SAN DIEGO (SDJW)– Trainer Art Sherman provided some insight into California Chrome’s 4th place finish in the Belmont Stakes, which disappointed fans who had hoped the wonder horse would win the Triple Crown of horseracing. After the race, Sherman found a cut on California Chrome’s right front foot and surmised in an interview with the U-T’s Ed Zieralski, “He grabbed a quarter, probably leaving the gate, tore it off…. You can’t say that’s what cost him the race, but it didn’t help him. These injuries can take a month to 45 days to heal. There’s always a fear of it turning into a quarter crack and that can be serious.” … Art’s son Alan Sherman, who served as assistant trainer for California Chrome, fended off any criticism of the way jockey Victor Espinosa ran the race. “I think Victor did a good job,” he told Zieralski. “I have no complaints. The horse was just a little flat. It’s hard to run these (three) races in five weeks.”
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While he was at Belmont covering the Triple Crown, Zieralski picked up another racing story: The Del Mar Racetrack is under consideration to host the 2016 Breeders Cup. Del Mar’s Chief Operating Officer Josh Rubinstein told him that “we would love to have the Breeders Cup at Del Mar, but certainly nothing has been set in stone. We’re waiting like the rest of the industry and defer to the Breeders’ Cup for any word on it. We’re being considered.”
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While we’re on sports, the U-T’s John Maffei reported that Michael Fagan, a former star pitcher for San Diego Jewish Academy, was selected by the Oakland Athletics in the ninth round of the baseball draft. Now at Princeton, Fagan turned heads when he struck out 188 batters during the 2008 season with San Diego Jewish Academy … In a special section the U-T announced the names of 7,469 student athletes who made its “All Academic Team” by maintaining a 3.0 (B) average or better while participating in varsity sports. While there are Jews scattered throughout the high schools of San Diego County, only one high school is a Jewish school, per se, the San Diego Jewish Academy, although not all of its students are Jews. The sports, the athletes, their class in school, and their grade point averages, with 4 an ‘A’ and 5 an ’A’ weighted as an honors class, were as follows: Baseball: Miguel Jinich, Jr.,4.55; Josh Lurie, Sr., 4.22; Aaron Perez, Jr., 4.37; Jake Posnock, Sr., 4.51; Isaac Shoshael, Jr., 3.89; Boy’s Tennis: Chase Friedman, Sr., 4.26; Dan Gorodezky, Jr., 4.43; Walter Nesses, Jr., 3.71; Judah Rosenzweig, Sr., 3.05; Adam Sharf, Sr., 3.64; Boy’s Golf: Mark Bielas, Sr., 4.49; Helen Horowitz, Sr., 3.88; Alex Rosen, Sr., 3.40; Oliver Somlyo, Sr., 4.11; Samuel Weisman, Jr., 4.46; Kurt Willms, Jr., 3.81.
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The U-T’s Pam Kragen, writing about five high school juniors, all aged 17, who earned perfect scores on their ACT admissions test, identified one of them as Jordan Houri, who attends Westview High School in the Rancho Penasquitos section of San Diego. Houri scored a 2310 score of a possible 2400 on the SAT’s and is ranked No. 5 in the nation for his age group in the triathalon. He enjoys research in physics and is part of Connective Living, a group that teaches Holocaust survivors how to tell their stories on social media.
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San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s first 100 days as mayor are assessed in a story by the U-T’s David Garrick. High marks were given Faulconer generally, with Councilman Scott Sherman singling out the mayor’s decision to name Shelley Zimmerman as San Diego’s new police chief just one day after Chief William Lansdowne announced his retirement.
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Reporter Greg Moran, in the U-T’s Watchdog column, cites court documents alleging a past pattern of misbehavior among San Diego Police especially in the area of ticket fixing. His story noted that former Police Officer Kevin Friedman, who last year resigned and pleaded no contest to ticket fixing, said he had torn up tickets for fellow police officers and their family members over his career.
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The U-T’s Society writer and photographer Vincent Andrunas reported that restaurateur Jeffrey Strauss donated a dinner for 10 at the Pamplemousse, drawing $5,000 at auction at a recent American Cancer Society fundraiser.
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Preceding collated by San Diego Jewish World staff. If you or a relative, friend or acquaintance are Jewish and have made the news, please notify us at editor@sdjewishworld.com if you’d like that news to be included in this column. If possible, please send us a copy of the news clip at a jpg attachment to the email, or fax it to us at (619) 265-0850