Horse

J. Paul Reddam might not be the type of businessman for whom people suffering through the recession can bring themselves to root. Reddam, 56, is president of Anaheim-based CashCall, the mortgage refinancing and high-interest personal loan company who critics say has unfairly capitalized upon people's financial woes during the country's economic and employment crisis. But the Sunset Beach resident is also owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another, who could provide horse racing with a huge shot in the arm Saturday with a victory in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

The bizarre and complicated world of thoroughbred blood testing and sanctions reached the mainstream Thursday, when the California Horse Racing Board penalized the trainer who has won the first two legs of the sport's Triple Crown. The seven-person, governor-appointed board, ruling on a case that has been argued and litigated since the summer of 2010, suspended Doug O'Neill for 45 days and fined him $15,000. The penalty actually carried an additional 135 days of suspension, but that will be voided if there are no further findings involving O'Neill in the next 18 months.

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

The fate of trainer Doug O'Neill, charged by California Horse Racing Board enforcement officials with a substance abuse violation involving one of his horses, will be addressed Thursday morning at a board meeting at Hollywood Park. These are usually low-profile procedural meetings, but the item on the agenda involving O'Neill, whose I'll Have Another will take a run at racing's coveted Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes June 9, has triggered much interest and speculation. Racing's enforcement officials ruled that an O'Neill-trained horse, Argenta, tested positive for high levels of carbon dioxide after a race Aug. 25, 2010, at Del Mar. High levels of carbon dioxide are considered evidence of the use of a "milkshake" to illegally boost a horse's stamina.

BALTIMORE -- The amazing story moved up to incredible. I'll Have Another ran true to his name. On a Saturday that brought blue skies, perfect temperatures and a record crowd of 121,309 here at venerable Pimlico racetrack, the horse who has never been favored in a race and has been mostly under-appreciated by the public, even the racing public, won the 137th Preakness. Now, it is I'll Have Another who will take a shot at history. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978.

Bob Baffert and Wayne Lukas were sitting next to each other at a recent racing function when Baffert said to Lukas, "Everyone used to hate you. Now they hate me." It's as clear as a giant flowered hat, and just as ugly. At rowdy Churchill Downs today, the only thing more quietly despised than Bob Baffert will be a Breathalyzer. The 128th Kentucky Derby will feature 19 horses, 150,000 fans, and one villain. Baffert will saddle longshot War Emblem.

QUICK TAKES A horse was injured and euthanized Tuesday during production of the racetrack drama "Luck," the third death in connection with the series, and HBO agreed to suspend filming with horses while the accident is investigated. The American Humane Assn., which oversees Hollywood productions, had issued an immediate demand "that all production involving horses shut down. " The animal was being led to a Santa Anita Park racetrack stable by a groom when it reared and fell back Tuesday morning, suffering a head injury, according to HBO. The horse was euthanized at the track in Arcadia, where "Luck" is filming its second season.

Connie Hines, an actress who portrayed Carol Post, whose husband Wilbur was the only person who could talk with Mister Ed in the 1960s television show, has died. She was 79. Hines died Friday at her home in Beverly Hills from complications of heart problems, said Alan Young, her "Mister Ed" costar. "I lost a great friend. She was always joyous," Young said Monday. In the show, which ran from 1961 to 1966 on CBS, the Posts moved into a rambling country home and found a horse in their barn.

Horse racing has its own little March Madness thing going. No brackets. Just a baby. There is lead-up buzz for the April 7 Santa Anita Derby. Same thing for the March 31 Dubai Classic, and its $10-million purse. Of course, there is the biggest deal of all in the sport, the revered first-Saturday-in-May Kentucky Derby. But, arguably, none of those have rung the chimes of fans as much as the birth of Zenyatta's first baby a week ago. Little Zennie, a colt, arrived in Kentucky weighing 130 pounds and celebrated all over the country.

Optimism's seldom in short supply around a racetrack. Even in troubled times, a convoy of yesterday's losers can be counted on to return the next morning with their fantasies of winning the Pick Six intact. The jockeys who got beat by a nose or a neck, along with the trainers whose horses were pinned on the rail or otherwise impeded by fate, are also ready to do battle again. The air's thick with yearning. So racing fans are entitled to be hopeful about Santa Anita's prospects on the opening day of its annual winter meet.

It was the end of a long day in a stuffy Simi Valley office building. Ann Romney had been under oath for more than four hours, testifying in a sometimes contentious deposition about a pricey horse she sold that may or may not have been afflicted with a condition that made him unrideable. In the airless room, Romney was getting annoyed. "That really is -- that really is irritating," she said when the opposing attorney implied she didn't know who looked after her horse in Moorpark when she was at her home in Boston.

BALTIMORE -- The amazing story moved up to incredible. I'll Have Another ran true to his name. On a Saturday that brought blue skies, perfect temperatures and a record crowd of 121,309 here at venerable Pimlico racetrack, the horse who has never been favored in a race and has been mostly under-appreciated by the public, even the racing public, won the 137th Preakness. Now, it is I'll Have Another who will take a shot at history. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was Affirmed in 1978.

BALTIMORE -- Triple Crown horse racing season is a respite. It allows a deep breath for a sport that is desperately seeking reason. The Preakness is similar to pro golf's Saturday. They call it moving day, because it is the last chance to get in position for the big prize. The difference is that, when 11 horses load into the gate here Saturday afternoon, only one can land the big prize, the Triple Crown. That one, Kentucky Derby winnerI'll Have Another, is not only a horse to be admired, but a story with lots of weird chapters.

Peter Fuller, who never fully accepted the ruling that stripped the 1968 Kentucky Derby crown from his thoroughbred Dancer's Image, died Monday of cancer at a skilled-care facility in Portsmouth, N.H., his family said. He was 89. In May 1968, Dancer's Image rallied from last place in a field of 14 to win the Derby by a length and a half. Days later, traces of the drug phenylbutazone were found in the horse's post-race urinalysis, and the colt was disqualified. The medication is commonly used to alleviate chronic pain and joint soreness, not to enhance performance.

J. Paul Reddam might not be the type of businessman for whom people suffering through the recession can bring themselves to root. Reddam, 56, is president of Anaheim-based CashCall, the mortgage refinancing and high-interest personal loan company who critics say has unfairly capitalized upon people's financial woes during the country's economic and employment crisis. But the Sunset Beach resident is also owner of Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another, who could provide horse racing with a huge shot in the arm Saturday with a victory in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

BALTIMORE — In the midst of the greatest time of his professional life, horse trainer Doug O'Neill is being followed around by an asterisk. Reporters want to know about his Kentucky Derby-winning horse, I'll Have Another. They want to know about O'Neill himself — how he got started, who he is, what he thinks about any number of topics. They want to know about young jockey Mario Gutierrez, who should have been way too green to ride the kind of race he did at Churchill Downs. They want to know about owner J. Paul Reddam, who made his money in the loan business and who named the horse by reprising a scene at home, where he sits on the couch, eats a cookie and requests another one from his wife.

Generally, post-race celebrations in the Winner's Circle at Santa Anita are fairly sedate, with maybe a dozen or so people posing for a photo with the victorious horse. But that certainly wasn't the case after I'll Have Another edged 9-10 favorite Creative Cause by a nose in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby before a crowd of 33,166 to establish himself as the West Coast's top representative in the Kentucky Derby on May 5. There were hundreds of rowdy people crammed together in the Winner's Circle.

Hurray for the great article on the abuse of the Tennessee walking horse. I attended the animal regulation hearing and watched while these courageous women spoke with such authority and facts regarding these documented abuses to the breed. The breed officials, trainers and owners, in clone-like behavior, chanted the same old party line--"The horses aren't sore, pads and chains don't 'sore' "-- ad nauseam . It was unethical, to say the least, for the represented veterinarian associations to testify on behalf of an industry that is out of control and is specifically monitored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture because of recorded abuses.

If you know anything at all about Del Mar, it's that the seaside town north of San Diego is the place to play the ponies. The horses aren't the only thoroughbreds in the track's history; you'll hear it connected to such names as Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, jockey Willie Shoemaker and, my favorite, Seabiscuit. But I'd encourage a Del Mar visit any time except the July 18-Sept. 5 racing season, just for the peace and quiet. The bed. I was here for a family wedding at L'Auberge del Mar Resort & Spa (1540 Camino del Mar; [800]

"The Cup," the true-life story of jockey Damien Oliver's miracle win atAustralia's2002 Melbourne Cup just a week after the death of his brother, is a tale of heart-wrenching tragedy and uplifting triumph that never quite hits its stride. This modestly rendered biopic directed by Simon Wincer, who co-wrote the script with Eric O'Keefe, gets too bogged down in the details to ever fully capture the pathos and pain that marked Damien's remarkable journey. It gives even shorter shrift to the comeback tale of the horse he rode, Media Puzzle, almost put down after a broken pelvis that should have been career ending.