Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem Oct. 28, 2024

A good Monday morning to you all, and welcome to Breeders’ Cup week! I finally cracked open the pre-entry past performances but don’t really want to do too much work until we see the final draws and fields. It’s fun with these big events to get caught up and formulate our opinions early, but until we see how Del Mar is playing and what the board is giving us, there’s really no point in marrying ourselves to any picks or tickets. I understand all the hype and noise is part of the fun and I’m certainly guilty of feeding into that on my various platforms, but in all sincerity, take your time and wait until you have as much information as possible before making your wagering decisions. 

Okay, off of my soap box. 

So my favorite thing this weekend from the world of racing happened here in Pleasanton at Golden State Racing on Sunday. I was walking in from my car to call the card and there’s a person who drives a big golf cart that takes people from the parking lot to the grandstand if they want a ride. At the moment I was walking in, there wasn’t anyone around and he asked if I wanted a ride. Absolutely! So, as we start driving in, we see a gentleman and his wife walking, and the driver asks if they wanted a ride. The man in a big cream-colored cowboy hat with a white mustache said, “yes, we do,” and they hopped on. I didn’t think much of it until, as we started to drive, I recognized his voice. It was Steve Coburn! You might remember Steve as one of the owners of the great California Chrome. 

I’d met Steve once at Golden Gate Fields up in the turf club restaurant, and he couldn’t have been cooler. We chatted for a bit, and he even agreed to take a photo with me. What was interesting was that day, he was talking about a horse he had in a $12,500 claiming race and how excited he was about the horse and its chances that day. I remember being weirdly happy that an owner who’d won a pile of Grade 1s, including the Kentucky Derby, was still so excited about his $12,500 claimer running at Golden Gate Fields. 

Fast forward to today and the reason Steve and his wife Carolyn were at Golden State Racing here in Pleasanton was they had a horse running later that day in the fifth race. It was a maiden special weight, and their horse, Unpretentious, was drawn out in post 10 for the six-furlong race. The horse broke okay and loomed up with a big move on the turn to confront the heavy favorite Goin’ South at the top of the lane. They battled for the next furlong before Unpretentious gradually edged away to win by three lengths. My booth is open air, and the second I mentioned that Unpretentious was starting to move up on the outside, I could hear Steve’s booming voice cheering the horse on. They had a nice group down in the winner’s circle, and after they survived a rider’s objection, they all celebrated for the picture. 

On my way out of the track, I saw the Coburns again waiting out front and told them how nice their horse ran. They both still looked like they were floating from the win. As a racecaller being perched upstairs all day, it’s very rare I get to talk with or even see the owners of these great horses. So to get a chance to chat with the Coburns and to see how excited they were about their horse and its win was really just a cool thing to witness. Of course, it’s news when horses win the Derby or a Breeders’ Cup or a big stakes race. But I try and always remind myself when announcing races that every single horse that runs is a big deal to their owners, their caretakers, and to the bettors. 

Everyone have a good week, and I’ll have some Breeders’ Cup thoughts for you on Thursday here in the column!