John Pricci

At Saratoga in the summer of 1973, Andy Beyer said he wanted me to meet someone who had “a good opinion,” the highest form of praise one handicapper can give another. “Say hello to Steve Davidowitz.” It was two years before Beyer would publish his seminal work, “Picking Winners.” I was impressed when Andy introduced Steve as the inventor of the term “key race.”

I’m fairly certain it was 1973. You see, that was many years and many legal medications ago. And a mind is a terrible thing to waste. But I do recall there was a strong inside-speed bias at Saratoga that season and Steve and I agreed over coffee and past performances at the old Jack In the Box on South Broadway (now Boston Chicken), that a cheap speedball from the boondocks named Gusty O’Shea would win the Hopeful Stakes. Horseplayers don’t forget $22 winners.

Having prepped on harness racing at Roosevelt Raceway — where it all began but a shopping mall today — I kept “key races” notated in a small back-pocket pad and perfected my “trip handicapping” watching the great George Sholty make three-wide backstretch moves that blew races wide open. Actually, I might have had something to do with coining the latter term but I can’t say for sure.

Anyway, like Rick and Captain Renault, that handicapping session with Steve on Hopeful eve was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. We have stayed in touch over the years and he remains one of my oldest and best friends. Through it all, however, I’ve never missed an opportunity to remind Steve that his friendship is “high maintenance.” That never fails to get a rise out of him.

And so this review was to be a celebratory exercise. After all it’s about time someone compiled a book of racing lists, and who better than Davidowitz, author of the handicapping classic “Betting Thoroughbreds” and co-author of “They Can’t Hide Us Anymore” with singer/social activist Richie Havens. Steve’s so fastidious (some might say high maintenance) it’s annoying, but nobody’s perfect, not even Steve.

After reading his latest work, I sent an e-mail stating that some of the disagreements that would flow from his lists would be so strong as to threaten our friendship. Arguing about anything from religion to politics to horse racing — three things that should not be discussed in polite company — is the grist of our mill.

Great barroom material
In sum, Davidowitz’s “The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing,” published by DRF Press, is hugely enterprising and entertaining. The opinions contained therein are sure to be controversial in the best sense of that word — great barroom material. But Steve made a reporting error, one I’m certain he’ll always regret.

It’s no small irony that the mistake involved Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera, who in 1978 guided the 3-year-old campaign of Affirmed, America’s last Triple Crown winner. Charlie Whittingham might have ranked No. 1 with Steve, but Barrera was always one of his personal favorites.

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The factual error stated that Barrera was the trainer of J. O. Tobin, who knocked Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew from the ranks of the unbeaten at Hollywood Park in the summer of 1977. Indeed, Barrera would eventually train J. O. Tobin but Slew’s upset was engineered by trainer Johnny Adams. Worse, Steve attributed quotes to Barrera about how he would go about beating the champion. The mistake was made public in a review column written by Jon White.

In typical Steve “High Maintenance” Davidowitz fashion, he took on the issue directly. He sent e-mails to members of the National Turf Writers Association and to editors of organizations whose writers had expressed an interest in reviewing the book. Some excerpts:

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