The Beat

Some people know their studs. The annual media handicapping championship, sponsored by the Daily Racing Form and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, is typically contested by savvy racing journalists and veteran bettors. Last month four five-member teams competed at Las Vegas's MGM Grand for the $10,000 first prize (which went to charity). The winners: Team Penthouse, led by December 2001 Pet of the Month Cheyenne Silver (below left) and September 1999 Pet Alexa Lauren (right). The models, who were invited as a publicity stunt, had no betting experience but nonetheless beat a field of noted horseplayers that included Daily Racing Form chairman and publisher Steven Crist. "When the other players first saw me, this blonde girl with big boobs, they were like, 'Are you going to pick the horseys all by yourself?' " recalls Lauren, 27, who won $175.60 in the 30-race event, the fifth-highest individual total. "Then we won, and they were asking me seriously how I did it." The extent of the Pets' preparation was to read The Female Fan Guide to Thoroughbred Racing on the plane ride to the contest. "I didn't know much about the event," says Silver, 23, "but anything to do with horses is fun for me."...

Rossignol is producing a Dave Mathews Band snowboard. The $375 board is the creation of Stefan Lessard, the group's bassist and an avid snowboarder. "If I wasn't able to play music," says Lessard, "I would try to compete as a pro snowboarder." Rossignol hopes the unusual cross-cultural venture will appeal to boarders and music followers. "Our fans appreciate things that represent our individuality," says Lessard....

Director Michael Mann, who directed Ali, will make a biopic on the life of legendary Italian sports car mogul Enzo Ferrari. The film will be based on Brock Yates's 1991 book, Enzo Ferrari: the Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine. Mann will partner with producer Sydney Pollack, who directed 1977's Bobby Deerfield.