Mark Davis

Years before they skyrocketed to sports stardom with the purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979, the Buss family, consisting at the time of Jerry, then-wife JoAnn, and children Johnny, Jim, Jeanie and Janie, were just another family spending the hot summer months where the turf meets the surf. "My parents had a summer house at Del Mar," Janie Buss remembered of her childhood in California. "So every summer, we would go there. My parents were [gamblers]. We would go to Torrey Pines Beach in the morning, then go...

Saturday's GII Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar was billed as a showdown between the top sprinter in the West, two-time GI Bing Crosby Stakes winner The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), and Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), winner of the world's richest race, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. The Chosen Vron toted a gaudy six-race win steak, while Senor Buscador was returning from a break after finishing third in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Despite the headlines, apparently Mark Davis and Great Friends Stable's Raging Torrent (c, 3, Maximus Mischief-Violent Wave, by Violence),...