He said Hollywood Park lost 19 horses in '03, then 25 in '04, another 20 each in '05 and '06 and, in '07 after a synthetic track had been put in, lost 20. He said Del Mar, during its terrible summer of '06 on dirt, lost 19 horses and, on its new Polytrack in '07, lost 18.
Those numbers, no longer on the CHRB website, were disputed by Shapiro. He said that Shulman was mixing apples and oranges and maybe a few bananas and went on the air to tell him so. Shulman fired back, falling only slightly short of calling Shapiro a liar.
Stein, in racing for 30 years as a trainer and broadcaster, says, "This is exactly what racing didn't need. Horse racing is its own worst enemy. Always has been."
These days, the sun seems to be shining more in Southern California. Also, Santa Anita got a huge boost Thursday with the announcement that the Breeders' Cup will return there in 2009 for the second straight year.
The Breeders' Cup has never gone back to back at the same track. Presumably, part of that decision was based on our wonderful weather in late October and early November.
Best guess is that Santa Anita will not be taking that for granted. Expect all Breeders' Cup tickets printed for the next two years to carry this simple statement:
"Anyone caught doing a rain dance will be removed from the track."
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Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com.
For previous columns, go to latimes.com/dwyre.
