Social Circuits

Blue Skies

at Santa Anita

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With blue skies and a clear view of the foothills, it was a picture postcard day for the launch of the 65th season of thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita Park. A Dixieland band greeted the more than 27,000 fans who trooped though the gates for Wednesday’s opener, which featured the $200,000 Malibu Stakes, won by Mizzen Mast with Kent Desormeaux aboard. “People seem to be in a festive mood; long lines at the refreshment stands,” enthused Peter Daily, the track’s veteran food and beverage director. “We’ll serve about 13,000 hot dogs and 30,000 beers today,” he said.

Tom O’Connor, executive chef at the track, says more than a dozen heavyweights weigh in each year on one of the track’s most pressing culinary questions: What hot dog should be featured? (This year’s choice--Best Kosher.)

Old timers like Everett Carter, who’s worked at the Arcadia park for 63 years, remembered the good old days. “When I started here, we had 70,000 people in one day, and movie stars were regulars. It’s just not the same anymore.” It’s been a long time since Fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney took the steps three at a time to get to the betting window, but the Turf Club still draws a lively crowd--and the patrons took home souvenir calendars.

In the Directors Room, chef O’Connor dispensed mountains of seafood and a buffet spread of rack of lamb, sea bass, beef tenderloin and an array of desserts, including Santa Anita’s famous hot fudge sundaes.

In the crowd: Beverly and Bob Lewis--who had three ponies entered, including Orientate, winner of the eighth race with Chris McCarron aboard. Also there: former L.A. Turf Club CEO Bill Baker, and his daughter Suzanne; Alan Landsburg, chairman of the California Horseracing Board; Bill Bianco of Fog City Stables; Bingo and Gino Roncelli (his mare, Trick Z, ran out in the first race); Otis Booth; Beryl and Noble Threewitt, at 90 the dean of working trainers; Nori and Daniel Shiffer; Weston Fitzpatrick; Charlene and Jack Liebau, L.A. Turf Club CEO, who after the sixth race was presented with a surprise birthday cake (fashioned after the Stanford football field). Also on hand were Gail Gregson, Diane and Don Johnson and the requisite collection of Arcadia pols. Frank Stronach, chairman and director of the L.A. Turf Club, opted for luncheon with friends in his gridiron-sized Frontrunner Restaurant.

Tom Edwards, longtime Directors Room Captain, announced in his proper British accent that he was doubling in brass as Turf Club maitre d’ in honor of his 42nd year at Santa Anita.

Patt Diroll

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Center Court

Legendary UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden held court at Gulliver’s in Irvine when members of the restaurant’s Travelers support group attended their annual benefit holiday luncheon.

Seated between NBA hall of famers George Yardley and Jamaal Wilkes, Wooden told about 100 guests that he was grateful to be invited to an event that raised funds for people in need. “There is no greater joy than doing something for somebody else,” said the 91-year-old who coached UCLA to 10 NCAA titles in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Guests sipped cocktails and schmoozed with the basketball greats before they participated in a live auction conducted by Travelers’ board member John Scudder.

Wilkes recalled what it was like to be coached by Wooden, a.k.a. the Wizard of Westwood: “Oddly enough, the longer I’m away from him, the more I appreciate what he taught us as teenagers,” he said. “He used helpful slogans like, ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’; ‘Be quick but don’t hurry’; and ‘We don’t want activity without achievement.’ He said so much in so few words. I use that advice today.”

Yardley, 73, who played basketball for the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Jets, said he was still an avid fan of the game. But basketball has changed dramatically since he played in the ‘50s, he noted. “Athletes are so much better now than they were in my era, in terms of their size and ability to jump.”

Net proceeds from the event on Dec. 20 were estimated at $10,000. Since it was founded 30 months ago in response to a newspaper article about impoverished children living in motels, the Travelers of Gulliver’s have donated $32,000 to the underserved. “We can help people quickly--without bureaucracy,” Travelers’ President Clayton Dilliard said.

Among those attending the luncheon were Wooden’s son, Jim, and grandson, Michael of Costa Mesa. “He’s taught me that success is greater than material things,” Michael says of his grandfather. “Success is about having peace of mind and knowing you’ve done the best you can do with what you’ve been given.”

Ann Conway

Information for Social Circuits can be directed to Patt Diroll in Los Angeles or Ann Conway in Orange County. Diroll is at pattdiroll@earthlink.net; Conway at ann.conway@latimes.com, or (714) 966-5952.