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billrock
01-31-2009, 07:04 AM
Thirty-three years ago today Bea Farber set the world record for female drivers on a mile track when she guided Easy Irv to victory in 1:59.1 at Bay Meadows.

jimnancy
01-31-2009, 11:57 AM
Back then the Califorina circut was Bay Meadows, Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park and Cal Expo. We would see some of the best horses in the country out here. How things have changed but i still like to go out to Cal Expo from time to time and watch them race. The internet brings the best horses to us now.

Jim

Stick
01-31-2009, 01:14 PM
I have a great story about Bea Farber that might provide a few laughs. I can't remember if it was Balmoral, Hawthorne, or Sportsmans Park but I remember we were betting off track at Maywood.This is the way I remember the race. Two horses were many lengths clear at the top of the lane.They were obviously tired but nobody could make up any ground. Then Farber's horse came flying from the back at double digit odds. Half way down the lane it was clear that Farber would win followed by the two other tiring horses. A well known loud mouth at the track started screaming," Come on Bea, come on Bea, this is all me.I have the winner and the tri. I get everything". Then something really strange happened. Farber's bike literally collapsed and she was almost traveling on her behind. Some other horse came flopping up for third and the loud mouth was white as a ghost. A few minutes later another patron asked the loud mouth who he liked in the next race. He looked up from the ground and in a pathetic voice he said," I quit gambling". On the serious side, she had great hands and won many races first over on the Maywood 1/2 mile oval by rating horses beautifully.

LottaKash
01-31-2009, 01:33 PM
Many years ago, I remember Bea Farber and Joe Andersen, would quietly sneak into the NY Metro area, Yonkers, Roosevelt, and Freehold raceways and scoop up an ez purse or two, and then quietly go back home to Chicagoland.....:jump:

best,

Sea Biscuit
01-31-2009, 03:02 PM
I have a great story about Bea Farber that might provide a few laughs. I can't remember if it was Balmoral, Hawthorne, or Sportsmans Park but I remember we were betting off track at Maywood.This is the way I remember the race. Two horses were many lengths clear at the top of the lane.They were obviously tired but nobody could make up any ground. Then Farber's horse came flying from the back at double digit odds. Half way down the lane it was clear that Farber would win followed by the two other tiring horses. A well known loud mouth at the track started screaming," Come on Bea, come on Bea, this is all me.I have the winner and the tri. I get everything". Then something really strange happened. Farber's bike literally collapsed and she was almost traveling on her behind. Some other horse came flopping up for third and the loud mouth was white as a ghost. A few minutes later another patron asked the loud mouth who he liked in the next race. He looked up from the ground and in a pathetic voice he said," I quit gambling". On the serious side, she had great hands and won many races first over on the Maywood 1/2 mile oval by rating horses beautifully.

This is not about Bea farber but I do have a little story to tell.

One day this new kid comes to the track for the very first time.

He hits a $400 tri and after a few races he hits a exacta for about $50.
So the kid goes: This is an easy game, how long has it been going on?

An old timer named Joe hearing the kids comments, just turned around and said Good Luck Kid. The name stuck and Good Luck Kid became a regular.
A month down the road, we all saw the Good Luck Kid down on his fours looking for some good tickets that might have been thrown inadvertently.
It was'nt long after that Good Luck Kid vanished never to be seen again at the track.

Moral of the story: Never take this game lightly.

Sea Biscuit.

wilderness
01-31-2009, 03:14 PM
Hollywood Park 1946.

I've already posted this in three forums (two of which are website forums), and rather than duplicate it here, I'll just provide the links:

http://www.barntowire.com/smf/index.php?topic=24721.0

http://inthesulky.com/smf/index.php?topic=7649.0

For a Mich guy, I've very little digitized material on Bea.
There is an online video from the Maritimes where she was interviewed as part of the Ladies Tour.

Once the "boys" figured out how to overcome her pace fractions, her success diminished.