at SA.

By Tracy Gantz

Racetrackers could devise an effective drinking game around nearly any episode of a television series that takes place at the track. Every time the show gets it wrong, hoist a shot-drunk in no time, especially when the big horse manages to win the championship race despite running on dirt and turf, with and without blinkers, and apparently under different jockeys in different silks.

When “Luck,” an HBO TV series pilot filmed at Santa Anita this past winter, appears on television, however, sobriety may ensue. That's because David Milch, one of the executive producers who also wrote the script, knows the industry intimately.

As an owner, Milch has reached the highs, winning the 2001 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) with Val Royal and the 1992 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) with Gilded Time in partnership. But he knows the extremes of the industry even more thoroughly as a bettor.

“Since I came out to Hollywood and went to work, I've always made a good living,” Milch said, “but I've never made so good a living that I couldn't look from week to week and say, 'I'm going to die in the gutter because of the racetrack.' ”

A “good living” is a bit of an understatement. The multiple Emmy winner has helmed such shows as “NYPD Blue,” “Deadwood,” and “Hill Street Blues.” In focusing on the racetrack as a setting for “Luck,” Milch has written authoritatively about a variety of characters, from owners, trainers, and jockeys to a quartet of gamblers who regularly pool their money in search of the elusive big Pick Six payoff.

“This is kind of an 'Upstairs, Downstairs' treatment of the whole world of horse racing,” said Milch.

“Luck” also benefits from a stellar cast, headed by Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, and Dennis Farina. Michael Mann, the director of the movie “Public Enemies” and an executive producer of both the film and TV versions of “Miami Vice,” is directing the pilot. Hall of Fame former jockey Gary Stevens and current rider Chantal Sutherland have small roles, while racetrack executive and racing stable manager John Perrotta is serving as a consultant and several Santa Anita employees worked as extras.

Milch based his characters on many people he has encountered at the racetrack. One may look particularly familiar. Peruvian trainer Turo Escalante bears more than a passing resemblance to Julio Canani, who trained Val Royal and many others for Milch.

Though Escalante is based on Canani, Milch has written the character with “the blissful freedom from having to tell the truth (and) the liberating effect of misrepresentation.”

That difference between truth and fiction informs Milch's writing of the entire script.

“It is something the racetrack feels about the outside world,” Milch said, “which is, 'Nobody outside can understand us anyway, so why bother trying to tell them the truth?' It's also what a Latino feels in relation to the dominant white culture. 'They caricature us anyway, so why not exploit the caricature to our own advantage?' That's how I think Julio came to develop the best Desi Arnaz act in the business. He parodies the simple Latin.”

John Ortiz, whose credits include “Public Enemies” and “Fast and Furious,” plays Escalante. He spent time with Canani around the racetrack, at Clockers' Corner, and at Canani's barn.

“I was very impressed by his work ethic and what it takes to maintain a stable,” Ortiz said. “It's incredible how well Julio knows his horses without appearing to work at all.”

Though Ortiz grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., he never attended the races before taking on the role of Escalante.

“This is almost completely new to me,” he said. “The closest I got to Aqueduct was the flea market there on the weekends.”

Ortiz spent six weeks following and observing Canani. He witnessed the family-like atmosphere of Canani's barn and the patience the trainer has with his runners.

“I could see that a big part was not only knowing where to run your horses, but when not to run them,” Ortiz said. “It was great to get an inside view of that.”

Ortiz said that in building the character of Escalante, he took 35-40% from Canani.

“The inspiration is in the script, how Escalante is different from Julio,” Ortiz said. “David is capturing the racing world in real terms.”

Another actor who studied the racetrack for his role as a jockey agent is Richard Kind. A veteran of such televisions series as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Spin City,” and “Mad About You” and one of the stars of the movie “A Serious Man,” Kind had not attended the races regularly. However, his wife, Dana, raised Arabians, and daughter Skyler takes riding lessons back in New York, where the Kind family lives.

Kind met jockey agents at Santa Anita and learned much of the racetrack ebb and flow from Rick Hammerle, Santa Anita's racing secretary and the assistant racing secretary at Del Mar.

“I also found this great book, Betting for Dummies, that shows you how to bet,” Kind said. “Now I like picking horses and handicapping.”

Several aspects of the racing world surprised Kind.

“I was astounded how everyone knows everyone,” he said. “And I was surprised that jock agents only handle one or two jocks. In acting, agencies handle hundreds of actors, often people who are up for the same roles.”

Kind's character, Joey Rathburn, is the agent for apprentice jockey Leon Micheaux. Played by Tom Payne, Micheaux rides a key horse for Escalante.

“My guy is not a typical agent, which is emblematic of David Milch,” said Kind. “Most agents are fast-talking and smooth. David has created a stutterer.”

During the shooting at Santa Anita, Kind enjoyed the atmosphere.

“I love doing the role and going to my 'office'-I call Santa Anita my office,” he said. “The setting is so bucolic.”

Santa Anita plays itself in the script instead of a generic racetrack. The production team decided to film during the live meet instead of during the off-season.

“It complicates things enormously,” said Milch, “but by the same token, that complication is the source of the deepest possibility of this premise. Whatever you think when you go into the world of horse racing, what you discover if you have any capacity to grow is that you have to be respectful of its complexities. You have to learn the world on its own terms.”

Milch's script wastes no time explaining those complexities. He immerses the viewer into the world almost immediately. The first scene that takes place at the racetrack occurs during the earliest of training hours, when Nolte, playing the embodiment of innumerable crusty old trainers, arrives with his dog and a bag of donuts.

Yet like most good writers, Milch isn't merely telling a story about a specific setting.

“Someone once said, 'Good storytelling is always about the same thing, which is the human heart in conflict with itself,' ” said Milch. “That goes on at the racetrack.”

While the two trainers, the four gamblers, and a variety of other racetrackers people the script, Hoffman and Farina's characters set the action in motion. Hoffman plays Chester “Ace” Bernstein, fresh out of prison, and Farina is Gus Economou, his friend and his front for owning a racehorse.

Hoffman and Farina also spent time at Santa Anita, most visibly in the winner's circle after Zenyatta won the 2010 Santa Margarita Handicap (gr. I). Hoffman, of course, is the celebrated actor who won Academy Awards for “Rain Man” and “Kramer vs. Kramer” and has been nominated for five other films. Farina has worked in both TV and movies, perhaps most recently well-known for his stint as a homicide detective on “Law & Order.”

Included in the cast as the four gamblers are Kevin Dunn of “Samantha Who” and “Transformers” as Marcus, Jason Gedrick of “Desperate Housewives” as Jerry, Ritchie Coster as Renzo, and Ian Hart as Lonnie. Milch uses the camaraderie of the four gamblers as another aspect of the storyline.

“So much of the essence of the experience of racing is a collective experience,” Milch said. “It is profoundly demoralizing not to be part of a collective, even in the appreciation of the sport.”

The crew shot the pilot during much of the 2009-10 Santa Anita meeting, finishing up shortly after the meet closed in late April and the circuit moved to Hollywood Park. They staged two races and filmed throughout the grandstand, Clockers' Corner, barn area, paddock, walking ring, and jockeys' room.

“The crew started its very first two days under the most difficult of circumstances, shooting at Clockers' Corner during morning workouts,” said Pete Siberell, director of special events at Santa Anita. “It would have been hard to duplicate the background of having 1,600 horses on the track throughout the morning that we do at Santa Anita.”

Santa Anita and the film crew conferred through many planning and safety meetings, Siberell said. Mann and Siberell oocoordinated shooting the characters watching live races in the grandstand. Filming occurred on a Monday-through-Friday schedule, which helped avoid the larger weekend crowds.

“The crew was both professional and respectful of where it was and the fact that we still had a 'show to put on,' ” said Siberell. He added that the Thoroughbred Owners of California, California Thoroughbred Trainers, and Jockeys' Guild also helped to accommodate the filming.

Milch estimated that the pilot would be broadcast early next year. The goal is for HBO to pick it up as a regular series. Milch already has a story arc in mind that would expand filming beyond Santa Anita, perhaps to places like Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Gulfstream Park in Florida.

Though “Luck” as the title can be seen to represent the winners and losers of races, Milch has expanded that meaning to more universal themes.

“One of the definitions of 'Luck' has to do with what constitutes real luck,” said Milch. “True luck, I believe, isn't winning or losing, but the opportunity to be part of something larger than yourself. That's the journey that all of the characters make.”