Its teeth-chattering time and were not just talking about the difficulty of the golf course or what the price-gouging local hoteliers are charging for rooms. With weather expected to be decidedly cool and foggy along the Pacific Coast, CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling will be on hand to serve as your lighthouse.

Up

Westwood won network Forget Woody and Lefty and whatever numbers the oddsmakers are offering for your wallet-lightening pleasure. The real favorite this week at the U.S. Open has got to be Lee Westwood, who not only has been the steadiest player in the majors for the past two years, but over the weekend won for the first time in a dozen years in the United States. Woods and Mickelson are listed at 7-1 co-favorites, but with Westwood at 10-1 after contending down to the wire at the Masters and Players Championship, is there really a doubt as to who has the hottest hand? Westwood, No. 3 in the world rankings, Sunday became the third Englishman to win on the PGA Tour this year, joining first-timers Ian Poulter and Justin Rose. Westwood has consistently put himself in position to win the Grand Slam events dating to the U.S. Open in 2008, which also was played on the West Coast, incidentally. Hes been hanging around the top of major leaderboards for months. All he needs is for somebody to help hand him a win like he was handed the title in Memphis over the weekend. By the way, Westy was fifth at the 2000 Open at Pebble.

Handwringing when we ought to be applauding Theres been plenty of grousing about the fact that Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler didnt make it into the U.S. Open field, despite finishing 1-2 at the Memorial Tournament and jumping into the world top 35 as a result. Both missed last week in their sectional qualifiers, staged a day later. Sorry, fellas, but the U.S. Open is not a true meritocracy. The whole idea behind the word Open is accessibility. It doesnt offer the best field of the year, nor does it pretend to. Instead, it presents the most democratic path to thousands of players hoping to reach the Grand Slam promised land. Guys like former teen phenom Ty Tryon or double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, two tremendous storylines this week for all the right reasons. Both of them paid their money, took their chances and beat the players in their qualifiers to get a spiked foot in the door. They had one chance to get in. Rose and Fowler had all year to qualify via other means.

Big money and the Big Three Back in the day, they were so huge, such an integral part of the golf landscape, that they were simply called the Big Three. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player ruled the major-championship landscape for two decades, especially at the Masters, where they seemingly took turns slipping green jackets over one anothers shoulders. Last week, in what has been deemed the most successful golf fundraiser ever, the trio helped raise a staggering $15 million for a school for needy kids in Virginia by appearing in a one-day scramble event. It makes us shudder to think what these three could do it they played in similar events three or four times a year, perhaps even overseas. Would you buy a ticket to watch the games three greatest living icons? I would. What would Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els generate for a comparable cause? Maybe Im dreaming. But like the tour says, together, anythings possible, right?

Pairings party Unlike at a PGA Tour event, when pairings are made via random computer draws based on select categories (wink, wink), the folks who run the majors can tweak, contort and triangulate their dance card however they see fit. As ever, the USGA has done just that with the pairings this week for the first two rounds at Pebble Beach. Foremost is the interesting pairing including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, who, probably unbeknown to the USGA, arent exactly on the friendliest basis these days. The is a catchy one, as is the U.S. Open-winning triumvirate of Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera and Jim Furyk. The All-Down Under group of Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Rob Allenby (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy-oy-oy) ought to be fun to watch, and is the Sergio Garcia, Steve Stricker and Paul Casey triple the best group never to have won a major?

Grate Scot makes Old Course field On the course, Colin Montgomerie has always been a guy bothered by sounds that only a small dog could hear. Interestingly, though, despite enduring some of the worst off-the-course noise of his career, Monty managed to produce his best round in ages last week at the British Open qualifier in England. Monty, days removed from admitting he had cheated on his new millionaire bride of two years, shot a course record at historic Sunningdale to make the field at St. Andrews. Ranked a skidding 365th in the world at the time, Monty shot a 62 in his second round to ensure the host Scots would have their most visible player in the field. Monty, mind you, finished second to Tiger Woods at the British the last time it was held at the Old Course, in 1995, so the mind swims with delicious possibilities for those pesky British papers, which ambushed him last year at the British by sitting on a week-old Sandy Lyle diatribe before springing it on Monty during tournament week. Its one of the games great sidelights: Poke Monty in the ribs, stand back and see what happens.

Down

Visions of Van de Velde It was, without question, the gnarliest final-hole meltdown by a leader in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in over a decade, arguably dating to the triple-bogey train wreck of Jean Van de Velde at the British Open. American journeyman Robert Garrigus, three shots clear of former European Tour Order of Merit winners Lee Westwood and Robert Karlsson, chopped the 18th into tiny, nasty bits in Memphis and then lost in a playoff, contracting one of the worst cases of flop sweat (style tip: when the humidity is 99 percent and you tend to sweat profusely under pressure, dont wear light-colored pants) on his posterior in PGA Tour history. Sadly for him, Garrigus had a similar meltdown last year in the season finale, when he began the Disney World event at No. 123 in earnings and missed the cut. Had Garrigus merely made the weekend, he would have finished in the top 125 and retained his card. At least with his T2 finish in Memphis, he darned likely wont have to endure the latter indignity again.

Memphis: OD on the WDs? Supposedly, players on the PGA Tour are not allowed to indiscrimi like injury, illness, family emergency or other such malady. Last week in Memphis, which has struggled to find sponsorship and sorely needs all the star power it can get, these guys all withdrew after earlier committing to play: Arjun Atwal, Aaron Baddeley, Ricky Barnes, Brendon de Jonge, David Duval, Derek Lamely, Marc Leishman, John Malinger and Bo Van Pelt. Granted, none is likely to sell many tickets, but its curious they all made the field in this weeks U.S. Open. Call me a dinosaur, but if a guy commits to play, he ought to show up, tee it up and honor his word. Otherwise, the tour ought to be making a nice little deduction from his bank account.

What would you pay for Tiger Woods? Tiger Woods will return to Australia again this fall in a reprise of his pay-per-view appearance of sorts last year, when he won the Aussie Masters and drew all sorts of critical fire for taking tax money as part of his fee. This time around, outrageously, the Victorian organizers arent saying what Woods will its quite possibly less dinero than last time. In theory, it ought to be a buyers market for Woods, who still draws fans, although not always for the same reasons as before. If the Aussie government is shelling out the same jack as before, shame on them, because Woods seems in no position to be leveraging anybody. Speaking of which, this was the same event last year when his world deteriorated into a public spectacle, after one of his alleged extramarital dalliances, Rachel Uchitel, was spotted staying at Woods hotel. She later received a massive sum from Woods to remain mum, according to reports. So she received a non-appearance fee, in other words. Oddly, that financial figure was unreported, too.

Garrigushing, Part II Its a pity that Garrigus, a stand-up guy with a self-deprecating sense of humor, couldnt finish the job in Memphis, because hes got an interesting past, to say the least, and he isnt afraid to tell stories on himself. A few years back during a rain delay in Tampa, an animated Garrigus told a herd of bored PGA Tour players and caddies about the time he managed to, uh, lose both his rental car and golf clubs in the same week, though the story hardly ends there. Garrigus, a reformed party animal, was playing on the Nationwide Tour when his caddie borrowed his car, which contained his clubs in the trunk. The caddie didnt return and was popped by cops. Turns out, the caddie had sold the car and clubs in exchange for a Tony Montana-sized pile of drugs, forcing Garrigus to scramble to find a replacement set of sticks. Granted, it was a lot funnier hearing Garrigus tells it. Had he won Sunday, he might have had the chance. Nothing against Westwood, but I was a little bummed that Karlsson didnt win, too, because for those who think Jesper Parnevik is a Swedish nutball, Bobby K. isnt far behind. Like Parnevik, Karlsson said he ate volcanic dust at one point in his career. Were all about the color and storylines here at CBSSports.com.

17 IN A ROW

To move past legendary names like Cigar and Triple Crown winner Citation to win her 17th in a row, Zenyatta had to reach back for all she had in order to collar St. Trinians in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap last Sunday.

The Queen was 2 and a half-lengths off the lead with a furlong to go but eventually wore down her key rival in the final 2 jumps. The outcome was far from determined until that point, as it appeared St. Trinians was digging in and would hold off the champ, but it was not to be.

The scary part is that Zenyatta’s connections think she will move up from this race. Her rider Mike Smith: “Whats amazing about this race is that I think she needed the race. I think she had an easy race first time out and she got a really easy race at Oaklawn. I think this will put her back to the [form of the Breeders Cup] Classic and maybe better, I hope. I think this race will really move her forward.”

For the record, she came from 11 lengths back after going 5 wide to post the winning time of 1:49.01 for the 9 furlongs.

THE MOTT FACTOR

Although Bill Mott’s trainee Drosselmeyer surprised at 13-1 in the Belmont Stakes that was not Mott’s first trip to the rodeo and he had some interesting things for bettors to digest in a recent chat courtesy of the New York Racing Association.

Before we get into what works for Mott and some of his ideas about how he gets horses up to winning races, a review of how he got to the big stage is warranted.

Mott started out training thoroughbred horses at age 15, and won a stakes while he was still in high school in South Dakota.

He learned the early lessons from some of the best in the business, by becoming first, an exercise rider, then, an assistant trainer for legendary Hall of Fame trainer and one of my personal heroes Jack Van Berg.

Mott himself became the 2nd youngest trainer ever to enter the Hall of Fame.

In a 15-year span, he won 9 training titles at Saratoga, one of the toughest meets in the world, and added 10 and 9 at Belmont and Gulfstream to prove he was not anyway biased.

National prominence came to him as he guided Cigar to an amazing 16-race win streak with the icing on the cake the $5 million score in the Dubai World Cup.

Asked some very serious questions in the NYRA piece, Mott was honest and telling. He admitted that although he started like most everybody else as a claming trainer, he now generally handles homebreds that are well pedigreed.

He tipped his hand about his juveniles this summer when mentioning he has 50 2-year-olds in training at Saratoga right now and that he is optimistic that they will be firing by August.

Mott intimated that speed of workouts is not as important as knowing what a normal work pattern would be for a particular horse and to pay strict attention if that runner deviates, one way or the other, from that steady pattern.

On the body language of runners, Mott suggested for bettors to look for a horse who is alert and looks good and worry when the horse gets wet and sweaty. He cautioned that on warm days, every horse will sweat and you want to see some sweat on them so you know theyre cooling off a little but you dont want to see a horse thats dripping wet because usually those horses are showing some anxiety or nervousness about competition, and in many cases wont fire their best shot that way.

His three most important handicapping factors that he focuses on are distance, track surface and then the level of competition and that the last factor will take care of itself if the first two factors are properly addressed.

So what are the areas that Mott has excelled at over the decades?

He gets horses to fire fresh off long layoffs to the tune of nearly 25% and he is more potent with 2nd timers than debuters.

Equally adept going sprint to route, or cutting back, when Mott takes the blinkers it generally signals an improvement is in store.

In the last 5 years when his runners have gone dirt to turf he has hit at 22% with a median winning price of 3-1 and almost 50% of those runners have been in the money.

He has hit just over one in 5 going Maiden Special Weight to maiden claiming over that same time frame and over 50% of those runners were in the money.

Bettors have to be careful when looking at his foreign shippers, as he is only 4 for 29 in that category the last several years with a small return on investment.

Lastly, when the money is down on the Mott runners, it has been a very good sign as 47% of his odds-on runners the last 5 years won and nearly 80% of them have been in the money.

Presumably, Jack Nicklaus was kidding.

In an attempt to glean a fresh observation from the Golden Bear about the indescribable beat-down Tiger Woods rendered on the golf world 10 years ago at the U.S. Open, Nicklaus was asked where it ranked in the pantheon of great majors performances.

The answer seemed obvious, but maybe the verbiage wasnt. Always quick with the needle, Nicklaus cracked, “First, I need a dictionary to look up pantheon.”

He shouldnt, since its broadly defined as a temple for all deities and her as did Woods after the god-like annihilation he delivered in 2000 at Pebble Beach, where he won by an incomprehensible 15 strokes.

“That was a pretty good dusting of the world,” Nicklaus said last week. “I would think that Tiger cant wait to get back to Pebble Beach to try to do that again. Even if he plays poorly and only wins by five or six.”

Only? Rest assured that Nicklaus, who played in his final U.S. Open the same week Woods smashed Pebble like a prison rockpile, laughed as he said it. That scenic week on the seashore a decade ago was characterized at the time as the symbolic passing of the torch from Nicklaus to Woods, though the scribes only got it partly right.

It was actually a blowtorch.

Padraig Harrington, who would eventually win three major cham a ridiculous 17 shots back, or more than four strokes per day.

“I was playing in the other tournament,” Harrington said with a chuckle.

The one contested for second place, he m including the major-championship-best 15-shot margin, bettering a record set i it made eyes blur and speech slur.

This week, the National Open returns to Pebble Beach for the first time since Woods roared on the seashore like an angry sea lion, cracking par as easily as a seal busts open a clamshell. Along the sand and rocks of famous Stillwater Cove, the field was a 155-man puppy drowning.

Woods, 24 at the time, had already won two majors, but in many ways, the Pebble Beach performance is what launched the Tiger legend. A month later he won the British Open by a record eight shots, then added the PGA Championship in August. A wraparound Grand Slam was completed the following April at the Masters.

Players at Pebble Beach tried to muster the right adjectives, a task that proved as impossible then as over the ensuing decade. The 2000 event marked the centennial U.S. Open, and Woods performance that week ranked in the 100th percentile.

“I am definitely mortal,” said Rocco Mediate, who would lose in a playoff to Woods eight years later at the U.S. Open. “I think we all are. But hes not.”

This spring, Harrington recalled leaving the double-aught Open with some dangerous, daunting thoughts careening around his ever-active noggin. He felt “inadequate” as a professional.

“At that very moment, I think professional golfers were wondering, would they ever compete again with Tiger,” Harrington said. “He had taken such a leap. Nobody else was capable of doing that.

“Obviously, it was a good week for Tiger, but 15 shots was a big spread. I dont think anybody at that time felt they could have done that even on their very best week. So he did look like he wasnt just one step, he looked like he was probably three steps ahead of everybody else.”

Basically, the weekend was a coronation, because it was obvious early that Woods was chucking boulders around Pebble. NBC analyst Johnny Miller watched Woods practice Wednesday and was asked by his network partner, Dan Hicks, who he thought would win.

“There was this feeling of such positive vibes and a guy who was literally walking on air and in total command of his game and making the game look easy,” Miller recalled. “I said, Tiger not only is going to win, but he is going to win by a record score. Dan sort of rolled his eyes like, What, are you on drugs or something?”

Only if reality is a controlled substance. Woods shot 65 on Thursday, the lowest score ever in any U.S. Open round at Pebble, then set records for largest Open leads after the second, third and fourth rounds. After a mere nine holes, Miller gushed on the air, drawing peals of criticism from players and agents, “Tiger is going to win this thing, maybe big.”

He did, by an entire landscape, which was completely changed by his performance, especially psychologically. Those who watched both from up close and afar wondered whether they had any hope of ever beating the guy.

“I thought it was ridiculous,” said Masters winner Zach Johnson, who was still an impressionable mini-tour player in 2000. “I thought, You know what, Ill stay very humble out here on the Hooters Tour.”

The most inexplicably strong part of the week was Woods performance on the notoriously small, bumpy greens at Pebble Beach, which are sodded with a grass strain called poa annua. Some pros have likened rolling balls across poa to putting across broccoli tops, yet Woods went the entire week without a three-putt, even though he hit a tournament-best 51 greens in regulation. He also finished sixth both in total putts (110) and average putts per green (1.53).

“The thing I recall most vividly is that he never missed a putt,” said Jim Furyk, who played the first two rounds with Woods and later won an Open himself. “He made everything. If he missed, I dont remember it.”

In fact, Woods didnt misfire from inside 8 feet all week, an unholy conversion rate on greens that fast and uneven. But characterizing it as a hot putting week would be selling Woods short. It was a 14-club thrashing.

“I didnt do anything special that week,” Woods said at the Memorial Tournament last week. “Everything was just on.”

Tigers short fuse also made an appearance during that tournament. (Getty Images) If not in. The putts dropped like harbingers of doom, portending what Woods would accomplish over the next decade, yet there were signs that not all was perfect with the games newest star. The self-absorption, ego and short fuse that helped ruin his reputation over the past six months were beginning to surface, like subtle “tells” in a card game.

The day before the 2000 event began, a series of players lined up on the shoreline at Pebble and whacked balls into the Pacific Ocean, a tribute to Woods neighbor, Payne Stewart, the Open winner in 1999. Stewart died in a tragic jet crash the previous fall and was unable to defend his title.

“I felt going to the ceremony would be more of a deterrent for me during the tournament, because I dont want to be thinking about it,” Woods said at the time, drawing only trace amounts of criticism.

Quite the sentimental type, especially since he and Stewart were members of the same club in Orlando. Later, during the completion of the weather-delayed second round early Saturday morning, Woods cranked his tee ball into the Pacific on the 18th and unleashed a profane tirade that was picked up by NBC Sports microphones. Ten years and a thousand expletives later, his image badly bruised, Woods says he hopes to finally clean up his act.

No whisk brooms were required in 2000, though. He led the field in driving distance and greens in regulation, averaging 299 yards and finding seven more greens than any other player in the field. Two other statistical curiosities really told the story: The field averaged five bogeys per day, while Woods had six for the entire week. He opened and closed the week with stretches of 22 and 26 holes without a bogey.

It was such a clinical, tactical, impeccable dissecti identify his favorite moment of the week.

“Id have to say the 3-footer I made on 18 [to win],” Woods smirked last week.

For Ernie Els, who finished 3 over and 15 shots back in a tie for second, it was another of the many times he got whacked by Woods, his playing partner in the final round at Pebble. In fact, Els finished second to Woods at the British Open four weeks later.

“It was a privilege just to be there,” Els said this spring. “I was obviously the sideshow of the whole thing, but it was nice to be out there and see the absolute focus that the man has and the shots that he played were just incredible.”

Tom Watson, who won eight majors and a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach himself, unblinkingly called it the greatest performance in golf history for several darn he won it by 15 shots,” Watson laughed. “Nobody has ever dominated the sport like Tiger did back in that particular run. He went through a swing change, and I dont think his swing is as good now as it was then. He has a fractured knee and of course has had personal problems that have been well-documented.

“But back then, I thought he swung the club better to me, the most important golf tournament there is, our National Open, because its the most difficult to win in my opinion. He dominated that tournament more than anyone had ever dominated it in modern times.”

Outside of one triple-bogey, Woods never blinked. His cleated foot on the throat of the field, he pressed down harder and found other sources of motivation.

“The thing I remember most is that on the 16th hole on Sunday, he had about a 12-footer for par, and hes winning the thing by 15 shots and the tournament is over, and sure enough he makes this putt and theres the fist-pumping and the celebration when he made it and were thinking, This guy is going for every record there ever was and hes going to shatter everything,” said NBCs Roger Maltbie, who tracked Woods that week. “After it was all over we asked him what that was all about and he said, Oh, I just didnt want to make a bogey today and that was my only goal. If I went out and played without a bogey, then I would win.

“So, obviously, he looks at the game a little differently than a lot of others. It was hard to swing a golf club any better than he was swinging it back in that time frame.”

It was such a lopsided romp, some believe the 15-shot record will stand forever. After all, the old Grand Slam mark for largest margin, 13 shots, lasted 138 years. Woods isnt so sure. “It could happen,” he said last week. “I think it has to happen on hard venues, and thats the only way. If you get everyone playing a simple venue where everyone is shooting 4 or 5 under par, its not going to happen. You cant separate yourself like that.

“You have to get on a venue where par is a good score and you happen to get super hot that week. Thats the only time you can separate yourself. It just happened to be that week for me.”

He didnt exactly stink it up over the rest of the decade, but the 2000 Open stands as the pinnacle of major-championship achievement, for Woods or anybody else.

“After Pebble Beach,” Harrington said, “there wasnt anybody who thought even their best game was good enough.”

Who: Thoroughbreds – Funny Moon, Life At Ten, Unrivaled Belle, Battle Plan, Blame
What: Horse Racing Betting Tips – The Ogden Phipps Handicap, The Stephen Foster Handicap
Where: Belmont Park, Churchill Downs
When: Saturday, June 12th

Unrivaled Belle, conqueror of Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra last out, will be heavily favored in The Odgen Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday. Later in the afternoon, Battle Plan and Blame will vie for favoritism in The Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Strangely, it seems that the 5-horse Phipps field with a prohibitive favorite offers a greater chance for an upset than the 11-horse Foster lineup with a trio of millionaires in addition to the co-favorites.
Unrivaled Belle is 2-for-2 at Belmont and has been training well for Hall-of-Famer Bill Mott since the upset of Rachel Alexandra. However, she’s likely to be overbet off that win, and the pair to her inside won’t go down without a fight. Funny Moon has won 4-of-5 at Belmont, including the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last summer and the Grade 2 Shuvee last out. Granted, her Beyer Speed Figures are a bit light (lifetime best of 91), but this filly is top-class and she’s in expert hands (trainer Christophe Clement and jockey Alan Garcia). Life At Ten is on a 4-race winning streak, including the Grade 3 Sixty Sails Handicap at Hawthorne last out. She earned a 101 Beyer in that event, just two ticks below ‘Belle’s lifetime top (103). All three have similar running styles…they can lead or stalk, so race tactics and trips could be critical. Funny Moon may be best served saving ground several lengths off the early pace. Although she’s listed at 5-2 on the morning line, I have a feeling that this grand-daughter of Belmont Stakes winners A. P. Indy and Easy Goer might be overlooked by the betting public. I’ll bet Funny Moon to win at odds of 3-1 or better, and key her over Life At Ten and Unrivaled Belle in the exacta.
Stephen Foster co-favorite Blame is as tough as they come, having hit the board in all nine lifetime starts, with six wins. He’s won his last two at Churchill, most recently the Grade 2 Clark Handicap last fall. He prevailed over a tough field that day, including Misremembered (2nd), Einstein (3rd), and Foster entrants Giant Oak (4th), Demarcation (8th) and millionaire Macho Again (9th). However, I’m leaning towards the Todd Pletcher-trained Battle Plan (5-2 morning line). He could be loose on the lead in a paceless affair, and prove extremely difficult to run down. I’ll bet on Battle Plan to win at odds of 3-2 or better, and key him on top in $2.00 trifectas (add a zero if your bankroll permits). I’ll also key Blame in the second and third slots, with “All”. The trifecta tickets will look like this: 2/11/All and 2/All/11. Total trifecta cost: $36.00 (or $360.00, bankroll permitting).
Those are my horse racing betting tips for the weekend. Best of luck and happy gambling!   

Tiger Woods will play the first two rounds of next weeks U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with a familiar foe.

Woods will be in a threesome that includes Ernie Els, the runner-up to Woods 10 years ago at Pebble Beach by a record 15 shots. This time, at least they start on even terms.

Lee Westwood, who has finished in the top three in the last three major championships, rounds out the All-Star threesome.

They are scheduled to tee off Thursday at 4:36 p.m. ET, and will start next Fridays second round at 11:06 a.m. from the No. 10 tee.

Defending champ Lucas Glover will play with British Open champion Stewart Cink and South Korean amateur Byeong-Hun An, South Korea at 11:17 a.m. Thursday (first tee) and 4:47 p.m. Friday.

Phil Mickelson, runner-up a record five times in the U.S. Open, is paired with three-time major champion Padraig Harrington and PGA champion Y.E. Yang of South Korea at 11:06 a.m. Thursday (10th hole) and 4:36 p.m. Friday.

The latest first and second-round tee times are at 5:42 p.m., with prime-time TV coverage extending until 10 p.m. Saturdays third round coverage is scheduled to run until 11.

Everybody gets pumped up during the Triple Crown but if you want to make winning bets and get ahead in this sport, you have to have a good gauge of how to handle claimers.

Face it, champions are few and far between and to win money at the track, a player must understand how to evaluate the lower-echelon horses.

When I first started handicapping, I would practice by making my selections on paper for tracks like Charles Town, Liberty Bell, and Penn National and then monitor the results. Claimers dominated the programs there then and still do.

Claimers account for about 75% of the racing cards throughout the country. Since they are not as sound as the better horses, they hold their form for a shorter period of time and are less formful as a whole.

Early speed, as with top-notch horses, is tantamount to being successful. In the olden days, handicapping books would advise to bet only claimers with recent activity, say horses that have run within a couple of weeks or so. But in this day and age, things have changes.

Horses, cheap ones at that, can win off the layoff and they do it all the time. In fact, cheap horses often fire their best shot first time out after a layoff. They are not tired from the racing grind, they are mentally sharp and whatever was ailing them and forced them to the sidelines may have abated and they are generally in better physical condition when they return.

Bettors love horses that drop. It makes all the sense in the world but horses that drop seldom offer good value at the windows. Players assume since at one time they were capable of performing at a certain level, that when taking a big drop down the claiming ladder they will even be more effective. It works sometimes, but not always and the payoffs are usually on the small side.

I have found that one of the best and most lucrative situations occurs when a sharp trainer jumps his claimer up the ladder. It tells the bettor that the trainer thinks the horse is doing so well that he can stand the raise.

In Southern California these days, there are the conditioners that deal with blue bloods and there are the guys that keep it together by playing equine poker at the claim box.

Just take a look at the current Hollywood Park standings. Doug O’Neill does it with numbers and was winning at a 15% clip after 100 starters but 30 others were in the money. 

There were some relative ‘little’ guys that were flat-out rolling.

Bill Spawr is a master with cheaper stock and he watched 4 of his first 7 starters hit the exacta.

Ral Ayers is the former assistant to Jeff Mullins and has watched 5 of his 23 runners cash.

Underrated trainer Janet Armstrong is far from a household name but she can train. Her first 5 starters of the meet were in the money and 2 were greeted in the charmed circle.

William E. Morey, who plied his trade most of his career in Northern California, won with 4 of his first 8 starters, three others ran third and he lives and dies with the cheaper stock.

There are many ways to approach claimers and the game as a whole but if you know the players who pull the strings, you have a head start on the field.

Its a term that makes some fans roll their eyes every time they hear it. Same reaction here, mostly.

PGA Tour players love to trot out the phrase “independent contractor” to describe their job status. Its a fair term, but there are millions of contracted Americans punching timecards who would love to be so untethered from their employers leash.

In the old days Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player would voluntarily boost lower-tier events. (AP) Tour players get medical benefits, free courtesy cars, free breakfast and lunch buffets that would make a Las Vegas resort envious, gratis daycare for their kids and have the best pension plan in professional sports. They used to get free laundry service, too. Still, when the tour came to the players last week with a plan that would mandate teeing it up at pre-selected downtrodden events beginning in 2011, the pushback seemed predictable.

Historically, these guys hate being told where and when to play more than they dislike Democrats and paying taxes.

Wrong. On the first count, I mean.

“Really, zero negativity,” Steve Stricker said.

With the economy ailing, two crucial network television contracts up for renewal, a slew of title sponsors waffling or bailing and the prospect of losing tournaments becoming a very real possibility, players took a look at the tours proposed mandate and saluted.

Not the one-finger variety, either. The proposal was unveiled before the Players Advisory Council last week, and while the final nuances havent been settled, Stricker said that roughly 50 players from atop the FedEx Cup points standings or final money list from the previous year will likely be required to choose one tournament from a designated list of events that need marquee help.

Then, as tour players often say regarding their caddies: Theyll be expected to show up, keep up and shut up.

Tiger Woods, say hello in 2011 to Greensboro, Palm Springs or New Orleans, just to name three locales he has never visited in his stellar career. Victims of bad spots on the calendar, bad reputations among players or just plain bad luck, the only way some of the tertiary events are going to survive is by spreading the wealth of stars more evenly. Stricker, co-chairman of the PAC, said the group was overwhelmingly supportive of the notion, though the fine points still need a tap from a ballpeen hammer here and there.

Its about time. For years, the lone requirement for membership is to play 15 events each season. There has been intermittent chatter for the past few seasons about instituting a 1-in-4 rule, wherein all members would be expected to play in each official event at least once every four years a la the LPGA system, but it never gained any traction. This one seems like a painless fix.

One more tour stop wont kill anybody, will it? For years, certain sponsors have, perhaps naively, signed up and and some have rarely, if ever, seen the big boys come to town.

“They have always come to players on top of the money list and asked them to play and help out tournaments the next year,” Stricker said. “They would come to you and say, Can you help us out please, and choose one of these events to go to? They are still going to do that, and also do the other thing where its going to be mandatory.

“If you wont, there will be some consequences to it. I think they will show us probably three or six tournaments and we will have to pick from one of those three or six, and you are going to have to play. You are going to be committed to play in that.”

Interestingly, Stricker said much of the conversation at the PAC level focused on the penalties for those who might elect to blow off the mandate if its enacted. Some guys can afford any fine the tour might levy, of course.

“The biggest concern we had is getting the disciplinary actions correct,” he said. “Thats what some of the discussion was about. I mean, if its a $5,000 fine … they wont go play, and if its a suspension, then, how long?

“We left there not really knowing, either. That was a sticking point.”

I say bring the heat and light some fires. Tweaks to the proposal are being kicked around at tour headquarters and will likely be presented to the PAC or Policy Board later this year, Stricker predicted.

“I think its more feasible than the 1-in-3, or 1-in-4 or 1-in-5 [idea], whatever it is,” said Zach Johnson, a Policy Board member. “Some of the tournaments that need a boost as far as personnel, on paper it makes complete sense.”

True enough. It made sense 30 years ago, too.

Funny that the proposal would be discussed at the Memorial Tournament, where host Jack Nicklaus explained how a similar rule worked back in his prime. Not that he and Arnold Palmer or Gary Player needed to be told how important it was for them to play at different tournaments and to build the brand.

“Its pretty difficult to force them to play more, [since] they are independent contractors and they have to do that by their own free will,” he said, spouting the common party line. “We did have some designated tournaments, which is probably against their rights, but I dont think the players objected to that.

“Thats what I tried to do, what Arnold and Gary tried to do. We talked about it every year. I am going to play at such and such and such because I havent played there for a while. It was voluntary.

“Its the same thing. I was picking one or two of the tournaments I hadnt been playing in and tried to add that to the list. Through the years, some of them I went to I went, Now I know why I havent been here. My decision was correct.”

Nicklaus laughed, but he knew the reasoning behind the rationale.

“But I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do,” he said.

Its a different tour these days, however, and not just because certain players are richer and more self-absorbed, shall we say. The bigger events, with massive purses and worldwide fields, trump the second- and third-tier tournaments in the States. Even some of the invitationals, like Colonial, have taken a hit. The invitationals used to rank second in importance only to the majors and the Players Championship.

“Look at what they have got,” Nicklaus said. “You have four major championships, the World Championships, the FedEx Cup, Tour C basically most of them come here. By the time they get through, I think most of them go to [Quail Hollow] and Arnolds, by the time you add it up, thats probably 12 or 13 tournaments.”

Actually, its more like 15 or 16.

Over the years, different compulsory bailout plans have been trotted out. In 1977, Nicklaus came straight back from a runner-up finish at the British Open and played at the Pleasant Valley Classic, which was a designated event that year. Everybody in the upper echelon had to play, so Nicklaus showed up and finished second.

But in an era when t 21 count issuing geographic marching orders can be a tough ideal to swallow.

“Most of them are worldwide players today,” Nicklaus said. “Those guys have got to go home and support their own tour, too. So its gotten more difficult.”

The tour, in a way, is a victim of its own success. There are too many good tournaments. The top dogs, generally playing between 18-22 times annually, dont often venture outside their comfort-zone core of tournaments at the majors, FedEx, or WGC stops. But as Stricker noted, adding a top 10 player in a star-starved locale might just help a title sponsor renew long-term, ignite some dormant passion for the game in the community and further spread the PGA Tour brand.

One extra week per year doesnt amount to much arm-twisting, does it? Plus, a top player who already is entering one of the designated events annually would get off the hook completely, Stricker said. Requirement satisfied.

In 1999, before purses really began spiking in the Woods era, the top 10 players on the money list averaged 25.3 starts annually. In 2009, it dropped to 22.2, which is a significant amount. Starts for top-tier players have been trending downward for years, probably because of the staggering amount of money available in week-to-week purses. The simplest explanation is, they dont have to play as often anymore.

“I can see where they might want to go to that kind of situation,” Nicklaus said. “Because the guys are going to play, basically, what the significant events will give you and not a lot more.”

Augusta Chronicle

There has been plenty of reaction, pro and con, regarding the USGAs philosophical do-over, which resulted in Vijay Singh getting an exemption into next weeks U.S. Open at the 11th hour. Did he deserve it?

ELLING: The crazy part is, all of the reasons I used to argue in favor of the exemption can be used as ballast for the other camps stance that he should have been denied. Clearly, though it was a unanimous decision to give Singh the exemption the second time the USGA reviewed his verbal petition, it was a subjective call and sets an uncomfortable precedent. Singh played through injuries all year and “plummeted” in the world ranking, losing his automatic spot in the field, as USGA rules chief Mike Davis points out. But Singh is plenty healthy now and could easily have played in Mondays 36-hole qualifier. Singh has played in every major since the 1994 U.S. Open, the longest active streak in the game and one we would like to see extended. While I am happy his game is rounding into shape, finally, and that he will be part of the scene at Pebble, where he won the regular PGA Tour event six years ago, its extremely disappointing that he was resistant to playing in the sectional qualifier. You know, like Champions Tour player Tom Kite, or double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton. I defended the USGA decision initially last week, but now I might need some syrup for this waffle.

MICHAUX: Terrible decision. Indefensible. Im all for giving out an occasional special exemption to a former USGA champion (i.e., Tom Watson this go-around), but granting a free pass to a former marquee player who is off his game is just reprehensible. The Masters didnt give Davis Love III a freebie a couple of years ago to let him keep his majors streak alive, and he won a PGA Tour event less than six months before. Singhs consecutive-majors streak* forever earns a big fat asterisk behind it. Its no longer genuine. The lame excuse of Singh “playing through injuries” that the USGA offered as justification is ridiculous. Excuse me, but Erik Compton has been playing through injuries since he was 10 years old and he proved Monday by getting through 36-hole qualifying on fumes that he has more than three times the heart Singh has. The only thing worth respecting about Singh was his work ethic, yet the fact that he wasnt willing to work like everybody else and go through the qualifying process takes that point of pride off the table. I believe the few pejoratives he used to describe Annika Sorenstams acceptance of an exemption into the 2002 Colonial would handily apply to himself this time, since hes the one taking a spot away from a more deserving qualifier. This is a dreadful precedent that the USGA needs to get bashed for to hopefully prevent it ever happening again.

Who do you envision having a better week at Pebble Beach, Woody or Lefty, and why?

ELLING: The oddsmakers have Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods listed as joint favorites at 6-to-1, which says plenty. You have to go back a decade to find instances when Woods wasnt the consensus favorite at a major. But really, whats there to love about his game at the moment? At one point on the weekend at Memorial, he ranked 70th out of the 71 guys who made the cut in driving accuracy. How do you think that will fly at a U.S. Open? Mickelson you will be seeing that s and Woods won the event two years ago on a broken leg, but its his game thats fractured at the moment. After tracking him for parts of the first two rounds at Muirfield Village, it was evident that he has a long way to go. Woods himself estimated that hes only slightly more than halfway back to where his game needs to be. Oh and by the way, nobody should cite his lack of at-bats this season as an excuse for inconsistent play. He could have played Memphis this week and he laughed in my face when I asked him Sunday if he considered it. He elected not to play all spring. His decision. Meanwhile, Lefty putted like a blind man last week and contended briefly on Sunday. Two months after the Masters, hes still the top dog, despite what the world rankings say.

MICHAUX: No question, its Mickelson. I believe Lefty is going to win this week on a course he has won on three times before (twice since the last time Tiger two-peated there in 2000), burying the U.S. Open curse that has haunted him and carrying his beautiful family story into an intense week of Grand Slam hype at St. Andrews (where, incidentally, I think Tiger will win). Mickelson is simply the better golfer right now. Its not even close, really. We should never count Woods out, because he is always capable of doing something amazing at any moment. Hes that good. But Tiger hasnt given any hints that hes close to having his game in U.S. Open order, which demands at least a little bit of control even from him. Hell be a much different force at the British Open, where his ingenuity can overcome his current flaws. Pebble Beach will be less forgiving. What Tiger did there in 2000 was beyond compare, and its totally irrelevant next week. He can claim all he wants that hes a better golfer now than he was then, but nobody is buying that load of malarkey. That was the best golf performance ever staged. Hes so far from that now. He won by 15 then. There are 15 guys I would pick ahead of him this time, and Mickelson tops that list.

Down in Michauxs neighborhood, theyre going nuts over Augusta States upset of Oklahoma State in the NCAA Division I match-play finale on Sunday. In the second year of the new format, is it a winner?

ELLING: For drama, it has been unbelievable, with Texas A&M winning on what was basically a walk-off birdie last season, and Okie State losing this year when Kevin Tway, son of PGA Championship winner Bob Tway, missed a 5-footer to officially hand the victory to A-State. But let me play devils advocate for a while. Other than the annual Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship, the college kids dont compete in much match play, yet they want to decide the national crown by using that format on the final three days? Upsets are great for theatrics and all, but its not like its a TV event and the goosebumps sell demonstrably more tickets. At some point, if the top teams keep getting knocked off by underdogs, the format is going to get pitched. Im not sure its sporting for a team to be demonstrably stronger all year then lose on the last day in a funky format. But what the heck, at least when some of the young American gunslingers make it to the big time, they cant claim at the next Ryder Cup that they dont have any match-play experience, right?

MICHAUX: Youve got to believe that Greg Norman is enjoying a little chuckle. After 24 years, an Australian (Mitch Krywulycz) extracted a measure of revenge on the Tway family (this time Kevin) on a champio coming in the only s is a grea made up as usual deserve nothing but praise after blowing through the 1, 2 and 3 seeds in the match-play format, culminating with the takedown of collegiate behemoth Oklahoma State (on the 10th anniversary of Augustan Charles Howell IIIs record romp to lead the Cowboys to one of their 10 titles, no less). But to categorize this as a fluke would be an injustice, especially since Augustas top two seeds essentially skunked OSUs biggest stars. Augusta State was the fifth-ranked team in the country with three victories and a second-place finish in the NCAA regional. They were always a thre is the only other program to place alums on both the U.S. and European teams in the past two Ryder Cups). This victory will be a massive boon to a program that previously only had the name “Augusta” going for it on the recruiting trail. As for the format, it is a perfect way to decide a team championship and provides intense drama for a network (wake up, Golf Channel) savvy enough to match play at the collegiate level.

After the PGA finishes its annual rip to Jacks Track, and after Monty tripped over his own trousers in Wales, CBSSports.com senior writer Steve Elling tries to put another memorable week into comical context in Up & Down. In honor of Rickie Fowler, he is wearing a 10-gallon hat on his 10-quart head as he writes.

Up

Dad delivers His father hadnt even finished his final round, but Leo Rose didnt care. Being 15 months old, and having battled an earache all week, he was ready to celebrate. Camped out with his mom near the 18th green, every time the gallery applauded for anybody, little Leo began happily clapping along, too. Eventually, his father finished off one of the most impressive closing rounds in Memorial Tournament history with a 66 and recorded his first PGA Tour victory after 161 fruitless starts. Justin Rose, saddled with great expectations since he finished fourth in the British Open as a grinning 17-year-old amateur in 1998, had finally gotten over the hump in the States after topping the European Tour money list in 2007 and going winless ever since. “Sometimes you learn more from the bad stuff than you do from the victories,” Rose said. To his eternal credit, his many career ups and downs, which included missing his first 22 cuts as a professional, never changed his personable demeanor. For that, he should be applauded by kids and adults alike.

Agent orange Every day before he plays, just before his tee time, Rickie Fowler whips out his cell phone and sends a Twitter message to his follower fans: GO TIME. The flashy 21-year-old didnt quite get back to the house with the lead Sunday after starting the final round at Memorial three shots ahead, but is there any doubt that he will win at some point this year? He has three second-place finishes in 19 starts as a pro on the games toughest tour. Hes fearless, he plays quickly and decisively, and about the only criticism I can muster is about the traffic-cone-colored outfit he wears Sunday as a tribute to his alma mater, Okie State, which lost in the NCAA finals a few hours before Fowler stumbled home at Memorial. Part of me wishes the kid would win first and then begin building a brand out of himself, but at the rate hes going, a victory is a fait accompli. In fact, if the Ryder Cup team were picked today, the 5-8, 150-pound dynamo would have to be on it. Fowler, who was still an amateur a year ago, Monday rocketed to 32nd in the world rankings … one slot ahead of Rose. Love those world rankings. Before last Tuesday, Fowler had never before seen Muirfield Village, as has been the case at most tour tracks throughout his rookie season. Impressive start, no question.

A guy we should still be cheering for Most of the fans along the metal security railing had no idea what Erik Compton was talking about, because they dont know the background. For a moment, I wasnt sure, either. Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, played in the Memorial Tournament last weekend on a sponsor exemption and finished 71st, last among those who played on the weekend. “I cant keep doing this,” he grumbled as he signed hats and flags after shooting 82 in the final round. “Its just getting so old.” This, in his words, is making cuts in PGA Tour events, then running out of gas on the weekend because of his medical issues. Compton, who has no tour status, is 4-for-4 in making cuts on the PGA Tour this year, but thrice has shot 74 or higher Sunday, when fatigue often kicks in. Moreover, he was entered in a 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifier Monday morning in Ohio and was determined to give it a go. When Vijay Singh balks and complains at playing in a sectional, yet a guy like Compton can muster the courage and energy despite his many hurdles, that says plenty about the character of the latter. And maybe the former.

Third cup completes the collection OK, so it was mostly a quid pro quo for all the work Jack Nicklaus has done to make the Presidents Cup relevant, which includes serving as captain four times. But in the fall of 2013, his home track, Muirfield Village, will host the team event, becoming the first course to host the Ryder, Solheim and Presidents. Given the way most players feel about the course, it seems like a perfect fit, not to mention a fitting tribute. “When you fast forward 45 or 50 years and look back on the history of the Presidents Cup, you will be able to point to Jacks involvement early on as a real impetus to bringing the world class attention that it gets today,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. Nicklaus said he is blowing up and redesigning the par-3 16th hole, in part because he knows that many matches will end there and the hole is too vanilla. As testament to Nicklaus considerable muscle in Columbus, Big Ten power Ohio State has already agreed to move its scheduled football game that Saturday to an evening affair to accommodate the matches with the international team. Youd expect no less in a town there the interstate is already named in the Bears honor.

Phil takes the high road (or was it the low one?) The PGA Tour security man assigned to squire Phil Mickelson around Sunday afternoon walked into the media center and was immediately asked about Leftys tour de farce on the 15th hole, when he had put himself into semi-contention, then made a wild double-bogey, even by his high standards. “Phil took the road less traveled, literally,” the security official cracked. Mickelson sprayed his drive into the trees and played his next shot from a road located, according to one witness estimate, about 250 yards from the center of the 15th fairway. Didnt know Muirfield Village had a Road Hole? Neither did the rest of us. Mickelson picked a fairway wood cleanly off the asphalt, but three-jacked for a double a few moments later, though he did finish a solid fifth. Afterward, he was asked if he had ever played a hole quite so crazily, Mickelson didnt even blink. We already knew the answer. “Unfortunately, quite a few,” he said. That said, with Tiger Woods sputtering, Mickelson has- if he can keep from pelting any sea lions.

Down

Minding his pees and queues Small wonder Padraig Harrington has never objected to the notion of drug testing in golf. The Irish superstar, who hasnt won in nearly two years, has taken to administering a daily urine test to himself, quite voluntarily. Harrington, an inveterate fiddle-around who has definitely been accused of overthinking things at times, is using a device that measures urine drops and indicates whether he is properly hydrated. Paddy believed he was underhydrated during the early stages of the PGA Championship two years ago, which he eventually rallied to win. Being part Irish myself (arent we all?), and given the Irish tendency to hoist a few pints here and there, the notion of being underwatered is pretty funny. If some of the Irish guys I know took a form of this test, theyd be lucky to find traces of urine in their beer samples.

Oh, Monty, please, no In my mind, the most biting barb in the pitiable Colin Montgomerie affair was offered by a reader, posting a comment on a well-read golf blog website. “Typical Monty, still 18 or 19 behind Tiger.” Still, its hard to laugh at the sordid scenario that is playing out overseas, where the Ryder Cup captain has admitted to cheating on his millionaire wife of two years. In itself, the philandering development might not be that surprising, but given that Monty was among the first to offer extensive public commentary on the Woods scandal, it paints him as one of the biggest hypocrites in the game. There have already been suggestions that he should step down as the Ryder captain, because its sure to linger when the Cup is played five months down the road. In fact, the revelations sprung forth last week at the same course where the Ryder will be played. What an incredibly bumbling nincompoop, if for no other reason than making me conjure up images of him actually having, um, intimate relations. Sweet Jesus, somebody please gouge out my eyes.

When greens arent the only thing thats slick Did you see the golf-related news note last week from the Gulf of Mexico? In an attempt to stem the BP oil spill that already has become an environmental disaster, engineers attempted to dump a bunch of garbage on top of the undersea gusher, but they couldnt stanch the bleeding. Among the items included in the so-called “top kill” effort were hundreds of golf balls, though the name of the manufacturer was not disclosed. One brand we can eliminate for sure is Top Flite, because as we all know, those things are indestructible and last forever. They could have dropped a sleeve of Top Rocks in that Icelandic volcano and plugged the lava flow.

Our “need-to-know” basis Unless you have no life and sit around watching streaming press conferences on PGATour.com, you probably missed another lowlight in the Tiger Woods comeback last week. He was asked why, over the arc of his career, he has continually refused to disclose injuries, as was the case last month when he was asked about his health at the Players Championship; he was fighting a neck issue that he neglected to mention. He eventually withdrew for the first time as a professional in the middle of a round. “You dont need to know,” Woods said tersely. Its all part of the aura, his veneer of invincibility, if it still exists, and frankly, I can see his point to a degree. Woods doesnt like to make excuses or appear vulnerable, and thats often a good thing. But a line must be drawn somewhere. For a guy who has been drawn and quartered already for his reputation-wrecking extramarital lying and cheating over the past few months, misleading, obfuscating or outright spreading horse manure when asked direct questions just doesnt cut it. Saying nothing is his prerogative. Spreading falsehoods is begging for even more trouble.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

The phrase is contained in a poem by Robert Burns about him running over a home of a domestic mouse.

Burns used this illustration to show that despite the best-laid plans by the homeowner, the lady could not have foreseen the vermin in her wig. No matter how well you plan something, "stuff" happens. So relax and get over it, it isnt the end of the world.

The Belmont Stakes, completed in 2:31.57, the slowest in 15 years, is a case in point.

The pacesetter was obvious as First Dude figured to make the lead and he did. The thing that many handicappers did not factor in is the concept that trainers and jockeys can read past performances too and First Dude, although he ran his heart out in defeat, never got a breather on the front end.

He was only a length in front pretty much the whole way and yet still only gave up the ghost very late.

Todd Pletcher’s charge Interactiff was gunned to the top briefly from his marooned post 12 and the only other voice beside this one that gave prominent performer Game on Dude a chance early was the commentator Randy Moss.

Even the connections of Uptowncharlybrown burned the midnight oil and tried to change their runner’s style by putting him in the race early but you can’t start throwing fast balls if you have thrown knucklers you entire career in the majors.

Charly was about 2 and a half off the lead turning for home when the extra lead weight in his saddled slipped out and he was eventually Dq’ed.

The fact winner Drosselmeyer was in the race was a tip off in itself as Bill Mott is super patient. The runner had fought off foot problems early in the year and was a perfect picture of fitness.

The son of Distorted Humor verified the result of the Dwyer, as Fly Down was very hard to get by at the end.

As far for the chalk, Ice Box just never fired. He was far back as expected and although the pace was somewhat contested, he just never kicked.

For winning rider Mike Smith, it was a bit of a revenge theme. He had plied his trade in New York for most of his early career and has established himself there as the Hall of Famer that he is but things soured and the call to go ‘West Young Man’ was too loud to ignore.

Stamina and perseverance wins the Belmont Stakes, and those are also two prominent traits of Mr. Smith too.

Next stop for all three of this year’s Triple Crown winners could very well be the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 28.

THE FASTEST HORSE EVER?

Chinook Pass died last week at the age of 31. He was the 1983 Sprint Champion and I had the great privilege of seeing him run often in Southern California.

He still holds the record for the fastest 5 furlongs on dirt of :55 1/5 and none other than the great Laffit Pincay Jr. gave him high praise. Pincay: “Affirmed was the best horse I ever rode, but Chinook Pass was the fastest.”

For the record he won 16 of 25 races including double digits stakes and earned nearly $500,000 when that was real money back in the day.

How great was his 1982 world record? Consider this that only 7-world speed record that are still intact were set early and that roll call, with names like Kelso, Swaps, Spectacular Bid and the great Dr. Fager.

Chinook’s true racing asset, although he sometimes broke first from the blocks, is that he really did not get in gear until the 2nd quarter and often after the half mile.

His turn of foot once he got his feet under him was the fastest I have ever seen in my over 40 years of watching races.