Page 13 - July 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, July 2005 13 Hollywood Park, California - Where the Races Can Really Shake You Up
By Peter Gross
In his four years of calling the races at Hollywood Park, 46 year-old Vic Stauffer has never experienced anything close to what happened during the running of the second race at the California track on Thursday June 16. The field of 6 claiming fillies was about midway down the backstretch when a frightening rumbling sound started to shake the announcer's booth on the 7th floor of the track. At first Stauffer did not think it was an earthquake.
"We have a catwalk that runs from the press box to the broadcast booth and it's very noisy. I thought maybe it was an intern who didn't realize a race was on, coming to tell me something about Tote Bag Day," jokes Stauffer.
But very quickly, the frightening reality took over.
"They were at about the half-mile pole and I was very sure it was an earthquake. The very first thing I thought was that I was afraid. I had to collect myself and deal with the fact an earthquake was going on."
That's when Stauffer's race call took on a whole new flavour. With his booth shaking, and now fearing for his life, his sense of humour took over.
As the field headed towards the far turn, Stauffer gave race fans a call they had never heard before,
"Lady Le Quesne has the lead and we are in the midst of an earthquake here in Southern California as Lady Le Quesne goes past the half-mile pole. By the way folks, I love you all and horseracing was my first love!"
Funny as that line sounds, there was some melancholy in it.
"I lost my father on opening day of this meet, April 22," says Stauffer, "I thought of him because I wasn't entirely
sure it wasn't curtains for me."
With less than half a mile to go, Stauffer told the fans at
Hollywood,
"They round the far turn and head for the quarter pole.
I hope!"
At the top of the stretch, the eventual winner Dark
Beauty was leading, but to make the call just a little more delicious, a filly named Pleasant Thunder was making a move. As Stauffer picked that horse up, he embellished some more.
"Now between horses goes Pleasant Thunder - that wasn't thunder, folks, that was the ground shaking!"
By mid-stretch, Stauffer realized to his great relief that the earthquake was over, but that didn't stop him from having more fun out of his predicament.
"Better make this my greatest race-call!" he bellowed to the fans while he considered the most apt stretch call.
"As they came to the 8th pole, I was thinking that if one of the two horses had pulled away from the other I was going to say 'Dark Beauty comes rumbling home.'"
Actually, the finish was quite close, Dark Beauty prevailing by maybe a head over
Pleasant Thunder and Stauffer's call
had the fans in stitches.
"They come to the wire in a shaker! Pleasant Thunder and Dark Beauty one-two. I don't know nor care who won the photo!"
The earthquake measured 4.9 on the Richter Scale, though according to Stauffer,
"It felt like seven point a lot up here! No people, or horses on the ground were injured; in fact when asked about it, the jockeys said they didn't even know there had been an earthquake."
Stauffer's brilliant race call, however, had many after shocks of its own. He was interviewed by ABC Channel 7 in L.A, and the West Coast Bureau of Good Morning America did a full piece on it. The next day he drove to L.A to talk about the experience on channels 11 and 13, came home exhausted, turned on the TV and there was Jimmy Kimmel running a clip of the race.
Stauffer was surprised and pleased when I told him that the sports networks in Canada were using the Earthquake Call on a regular basis as part of their Plays of the Week
"It's nice that Hollywood Park can get some exposure," says Stauffer, ever the team player.
And though he's hardly a seismologist, Stauffer may have come up with a new method of measuring earthquakes.
"Somebody asked me how long the earthquake lasted and I said about 3/8ths of a mile."
First Equine Science Certificate Scholarship Awarded!
It gives us great pleasure to announce that Hazel Plumbley of Kamloops, British Columbia is the recipient of the first Equine Science Certificate scholarship.
One scholarship is awarded annually to a student enrolled in the Equine Science Certificate program. The scholarship is awarded based on a combination of academic achievement and a 500-word essay submission describing the value of the Equine Science Certificate program and how it has helped the student with their own horse(s).
The Equine Science Certificate has been awarded the National Award of Excellence.
Science Certificate program, which can be viewed as a catalyst to strengthen collaboration among equine researchers, horse owners, and the equine industry, consists of six courses: Management of the Equine Environment, Equine Functional Anatomy, Equine Growth and Development, Equine Exercise and Physiology, Equine Health and Disease Prevention, and Equine Nutrition.
For more information about the Equine Science Certificate, visit www.equinescience- certificate.com or contact Melanie Prosser at the Office of Open Learning at 519-767-5000, mprosser@open.uoguelph.ca.
I I I I IT T T T T' ' ' ' 'S S S S S M M M M MO O O O ON N N N NE E E E EY Y Y Y Y I I I I IN N N N N T T T T TH H H H HE E E E E T T T T TA A A A AN N N N NK K K K K IT'SMONEYINTHETANK I IT T' 'S S M MO ON NE EY Y I IN N T TH HE E T TA AN NK K
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The award was presented to Open Learning and Equine Guelph, University of Guelph, at the Canadian Association of University Continuing Education (CAUCE) 2005 annual conference, held in St. John’s, Newfoundland, for the Equine Science Certificate program, an online program for the horse industry. The CAUCE Program Awards recognize excellence in university continuing education programs and the concept of scholarship of practice inherent in the pro-
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