{"id":476445,"date":"2025-10-05T18:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T18:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/476445\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T18:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T18:40:14","slug":"jeff-siegel-key-figure-in-southern-california-horse-racing-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/476445\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Siegel, key figure in Southern California horse racing, has died"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeff Siegel, a major player on the Southern California horse racing scene for more than half-a-century, died at his home in Duarte on Saturday after an extended battle with cancer. He was 74.<\/p>\n

There are few roles in horse racing, besides trainer or jockey, that Siegel didn\u2019t perform since he first got a job in the publicity department at Hollywood Park in 1974. <\/p>\n

Siegel\u2019s last job in racing was both serving as a host on XBTV, a service, owned by The Stronach Group, that specializes in horse workout videos. He was also the morning-line maker for both Santa Anita and Del Mar. He continued doing the job until his health no longer allowed it earlier this year.<\/p>\n

But what made Siegel a must-know personality in racing was his ability as a handicapper. Andy Beyer, the legendary Washington Post handicapper and namesake to Beyer speed figures, called Siegel the \u201cWorld\u2019s Greatest Handicapper\u201d in his 1993 book \u201cBeyer on Speed.\u201d Siegel gave Beyer six horses to bet on a day\u2019s card of Southern California racing. All six won, according to Beyer.<\/p>\n

Siegel was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 8, 1950, and grew up in Southern California. He attended Fairfax High, where he ran track, and he worked at the school newspaper at L.A. Valley College. He later went to San Jos\u00e9 State, where he was pointed to radio and television journalism. He came home and got a job at radio station KLAC, where he worked with Jim Healy, who had a top sports commentary show for many years. Healy knew Siegel liked racing and got him a job at Hollywood Park without even asking Siegel, who said he liked his current job. Healy told him he would like the Hollywood Park job even more.<\/p>\n

And he did. Siegel never looked back.<\/p>\n

Because of his access to trainers, jockeys and owners, plus an ability to see things others didn\u2019t, Siegel was a valued public handicapper and soon his picks were featured in many Southern California newspapers, including The Times, the Daily News, Pasadena Star-News, Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff has been my primary mentor in this game,\u201d said Bob Ike, a long-time public handicapper in Southern California. \u201cHe made performance ratings before there were published Beyer figures. He videotaped gate workouts in the mid-1980s. His overall knowledge of pace, pedigree and European form is unsurpassed. As a public handicapper, he\u2019s the GOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert<\/a> often took advice from Siegel and loved his time talking to him about horses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had total respect for his opinions and thoughts on horses,\u201d Baffert said. \u201cWhen [Triple Crown winner] Justify broke his maiden, Jeff told me the horse was going to win the Kentucky Derby.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just loved being part of the game and I respected his handicapping. If he picked your horse first, second or third, you knew you had a good chance of winning. He could see a horse run and he knew right away. After he saw [Triple Crown winner] American Pharoah run for the first time, he came up to me and said \u2018You\u2019ve got a real good one there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to miss talking to him. I\u2019d ask him what he thought and he might say, \u2018I don\u2019t think he can go that far.\u2019 And he was right. On top of all that, he was such a nice man. His passion for the sport was unequaled. Nobody knew horses better than him. It\u2019s a sad day and I will really miss listening to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siegel also co-founded partnership stables Clover Racing and Team Valor, the most successful partnership at that time, with his friend Barry Irwin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the best handicapper I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d Irwin said. \u201cWhat separated him from his peers, is his ability to add horsemanship to his handicapping. He knew a lot of what went into training. He wasn\u2019t just a nuts and bolts guy, he understood the animal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irwin remembers a time he was at Siegel\u2019s house to talk about buying a horse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked if he had any old Racing Forms so I could look up a horse,\u201d Irwin said. \u201cHe said, \u2018Go look in the bathroom.\u2019 He had Racing Forms stacked to the top of the shower where the water comes out. His entire life was dedicated to horse racing and handicapping. Nobody ever met a kinder or nicer guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never deterred by the amount of work on his plate \u2014 unless it conflicted with UCLA football or basketball games \u2014 Siegel decided to try broadcasting. So, he joined HRTV, a horse racing channel, in 2004 and stayed for almost a decade as an analyst.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to all the great work he did on camera, he was a true fan and dedicated student of the game,\u201d said Becky Somerville, senior director of production at FanDuel TV. \u201cHe was passionate about it, which came through in everything he did, and that passion was infectious, lifting up everyone around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somerville worked closely with Jeff at HRTV from 2004 to 2015, including producing his show \u201cFirst Call.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Funeral arrangements are pending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff Siegel, a major player on the Southern California horse racing scene for more than half-a-century, died at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[104812,158361,25020,158365,158363,9348,64431,158360,158364,5701,158362,1071,158358,158359,79,3114,16,15,3118],"class_list":{"0":"post-476445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-ability","9":"tag-andy-beyer","10":"tag-game","11":"tag-handicapping","12":"tag-hollywood-park","13":"tag-horse","14":"tag-irwin","15":"tag-jeff-siegel","16":"tag-jim-healy","17":"tag-job","18":"tag-public-handicapper","19":"tag-racing","20":"tag-siegel","21":"tag-southern-california-horse-racing","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-time","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115323025839501180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}