role.

“We need to have viable long-term racing and training venues in Southern California,” Thoroughbred Owners of California president Greg Avioli said. “There's no question owners and trainers appreciate the opportunity to train at Del Mar, and should the opportunity present itself for year-round training, it's definitely something the TOC would consider.”

California can't afford to wait for the next track to close before developing a better blueprint for training and racing, for stability in the industry. The time is now to work on that plan.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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