Jeff Siegel, a significant participant on the Southern California horse racing scene for greater than half a century, died at his residence in Duarte on Saturday after an prolonged battle with most cancers. He was 74.
There are few roles in horse racing, moreover coach or jockey, that Siegel didn’t carry out since he first obtained a job within the publicity division at Hollywood Park in 1974.
Siegel’s final job in racing was each serving as a number on XBTV, a service, owned by The Stronach Group, that makes a speciality of horse exercise movies. He was additionally the morning-line maker for each Santa Anita and Del Mar. He continued doing the job till his well being not allowed it earlier this 12 months.
However what made Siegel a must-know persona in racing was his capacity as a handicapper. Andy Beyer, the legendary Washington Submit handicapper and namesake to Beyer velocity figures, referred to as Siegel the “World’s Biggest Handicapper” in his 1993 e book “Beyer on Pace.” Siegel gave Beyer six horses to wager on a day’s card of Southern California racing. All six gained, based on Beyer.
Siegel was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 8, 1950, and grew up in Southern California. He attended Fairfax Excessive, the place he ran monitor, and he labored on the college newspaper at L.A. Valley Faculty. He later went to San José State, the place he was pointed to radio and tv journalism. He got here residence and obtained a job at radio station KLAC, the place he labored with Jim Healy, who had a high sports activities commentary present for a few years. Healy knew Siegel favored racing and obtained him a job at Hollywood Park with out even asking Siegel, who stated he favored his present job. Healy instructed him he would really like the Hollywood Park job much more.
And he did. Siegel by no means appeared again.
Due to his entry to trainers, jockeys and homeowners, plus a capability to see issues others didn’t, Siegel was a valued public handicapper and shortly his picks have been featured in lots of Southern California newspapers, together with The Instances, the Each day Information, Pasadena Star-Information, Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune.
“Jeff has been my main mentor on this sport,” stated Bob Ike, a long-time public handicapper in Southern California. “He made efficiency rankings earlier than there have been revealed Beyer figures. He videotaped gate exercises within the mid-Nineteen Eighties. His total data of tempo, pedigree and European type is unsurpassed. As a public handicapper, he’s the GOAT.”
Corridor of Fame coach Bob Baffert usually took recommendation from Siegel and beloved his time speaking to him about horses.
“I had complete respect for his opinions and ideas on horses,” Baffert stated. “When [Triple Crown winner] Justify broke his maiden, Jeff instructed me the horse was going to win the Kentucky Derby.
“He simply beloved being a part of the sport and I revered his handicapping. If he picked your horse first, second or third, you knew you had a very good likelihood of successful. He may see a horse run and he knew instantly. After he noticed [Triple Crown winner] American Pharoah run for the primary time, he got here as much as me and stated ‘You’ve obtained an actual good one there.’
“I’m going to overlook speaking to him. I’d ask him what he thought and he may say, ‘I don’t assume he can go that far.’ And he was proper. On high of all that, he was such a pleasant man. His ardour for the game was unequaled. No one knew horses higher than him. It’s a tragic day and I’ll actually miss listening to him.”
Siegel additionally co-founded partnership stables Clover Racing and Group Valor, probably the most profitable partnership at the moment, along with his buddy Barry Irwin.
“He was one of the best handicapper I’ve ever met.” Irwin stated. “What separated him from his friends, is his capacity so as to add horsemanship to his handicapping. He knew a whole lot of what went into coaching. He wasn’t only a nuts and bolts man, he understood the animal.”
Irwin remembers a time he was at Siegel’s home to speak about shopping for a horse.
“I requested if he had any previous Racing Varieties so I may lookup a horse,” Irwin stated. “He stated, ‘Go look within the lavatory.’ He had Racing Varieties stacked to the highest of the bathe the place the water comes out. His whole life was devoted to horse racing and handicapping. No one ever met a kinder or nicer man.”
By no means deterred by the quantity of labor on his plate — until it conflicted with UCLA soccer or basketball video games — Siegel determined to attempt broadcasting. So, he joined HRTV, a horse racing channel, in 2004 and stayed for nearly a decade as an analyst.
“Along with all the good work he did on digital camera, he was a real fan and devoted pupil of the sport,” stated Becky Somerville, senior director of manufacturing at FanDuel TV. “He was captivated with it, which got here via in every part he did, and that keenness was infectious, lifting up everybody round him.”
Somerville labored carefully with Jeff at HRTV from 2004 to 2015, together with producing his present “First Name.”
Siegel is survived by his brother, Barry Siegel; sister, Michelle Weiss; nieces Caryn and Mara; nephew Robert; grand nephews Kai, Beckett and Roman; and grand niece Monroe.
Funeral preparations are pending.
