Trainers

Driving north on Vine Street in Hollywood, just above Santa Monica Boulevard, it'd be easy to miss the home gym of the world's best boxer, Manny Pacquiao, and his equally respected trainer, Freddie Roach. It's across from a Taco Bell and just south of a Vagabond Inn and an Armenian Church, tucked in a nondescript strip mall with Nat's Thai Food, Nirvana Massage, Susie's Designs, a laundromat, a beer/wine market and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting room.

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.

An instinctive trainer, Bob Baffert likes to take a horse by a lead shank and walk it around the shedrow of the barn. "It's a way that I can tell where I am with a horse," Baffert said. "I can gauge how a horse is feeling. When a horse is feeling good, you can sense that, a lot like the tension a fisherman feels on his line when he hooks something." In 1996, Baffert's baptismal year at the Kentucky Derby, he almost won the race with Cavonnier, who was nosed out at the wire by Grindstone.

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.

Sweating like fat men in a steam bath, the aspiring drill instructors collapsed to the ground, puffing and groaning, unaccustomed to the rigors of a 4-mile trot in full gear through the hilly terrain at Camp Pendleton. A few yards away, some officers fussed over a young sergeant who had virtually swooned about a mile back and had to be carried to the finish in a truck. In front of the group stood Gunnery Sgt.

Capsized pranced nervously but entered the gate calmly, fourth from the rail for the 62nd running of the Santa Anita Derby. Sitting lightly upon Capsized, 113-pound Alex Solis felt his adrenaline pumping. Just before the gate burst open, there was a split second of stillness that exploded into the cacophony of charging horses and shouting jockeys. Hooves pounded. Dirt flew. Eight horses surged forward, with High Wire Act and Honest Lady pressing to the front.

Last December was a month to remember for Mater Dei basketball player Kevin Augustine, who turned in a series of incredible performances under the most trying circumstances. He suffered severe leg cramps the night he dribbled the length of the court and scored the tying basket with only two seconds left in regulation in a quarterfinal game of the prestigious Las Vegas Prep Holiday Classic Tournament.

Gadgets and machines have become as embedded in the fitness culture as sneakers and sweats. Although it's possible to get a decent workout with nothing more than a couple of dumbbells and a jump rope, high-tech contraptions help exercisers work smarter, not harder. We asked three trainers for their must-have selection and the best ways to incorporate it into a fitness program. Pete McCall, a San Diego-based trainer and exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, chose a heart rate monitor.

Trainer David Bernstein has been sanctioned by the California Racing Board because his horse Truly A Judge tested too high for an alkalizing agent at Del Mar on Sept. 5. Truly A Judge, a 7-year-old gelding, finished third in the $86,000 Windy Sands Handicap. Because the violation was against a house rule, the purse of the race won't be affected.

It was just hours after his boxer's toughest fight, Cris Arreola's winning brawl over Travis Walker last Thanksgiving weekend, when Henry Ramirez stopped being Just Plain Henry. Boxing loves nicknames. So do trainers. Example: Ignacio Beristain is "Nacho." So, in the wee hours of that Nov. 29 night, there was Just Plain Henry, about to acquire a new label. Ramirez is Arreola's longtime trainer. His strategy and decision-making in the corner Saturday night at Staples Center will have a big bearing on whether Arreola can pull off a huge upset against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.

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.

WASHINGTON - Brian McNamee, the chief accuser of former pitching star Roger Clemens, was left with his credibility hanging in the balance Friday after the latest of four grueling sessions of cross-examination by the defense at Clemens' perjury trial. McNamee, a former trainer, claims he repeatedly injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone between 1998 and 2001. In testimony to Congress in 2008 Clemens denied using the drugs, which prosecutors argue was a lie. Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin worked carefully through the physical evidence of Clemens' alleged drug use that McNamee provided.

WASHINGTON — Rusty Hardin, lead attorney for Roger Clemens, got the former pitcher's chief accuser to admit to a series of lies in a day of aggressive cross examination, but did not undermine his credibility with a single grand stroke. Clemens is on trial for perjury, accused of lying to Congress about his use of performance enhancing drugs. Brian McNamee, a former trainer who worked closely with Clemens, admitted that in 2007 he lied to federal agent Jeff Novitzky and the Mitchell Commission, which was investigating performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

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.

Manny Pacquiao's skyrocketing popularity created chaos that no mere mortal could be expected to balance. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 knockouts) appeared more human than ever in his last fight, however. As he prepares now for his next bout June 9 against Timothy Bradley, Pacquiao and his trainer acknowledge Everyman's frailty has been his most imposing contender. "All the distractions caught up to Manny in his last fight," Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said Thursday of the boxer's narrow decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in November.

Seldom has a horse been better named for taking the second step in pursuit of racing's Triple Crown than I'll Have Another. Doug O'Neill's Kentucky Derby champion has already moved in at Pimlico in Baltimore, site of the May 19 Preakness, and O'Neill applies simple logic to the unusually early arrival. "We really didn't have any opinion on the surfaces at either Churchill Downs or Pimlico," he said, "so we just decided to get him settled in at Pimlico. " O'Neill was back at Hollywood Park on Monday morning.

Three times a day, SeaWorld Orlando's killer whale trainers brush Tilikum's teeth, just as they always have. But they no longer stand right next to him with a water pick. Instead, they use a 2-foot extension so they can work farther from the 6-ton orca's jaws. The jury-rigged toothbrush is one of the many adjustments SeaWorld has made in the weeks since Tilikum grabbed veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau by her ponytail and drowned her in front of park guests. After the Feb. 24 tragedy, SeaWorld removed Tilikum from daily shows and ordered trainers to keep their distance from the animal, who is twice as big as any other orca at the park.

The California Horse Racing Board, still trying to right the wrongs that emerged from last year's clenbuterol scandal at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, may be digging a deeper hole. The seven commissioners are expected in the next few days to release a 30-page report, done by the California Department of Justice, that will name the implicated trainers in the horse-drugging controversy.

Don't forget to bring water to your workout, and not just to quench your thirst. Two water bottles are handy for this simple drill, demonstrated below by celebrity personal trainer Mike Donavanik (www.mikedfitness.com). What you're going to do is leap in a skating motion from one bottle to the other, picking up each bottle in its turn. Just remember to keep your core tight through the entire drill and to not overreach when you pick up the bottle. Why you should try it: It's a great plyometric exercise that will work your legs, butt and core and improve hand-eye coordination.

Despite a second-place finish for Bodemeister, both his trainer and jockey were very happy with his effort. "He ran his race," said Bob Baffert, who runs his barn out of Southern California. "He was there and just got tired a little bit. He's only run four times, and I was really proud of him. He's a super impressive horse. "It's the only time I've run second where I've been happy because he ran his race. " Jockey Mike Smith agreed. "He didn't finish first, but he's still a winner," Smith said.