Arcadia, Calif. -- With $14 million and most of thoroughbred racing's most important titles at stake in Saturday's 20th Breeders' Cup and the best American and European horses assembled at the base of the parched San Gabriel mountains, a new element of uncertainty asserted itself Friday: raging wildfires, the largest and most threatening fewer than 30 miles east of Santa Anita Park.
With less than 10 percent of the fires contained late Friday afternoon, the blaze had burned several thousand acres of brush and forest and is expected to advance to the west, propelled by strong dessert winds forecast to continue through Sunday.
Thick smoke shrouded Santa Anita early Friday as horses were put through their training routines, and a thin film of ash settled on exposed areas, an eerie, almost surreal scene. To the east, thousands of residents from communities in the path of the advancing inferno, allegedly ignited by an arsonist, evacuated their homes. At Santa Anita, racing was not interrupted despite the settling ash and smoke.
The mountain backdrop for which the track is famous disappeared behind the smoke and ash, which reportedly fell like snowflakes as far away as Malibu, an exclusive coastal community some 80 miles from the largest blaze.
The fires, with weather forecasters calling for temperatures near 100 Saturday, single-digit humidity, high winds from the east fanning the flames and air termed "unhealthy" by local authorities, complicate already difficult conditions. It is impossible to determine whether the performance of horses and jockeys will be affected. It is almost certain that conditions will worsen overnight and Saturday morning.
According to Dr. Larry Bramlage of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, smoke and ash would be a concern in horses only after a long period of exposure. Several days of exposure should not pose problems.
Breeders' Cup officials said they were monitoring the situation closely and that there was no immediate cause for concern.
The interjection of smoke and ash continues a series of unlikely twists that define this Breeders' Cup, beginning with the withdrawal of the nation's leading thoroughbred, Mineshaft following a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in New York that entrenched the now-retired 4-year-old as the leading candidate in the postseason Horse of the Year poll; decisions to skip the Breeders' Cup by the connections of every 2-year-old winner of a Grade I stakes except Cuvee, who will be a clear favorite to win the Juvenile, and the unexpected decision to send Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide to the Classic after an announcement that the New York-bred gelding would start in the Empire Classic last week at Belmont Park.
Funny Cide will get a jockey change because Jose Santos had made a commitment to partner Volponi, whom he rode to an upset victory in the same race a year ago at Arlington Park. Julie Krone, who has flourished here since emerging from a 3½-year retirement last year, will ride Funny Cide.
Should Volponi repeat the upset, he would become the second winner of consecutive runnings of the Classic. Tiznow won the race in 2000 at Churchill Downs and a year later at Belmont. Should Funny Cide prevail, he would be the first to win the Derby and Classic in the same year since Sunday Silence in 1989.
With the winner's share of a $4-million purse at stake, Santos found no room for sentiment. "Funny business, isn't it?" he said. "Funny Cide gave me the thrill of a lifetime in the Derby. Now I have to try to beat him. But the past is the past. It's time to maybe make some history."
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With less than 10 percent of the fires contained late Friday afternoon, the blaze had burned several thousand acres of brush and forest and is expected to advance to the west, propelled by strong dessert winds forecast to continue through Sunday.
Thick smoke shrouded Santa Anita early Friday as horses were put through their training routines, and a thin film of ash settled on exposed areas, an eerie, almost surreal scene. To the east, thousands of residents from communities in the path of the advancing inferno, allegedly ignited by an arsonist, evacuated their homes. At Santa Anita, racing was not interrupted despite the settling ash and smoke.
The mountain backdrop for which the track is famous disappeared behind the smoke and ash, which reportedly fell like snowflakes as far away as Malibu, an exclusive coastal community some 80 miles from the largest blaze.
The fires, with weather forecasters calling for temperatures near 100 Saturday, single-digit humidity, high winds from the east fanning the flames and air termed "unhealthy" by local authorities, complicate already difficult conditions. It is impossible to determine whether the performance of horses and jockeys will be affected. It is almost certain that conditions will worsen overnight and Saturday morning.
According to Dr. Larry Bramlage of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, smoke and ash would be a concern in horses only after a long period of exposure. Several days of exposure should not pose problems.
Breeders' Cup officials said they were monitoring the situation closely and that there was no immediate cause for concern.
The interjection of smoke and ash continues a series of unlikely twists that define this Breeders' Cup, beginning with the withdrawal of the nation's leading thoroughbred, Mineshaft following a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in New York that entrenched the now-retired 4-year-old as the leading candidate in the postseason Horse of the Year poll; decisions to skip the Breeders' Cup by the connections of every 2-year-old winner of a Grade I stakes except Cuvee, who will be a clear favorite to win the Juvenile, and the unexpected decision to send Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide to the Classic after an announcement that the New York-bred gelding would start in the Empire Classic last week at Belmont Park.
Funny Cide will get a jockey change because Jose Santos had made a commitment to partner Volponi, whom he rode to an upset victory in the same race a year ago at Arlington Park. Julie Krone, who has flourished here since emerging from a 3½-year retirement last year, will ride Funny Cide.
Should Volponi repeat the upset, he would become the second winner of consecutive runnings of the Classic. Tiznow won the race in 2000 at Churchill Downs and a year later at Belmont. Should Funny Cide prevail, he would be the first to win the Derby and Classic in the same year since Sunday Silence in 1989.
With the winner's share of a $4-million purse at stake, Santos found no room for sentiment. "Funny business, isn't it?" he said. "Funny Cide gave me the thrill of a lifetime in the Derby. Now I have to try to beat him. But the past is the past. It's time to maybe make some history."
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