Hal Hargrave

5/12/15 Santa Anita

Sports

Word Count:

It takes a lot to sell somebody on a sport that they know nothing about and may not find

entertaining.

It's no secret that men dominate the professional sports realm as athletes. But, contrary to

popular belief, there are women out there that truly know their stuff, even on a sport

dominated by male jockeys.

Imagine the love some men have for their favorite sports and times that by ten. That

amount of love, passion and knowledge you will find in a woman at horse racing track

who will teach any man a thing or two.

Nestled above the paddocks (small enclosure where horses are kept or exercised) of both the

Santa Anita and Los Alamitos race tracks, you will find a woman sitting in a stationary

chair delivering knowledgeable words to horse racing fans, but her mind is moving at a

mile a minute.

Michelle Yu races into action every race day by delivering her opening/morning spot for,

Race Track Network, alongside her counterpart Millie Ball.

Yu will make anybody a fan of horse racing. Just get to talking to her for a few minutes

or, if anything else, find your eyes reading to the end of the story and you'll find yourself

out at the track sometime soon.

Yu is a prime example of why horse racing can be argued as the most accessible sport

that there is.

“There is no other sports in the world that offers you the access that horse racing does,”

Yu said.

Yu will let anybody into her world that is willing to listen.

“Any time that I can, I try to educate someone on horse racing,” Yu said. “If I see

somebody around here that does not know something, then I will talk to them. I will take

them to the paddock, take them to pet a pony and take them to the winner’s circle if they

want. I will do anything possible to make somebody love horse racing.”

Yu’s day at the track begins around horses before she even reaches the track.

Yu, an owner of “quarterhorses,” has them stabled at Whittier Narrows where she wakes

up and tends to them, even on race days at Santa Anita or Los Alamitos.

Yu, who lives in Orange County, comes directly from Whittier and heads up into her

secret bathroom, in which she gets cleaned up for her day ahead and the start of her

simulcast.

“The simulcast is broadcast to the Race Track Network (RTN), any simulcast network

and is in-house over the loudspeakers at the racetracks,” Yu said.

The opening takes place 30 minutes before the first post (race) of the day. Yu and Ball

provide knowledge to horseracing fans on what to look for in particular horses in the

variety of races at the track each day. Yu and Ball do a quick two-minute spot, as well, 16

minutes prior to each post, which gives time for bettors to hear their knowledge and go

put in their bets.

“Before each race, Millie and I come on and talk about who we like in the race and why,”

Yu said. “We talk about seeing the horses work in the morning, we review morning

workouts and we talk about conversations that we had with jockeys or trainers. We will

talk about how the last time we saw horse if it freaked out in the paddock and flipped

over.”

Yu and Ball’s insight is valuable if you are a general fan who wants to throw down a few

bucks, or if you are a pick-six player looking for picks.

“We want to tell you and show you what you can see and also what you can't see about a

horse,” Yu said.

After Yu’s morning spot, she heads back upstairs into the press box where she will seek

out her favorite lunch delight, chicken tenders. After taking down her lunch and watching

the first race of the day up in the box and maybe talking to anybody who is wanting to

learn some horse-racing knowledge, she will head back down to her post, by the paddock,

for the rest of the day.

Yu’s knowledge of horse racing and exceptionality on camera came at a young age and

her roots are to thank for that. She was born on May 3, 1982, raised by her parents,

George and Valerie, as well as her stepdad Barry, in Southern California.

Yu grew up around her younger brother Chris and older half-sister Tambi.

Yu fell in love in horse racing when her dad brought her to track when she was 10 years

old.

“There was picture of a racehorse in the L.A. Times when I was 10 and every week after

that I would make sure to cut out the sports section of the newspaper,” Yu said. “Every

day I would cut out the charts on the horses and paste them all over my room. I still have

four scrapbooks of charts and stuff I cut out from horse racing in the paper.”

Yu loved horses and loved the fact that people just talked about horses and thought it was

amazing.

Bien Bien was the horse that really got Yu into horse racing at young age after she saw a

beautiful picture of him in a magazine and fell in love with him.

Bien Bien was an American Thoroughbred racehorse bred by William S. Farish III &

William S. Kilroy and raced by Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan. He won eight stakes

races during his career, including four Grade I events. He set a course record of 1:57.75

for 1¼ miles while winning the 1993 Hollywood Invitational Turf Handicap. He also ran

second in the 1993 Breeders' Cup Turf to winner Kotashaan.

Yu loved to ride horses and at 11 years old she started taking riding lessons and started

doing show jumping shortly after.

Yu went to Garey High School in Pomona and was a cheerleader in high school.

Yu’s childhood loves were ponies and pigskins, as she was raised a big Patriots and Bears

fan.

Yu’s father, George, passed away when Yu was 18 years old, but Yu managed to keep a

strong head on her shoulders due to having such an influential and positive upbringing

around her loving father.

In 2003, the Kentucky Derby was on Yu’s 21st birthday and her mom paid for her and

her best friend, Sarah, to go to the Kentucky Derby.

Funny Cide was the horse that won the Kentucky Derby that year. Funny Cide is a

thoroughbred racehorse that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in 2003.

He was the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to

win since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.

Yu and Sarah had got bumped off some flights going to Kentucky, so the airlines gave

them credits to fly again. So, the two went back a year later to see the Kentucky Derby

again.

“When I went back out to Louisville for my second Kentucky Derby, I was at a bar the

night of the Derby with my friend Sarah and she was talking to a couple (Jeff and Jessica

Sullivan),” Yu said. “Sarah came back to me and said that the couple said that I could

live with them ongoing if I moved back to Louisville. So, I ended up calling them when I

got back home and told them that I would be coming out to live with them.”

After going back to the Derby the second time, Yu said she was going to come back two

weeks later and if she found a job she would go live there with the Sullivans. So, she

came back two weeks later and within three days she found a job and already.

Yu found a job, in Louisville, at Wet Willie’s bar after she ‘BS’d’ her way to get the job,

by knowing what the ingredients in a Colorado Bulldog were.

“Back at a bar that I worked out here in California, Diamond Billiards Club in Brea, I had

met some gamblers at the bar that I would give them horses to bet on all the time,” Yu

said. “One day they had asked me what I wanted to do for a living, and I told them that I

wanted to be on TV. I wanted to be Charlsie Cantey. One of the gamblers knew a guy by

the name of Tony Allevato at TVG (Television Games Network) and referred me to

him.”

Tony Allevato was the executive producer at TVG, at the time and gave Yu a job as a

personal assistant. Yu as a P.A. would get coffee for people, run around forms and place

bets for people.

“When I was moving to Kentucky I had that connection already made at TVG and knew I

would be working a little bit,” Yu said.

HRTV (Horse Racing Television) and TVG used to be the two big horse racing networks,

until four months ago when TVG bought HRTV.

In June 2004, Yu drove out to Kentucky in her U-Haul and showed up one day at the

Sullivan’s front door and they welcomed Yu into their home with open arms. Yu lived

with the Sullivans for a year and a half.

Yu started working at “Wet Willie’s” and “Main Street Lounge” bars.

Yu thought she should get enrolled in school, so she enrolled that University of

Louisville as an Equine (Horse) Business major, in September 2004.

“They did not have journalism at Louisville, so I thought I wanted to do

communications,” Yu said. “Because I was an out-of-state transfer, getting classes was

very tough, so I was on the long track to graduate and I opted to do Equine Business

because it interested me.”

Yu had taken her horse, which was once stabled at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, out to

Louisville in anticipation of riding him for the school's equestrian team. There was a

police officer who used to run patrol at Wet Willie’s, Officer Mattingley, and he had a

place for Yu to stable her horse.

“I had an off-track thoroughbred horse, “Nansstar”, that I had bought myself,” Yu said. “I

got him when I was 18 years old and he was $1500. I had put down $500, my mom put

down $500 and a friend, that worked at Disneyland (Eric) with me, put down $500.”

Yu eventually paid back her mom and Eric and “Nansstar” was the first horse that Yu

could call her own.

When Yu was going to go out to for the equestrian team, a girl asked her Yu if she

thought that she could ride a horse well. Yu responded with, ‘Of course I can ride.’ The

girl then said to Yu, ‘Why don't you go out for the polo team?’

“Her name was Lauren Hexton and she was starting a polo club at the school,” Yu said.

“We called her Hexton the Texan.” The first day that we had practice, they purposely put

me on a horse that was a little hot and fresh and I handled myself really well. I ended up

falling in love with the horse. The horses name was Magwa.”

Within four months of Yu moving to Louisville, she had gotten a job, made friends,

enrolled in college and joined the polo team, a sport in which she had never heard of

before. Needless to say, the 22-year-old Yu was adventurous.

“Me and this girl Hailey Miller, who was from Kansas, were the two that really started to

love the Polo club a lot,” Yu said. “We started to go and play every single day and I

ended up getting a job at a farm where there was a polo team, called Hardscuffle.”

Yu worked for the Hardscuffle coach who was also the club pro, David Zeliger.

“I was traveling all over, playing for the college and actually playing for the polo club at

Hardscuffle,” Yu said. “I went to Florida and Saratoga to play with my own string (One’s

own set of polo ponies).”

A game of polo is divided into four or six chukkas. One chukka is seven minutes of play.

A proficient player needs at least one horse per chukka.

“A pro might have two horses per, but as you get more of your own horses you are able

to play more often,” Yu said. “David provided me with the horses to play, but as I started

getting more into polo, I started getting my own horses so I could have my own string.

I got one horse for free and made her (trained her) myself off the racetrack. Then I got

another off the racetrack and broke him in and traded him for a little made mare (An

adult female horse or other equine). I had one given to me (Cecil, I still have him. He's

like 30) and one I bought.”

Yu essentially stayed enrolled in school so she could continue to play polo. After she was

too old to play she opted to take life a different direction, while still staying in Kentucky.

Yu bounced around from Louisville and Lexington, while she was still working for TVG.

She went to Saratoga every summer, Florida or New Orleans in the winter, all while

working for TVG.

“We went everywhere for racing and we were just following racing throughout the year,”

Yu said.

In 2008, Yu worked for trainer Steve Asmussen for a summer in Saratoga.

“We had Curlin and Rachel Alexandra around the barn, right before Curlin went to Dubai

to take down the Dubai World Cup,” Yu said.

Curlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the highest North American money

earner with over US$10.5 million accumulated. His major racing wins include the 2007

Preakness Stakes, 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup.

Rachel Alexandra is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse and the 2009 Horse of

the Year. When she won the 2009 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown,

she became the first filly (female horse under the age of four) to win the race in 85 years.

At TVG, Yu worked as a personal assistant and worked her way up to a stage manager

and a field production worker. Yu worked alongside TVG reporter Jill Byrne , who was a

huge mentor to Yu.

Yu got to go to Japan for a jockey challenge and to the United Kingdom’s Royal Ascot

for TVG.

Horses were life to Yu and she regards Zenyatta (Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of 19

consecutive races in a 20-race career) as one of the horses who changed the face of

horseracing for a lot of people.

However, getting to meet Goldikova is one of the best things that Yu has ever got to

experience.

Goldikova is a champion Thoroughbred race mare (Female race horse) based in France,

although she has raced in the USA and England. She has won 14 Group One races, with

nine victories over colts and geldings. Goldikova is the only horse to win three Breeders'

Cup Mile races, winning it in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Olivier Peslier rode Goldikova in all

of her race starts.

“I never get star-struck, but if I get the chance to meet a famous horse I get giddy like a

small child,” Yu said.

Yu had started working for TVG and Jill and her had split up, opting Yu to make a

change to come back to the West Coast.

“TVG is based out of California and I had a job offer to work full time if I came back to

California,” Yu said.

Anna James has been Yu’s camera woman ever since she started working at TVG as a

reporter. James has become Yu’s best friend in the process and speaks openly about her.

“Once Michelle came in to TVG, she was reporting a lot, so I got scheduled to work

alongside of her many times because she was the talent on hand most the time,” James

said. “She can be very loud and she doesn't even know it. She will be singing in the

paddock and everybody around will be looking at her.”

Yu had another opportunity in the sports industry when she came back to California. So,

Yu stopped working for TVG and started working for Fox doing high school football in

2012.

“I think that she can move on to any sport if she wanted to, but I do not see her leaving

horse racing,” James said. “She is great on TV.”

After a short stint with Fox, Yu found herself back in horse racing at Santa Anita Park

the place where she fell in love with horse racing at a young age.

“I got approached by (former Santa Anita Chairman) Mark Verge, from Santa Anita

racetrack, who was trying to bring in new blood to the sport,” Yu said. “He wanted me to

do some fluffy hits. More or less, an in event hosts that people see up on the jumbotron

doing interviews with fans and attractions inside the venue.”

While Yu was doing that, her current boss, Amy Zimmerman approached her about doing

simulcast for the races at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos and Yu took the offer. At the

time, Zimmerman was the executive producer of HRTV.

“Before each race, Millie (Yu’s on air counterpart) and I come on and talk about who we

like in the race and why,” Yu said.

Yu will provide insight if one is a general fan that wants to throw down a few bucks on a

race, or if one is a major pick six player, the difficult task of choosing the winning horse

in six consecutive races, looking for picks. Yu wants to tell and show someone what he or

she can and can't see about a horse.

“If somebody were to ask me why they should listen to my picks I would say, ‘Why

not?,’” Yu said. “I don't care somebody listens to my picks or not, everybody has

different goals as a handicapper.”

Yu has different goals that she tries to achieve while reaching people through her pre-race

spots.

“My goal isn't to give you or the viewer every winner of every race, because if I could do

that I would be rich,” Yu said laughing. “My goal is to try to get you to think of a horse

that you may have never even thought of before. There might be a horse that walks into a

race at a 17-1 odds and I would give you a good reason why I think you should maybe

look at him. He might not be able to win the race, but he might finish second, third or

fourth and pick up the pieces.”

In a male-dominated sport, at times it may be tough for a woman to be recognized or

given the credit that she is due for the type of skill set and knowledge that she attains. Yu

does not shy away from the stereotype she thrives on it.

“I would say that a lot of people may be one to judge her before even knowing her,”

James said. “Like any other woman in the business, they might think that she is not

credible or does not know her stuff. But, once they listen to her for just a few moments,

they can't help but soak up her wealth of knowledge and think differently. She has

definitely held her own in the industry.”

Yu is at Santa Anita every day the horses race, watching the horses train. If the horses are

not racing at Santa Anita, then she is not there, unless she is watching them work. This

type of commitment to analyze and horses has made Yu extremely knowledgeable over

the years at what she does.

“At Keeneland, I excelled at baby races, because those were all 2-year-old horses,” Yu

said. “I could literally physically pick out a good specimen, and tell somebody why it's a

great paddock pick. A lot of times they would deliver because there is no history behind

them and they had never won before.”

While Santa Anita only races thoroughbreds, Yu examines quarter horses in her spare

time.

Yu’s husband, Ryan Hanson, is a quarterhorse trainer in Idaho. Yu travels to and from

Idaho, to help her husband at his training spot. She picks stalls, feeds horses and tacks

horses, equipping a horse with a piece of equipment, such as a saddle among other things.

“I am major labor when I am up in Idaho, because it is a family-run business and we do it

all together,” Yu said.

Hanson is training one the top six quarterhorses in the nation right now, the horse is

called Ynot Walk. Ynot Walk won the Winter Derby at Los Alamitos. Hanson’s parents

own Ynot Walk in partnership with George and Judy Weldon. 

“The difference between a thoroughbred and a quarterhorsehorse is like the difference

between a Dalmatian and a Husky,” Yu said.

Quarter horses have quick synapses so they do everything a lot faster. A quarter horse

will break out of a gate at full speed where a thoroughbred will not. A thoroughbred takes

a couple strides to get going. A quarter horse race will go for 220 yards to 870 yards (Or

four furlongs) because they cannot keep that stamina going.

The shortest race at Santa Anita is 4 1/2 furlongs, or a little more than a half-mile. Each

furlong is one-eighth of a mile

“I am around the horses so much I know what to look for,” Yu said. “I know when they

look good, I know when they look lame and I know when they look healthy. When I was

working for HRTV before they were bought out, I was out here for four days a week and

I can tell you anything that you need to know about any horse.”

Yu’s listeners, followers and even camera women have bought into how knowledgeable

she is in the sport even with her unique broadcasting style.

“She is very boisterous, but she knows a lot about horse racing,” James said. “She knows

a lot and she speaks her mind. She picks a lot of winners.”

Yu said ‘What a horse looks like to me, might be what any other woman looks like to a

guy.’

“You get to know them, and each of them has their own personality and different traits in

different looks,” Yu said.

Yu will continue to do her job that she loves as long as they are willing to keep her.

“I don't know how anybody could not do a job that they get paid to go and do what they

love,” Yu said. “When I am not doing horse racing, I am volunteering doing a radio show

about horse racing. Billy Koch and I do a show called, “The Horse Ownership

Experience” on LA talk radio.”

Yu tries to help the horse breeds get re-homed after they are done racing.

“I try my hardest to make sure that they are going to find a place to live where they will

live happy, because aftercare is a huge part of horse racing to me,” Yu said.

Yu loves horse racing so much that her and her husband, Hanson, planned their wedding

on a Monday so it was around horse racing. They planned their honeymoon around horse

racing as well.

“Somebody I know had their child induced early, because she was supposed to go into

labor during Breeders' Cup, which is the biggest day in racing during the entire year,” Yu

said.

While Yu knows of other people who have had kids at her age, she is in no rush, but

would love to have kids have her own someday. Her kids, you can guarantee, will be

raised around horses.

“My kids will sit on a horse before they can walk,” Yu said.

While Yu has a high respect and admiration for horses, her respect for jockeys rivals that

of horses, due to the demand that is put upon them in the sport that they participate in.

“Jockeys have one of the most dangerous jobs,” Yu said. “Half of these guys cannot play

football like Gronkowski, but I would also say that Gronkowski can't ride a horse like

these guys can.”

Yu loves hanging out at the racetrack, with all of her race-track junky friends. Yu loves to

be at the track with all of the people who bring out their little kids who ask the jockeys

for their goggles after the race.

“I love racing because it is the most accessible sport in the world,” Yu said. “If you went

to the Super Bowl, you would not hang out with Tom Brady after the game. But, after the

Breeders' Cup, you might get to give the winning jockey a hug, a kiss and have dinner

with him after the race. He might be your best friend before you leave. You might even

get your picture taken with one of the most famous horses in the world.”

When Yu says access to take pictures with the most famous horses in the world, she

means it. Yu has taken pictures with some of the best ever, including Zenyatta.

“What was so revolutionary about Zenyatta was that access the public had to her,” Yu

said. “She would get taken out of her stall and stood up every day for an hour and a half

so people could touch her and take pictures with her.”

It is not just the horses that are accessible at the track, it is the jockeys, the staff who

works there and even people like Yu. Yu will stop and try to talk to you to get to know

you, regardless if you are a college student trying to find a hidden story or a general

bystander trying to get to know horse racing.

If you are not sold on horse racing, go to the track and you will be. If that doesn't suffice,

then seek out Yu and she will make you a believer in five minutes. If she does not make

you a believer in horse racing, then you will still walk away wanting to be her friend.

“She is one person that if you get to meet her you will realize that she is a friend for life

and not too many people are like that,” James said. “She is just a good person at the bare-

bones of it all.”

If anything else, follow Yu’s twitter handle, @themichelleyu , and her thought-provoking

tweets will bring you to the track anyways.