Bill Plaschke: A blow to racing
LOS ANGELES - Jay Cohen picks up the trumpet, pulls it to his lips, and prepares to play the most famous 34 notes in sports.
"I don't want to do this, but I will," he says softly.
He slowly begins playing "Call to the Post," the tune he has blasted before nearly every race at Santa Anita Park for the last 31 years.
He has played it more than 93,000 times on various tracks, and countless occasions elsewhere by request of horse racing fans who have come to view Cohen's presence and his seven-second song as the start of something big.
He has played it at weddings, funerals, birthdays, lavish parties, private dinners, on Beverly Hills rooftops, in Las Vegas clubs, and even over the phone if you're in the middle of a conversation
