Horse Racing

Point Given and Tiznow start

 They also earned movie-star money while exciting fans and satisfying bettors on Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the nation.

 Captivator, meanwhile, was winning more races than either of them while working the night shift in Pennsylvania.

 The 8-year-old gelding seemed to prefer racing in artificial light at Penn National rather than running in the Florida sunshine at Tampa Bay Downs. After losing 14 straight races over eight months in Tampa Bay he won nine straight races in Penn National's starter handicap series ranging from 1 3-16 miles to 11/2 miles. The streak was snapped when he finished third Dec. 7.

 There also was some movie-script drama to the year for Point Given and Tiznow, who demonstrated each was his own horse.

 Point Given, a huge 3-year-old colt, liked to rear up and unseat his exercise rider in the mornings and occasionally got loose at Santa Anita and visited horses at other barns.

 Tiznow liked to start, stop and watch what was going on around him before working in the mornings. Sometimes in races the 4-year-old colt didn't seem to have his mind on his work. He was all business, however, when he made Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships history by becoming the first two-time winner of the $4 million Classic with a second consecutive victory Oct. 27 at Belmont Park.

 That win in Tiznow's last start before retirement capped a remarkable comeback from a bad back. He didn't race after he won the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 3 until he finished third in the Woodward on Sept. 8 at Belmont Park.

 Tiznow, the 2000 Horse of the Year, followed his third in the Woodward with a dull third in the Goodwood on Oct. 7 at Santa Anita before turning in a sensational nose victory over Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sakhee in the Classic.

 Point Given won the Santa Anita Derby. That made the strapping chestnut the favorite for the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs, but he finished fifth as Monarchos won in 1:59 4-5 for the 1 1/4 miles. The only other Derby winner to break 2:00 was Secretariat, timed in 1:59 2-5 in 1973.

 Point Given then won four straight Grade 1 races, each worth at least $1 million, before he was retired because of a leg injury. The victories were in Belmont Stakes (by 12 1-4 lengths), Preakness at Pimlico, Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and the Travers at Saratoga.

 Another Breeders' Cup winner was Squirtle Squirt. His victory in the Sprint was the first for Bobby Frankel, who entered the day 0-for-36 in Breeders' Cup races and who failed to win with six other starters.

 It was a good Breeders' Cup for European horses.

 Besides the fine showing of Sakhee, owned by Godolphin Stable of Dubai, Godolphin's Fantastic Light won the Turf and its Tempera won the Juvenile Fillies; Michael Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier's Johannesburg won the Juvenile; and Saudi Prince Khalid Abdullah's Banks Hill won the Filly and Mare Turf.

 The Breeders' Cup card was marred when Exogenous, the second favorite in the Distaff, reared and fell after being startled as she emerged from the tunnel to go on to the track. She struck her head, was taken from the track in an ambulance and had to be euthanized six days.

 It was a tremendous year for Frankel, who through Dec. 7 had won 17 Grade 1 stakes with such horses as Squirtle Squirt, Aptitude, Lido Palace and the fillies Flute and You.

 Another trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, saddled his 4,000th winner.

 Jockeys making their mark included Jerry Bailey, the first to reach $20 million in purse earnings in a year; Tim Moccasin, who rode a North American record 14 consecutive winners at Marquis Downs in Canada; and John Velazquez, the first to ride six winners on a single card in the history of Saratoga.

 Reaching milestones were jockeys Pat Day, 8,000 wins; Chris McCarron, 7,000 wins; and Russell Baze, 7,500 wins and a 25th riding title at Bay Meadows.

 On Sept. 2, Jimmy Jones, who trained 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation and other great Calumet Farm horses, died at age 94.

 On Oct. 18, Unbridled, Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic winner in 1990, was euthanized after developing colic

 Other racing news involved the death of many foals in Kentucky and the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11.

 The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2001 Farm Bill, which included two provisions that will offer economic relief to owners and breeders who suffered substantial losses among their breeding stock due to Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome.

 The disease killed hundreds of foals and caused thousands of mares to lose fetuses in the spring. One theory is the mares ingested cyanide toxins from weather-damaged cherry trees, substances that might have been delivered through caterpillars or their droppings.

 More than $2 million for the New York Heroes Fund was raised by contributions from owners, trainers and jockey participating in the Breeders' Cup races. Almost $2 million of that came from the Godolphin Stable of the Maktoum family of Dubai, which donated all of its Breeders' Cup earnings.