It has been seven months since Smarty Jones was last in a horse race, but racing fans have not forgotten him.

The underdog colt who captured the imagination of the country last spring was an easy winner of "Horse of the Year" in ESPN.com's Fans' Champions Awards online voting for the best thoroughbreds of 2004.

The winners in 17 categories were announced Tuesday on "Wire to Wire," ESPN's weekly racing magazine show.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Richard Mandella tightened his grip on the winter handicap division Saturday at Santa Anita, where he won his third stakes of the meet - the Grade 2 San Fernando Stakes for 4-year-olds.

Minister Eric ($16) won the mile and a sixteenth race by a half-length over 2-1 favorite Mass Media; longshot Skipaslew finished three lengths back in third; Imperialism was compromised by the speed bias and rallied to fourth.

Rene Douglas rode Minister Eric, adding to Mandella's handicap arsenal that includes Malibu Stakes winner Rock Hard Ten and San Pasqual Handicap winner Congrats.

LONDON (Reuters) - Animated horses and roulette tables have spared Britain's second-biggest betting shop chain William Hill from a slump in sporting revenues, the group says.
The company, which runs around 1,600 betting shops, said on Monday its second-half had been hit by unfavourable soccer and horse racing results -- the same scenario that wiped 10 percent off the shares of rival Stanley Leisure (SLY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) last week.

But profit before interest and tax is expected to be up 15 percent to 232 million pounds in the 52 weeks to December 28, it said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The new era at Gulfstream Park will begin the old-fashioned way amid a country fair atmosphere for the 2005 meeting, which opens Monday and continues through April 24.
Gulfstream Park, owned by Magna Entertainment Corp., is in the midst of a major renovation that began immediately following the conclusion of the 2004 meet with the demolition of the track's grandstand. Both the main track and turf course were torn up and have been replaced by larger, wider tracks. All 17 barns that ran along the backstretch were demolished and have been replaced by seven state-of-the-art barns. Two new receiving barns have been built at the head of the stretch and a new dormitory is under construction and expected to be ready later this month.

Although Azeri did not run in Thursday's Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs, trainer D. Wayne Lukas says that doesn't necessarily mean she's done for the year.

Lukas and owner Michael Paulson elected not to run in the Falls City because they believed a loss would severely jeopardize Azeri's chances for a year-end championship. So what's next? Possibly the Dec. 12 Bayakoa Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. was so confident in Wildcat Heir heading into Saturday's $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Pimlico that an eighth of a mile into the six-furlong race he said, "This race is over."
One furlong into the Grade 1 De Francis, Wildcat Heir was sitting third off dueling leaders Shake You Down and Philadelphia Jim. Five furlongs later, Wildcat Heir was in front, holding off favored Midas Eyes by a neck to win the Grade 1 sprint.

It was 1 1/2 lengths back to Clock Stopper in third. Gators N Bears, Philadelphia Jim, A Huevo, Abbondanza, Champali, True Direction, and Shake You Down completed the order of finish.

Several jockeys have been ejected from Churchill Downs' fall meet after threatening not to ride in a protest over health insurance.

Rafael Bejarano, the nation's leader in wins, Robby Albarado, Calvin Borel, Mark Guidry and Willie Martinez were among the jockeys prohibited from racing or appearing at the track through the conclusion of the fall meet, which ends Nov. 27.

When $4 million is on the line in the season's grand finale, you're supposed to get high drama. When it comes to the Breeders' Cup Classic, you expect a contentious race with one horse, then another, looking like the winner until something bursts out of the pack to steal it in the final strides. It's happened so many times, but not Saturday.

Not only did trainer Bobby Frankel, a man who has felt cursed by the Breeders' Cup, win the Classic, but he also handed out the triple a few days earlier to anyone who bothered to listen.

Lady Truffles picked the perfect time to win her first race and end a streak of second-place finishes with a hard-fought victory in the $125,000 California Cup Juvenile Fillies.