It's not often one gets called a "10" by a "10."
Check out the accompanying ArcadiasBest.com video.

Yes, that is Bo Derek saying I might be a 10.
Thank you Scott Hettrick for asking that question.
The 51-year-old actress who starred in the 1978 movie “10,” was in Arcadia Wednesday for a California Horse Racing Board meeting held in the City Council Chambers.

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Bo Knows Horses & Arcadia Blogger; Both 10s!

 By Larry Stewart
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When Hettick caught up with her with his video camera, Derek was scurrying off to LAX. She and her sister, Kelly McGill, had to catch a 5:30 flight to RomeAsked if the trip was for business or pleasure, Derek said, “It’s mainly for business, but you don’t go to Rome strictly for business. There’s always pleasure in Rome.”
Since Derek and her sister were already late, she apologized for not having more time for the taping session with Hettrick. But Hettrick got in all the important questions.
So how is it I know Bo Derek? It’s because I did a story on her for Thoroughbred Times, a national magazine based in Lexington, Ky., not long after she was appointed to the CHRB.
Having been laid off by the Los Angeles Times after spending more than 30 years there as a sportswriter, I am now doing free-lance writing. I have become a regular contributor to Thoroughbred Times, as well as Arcadiasbest.com. Here is the story I wrote for Thoroughbred Times, published in the Sept. 10 issue of the magazine:

By Larry Stewart
Maybe Arnold Schwarzenegger was going for a “perfect” choice, or simply a “beautiful” move. He ended up scoring a “10.”
But when the California governor appointed Bo Derek to the California Horse Racing Board in mid-July, it came as somewhat of a surprise to many, including the 51-year-old actress.
“It all happened very quickly,” she said. “Someone from the governor’s staff called about a week before the announcement to ask me if I was interested. I don’t think I fully understood what I was getting involved in. I’ve never owned thoroughbreds.”
But she is enthusiastic about her new role.
“My goal is to learn more about racing, and as I learn more about racing, I’ll see where I can contribute,” she said. “I suppose I will represent the public that loves horses and loves horse racing.”
When Derek’s appointment was announced July 14, Schwarzenegger said he felt it was important to include “different backgrounds and points of views” in his government.
It wasn’t Derek’s body, made famous in the 1978 movie “10,” that got her the CHRB appointment. It was her body of work as an animal activist.
Derek is a horse lover. She lives on a 10-acre ranch in the Santa Ynez area of Southern California near Solvang and owns three Portugal-bred Lusitano riding horses.
She has lobbied Congress for the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which would prohibit the shipping of horses to Mexico, Canada or abroad for slaughter.
The last three horse slaughterhouses on U.S. soil closed in 2007, as required by state law. But according to a recent segment on HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel,” more than 100,000 American horses continue to be killed annually for human consumption at plants located elsewhere.
In an initial interview for Thoroughbred Times, Derek said she favored horses being humanely euthanized. But she called back the next day to clarify that remark.
“I want to make it clear that I believe a peaceful, painless death is only the last resort,” she said. “Many of these horses can be rescued and go on to second careers.”
Derek cites CARMA, which stands for California Retirement Management Account. The organization, chaired by Southern California horse owner Madeline Auerbach, was formed to supply grants to be used to rehabilitate, feed, provide vet services and do whatever is necessary to care for retired thoroughbreds.
Derek is also author of “Riding Lessons: Everything That Matters in Life I Learned From Horses,” an autobiography that likens her life lessons with an understanding of horses.
Derek grew up in Long Beach, Calif., surfing and sai ling. “But I was born with a passion for horses,” she said.
Derek, in the initial interview, said she also wants to help promote horse racing. In the second interview, she was asked for specifics on what she planned to do.
“I’m glad you asked about that,” she said. “I didn’t mean to imply I was going to be a spokeswoman. I have always defended the sport when appearing on ‘Larry King’ and other shows like that. But as a member of the CHRB, I don’t know how much I will be allowed to do. It might be against the rules.”
But, Derek pointed out, the sport does need promoting.
Two days after her CHRB appointment was announced she drove to Del Mar in northern San Diego County for opening day of the summer meet at the racetrack there. She went with her sister Kelly McGill and her 20-year-old niece Molly McGill, who also live in the Santa Ynez area.
“Molly, who grew up in San Diego, called a number of her friends to see if they wanted to come along,” Derek said. “They all declined, saying they weren’t happy with racing after the breakdown of Eight Belles, and that’s a shame.
“We have to find ways to change that perception, especially with young people. I believe the new rules making California racing steroid free will help a lot.”
Derek is one of two new members of the seven-member CHRB. The other is David Israel, a former sportswriter who more recently has been a television writer and producer whose credits include “The Untouchables” and “Midnight Caller.”
Israel is also a business partner of legendary television producer and executive Don Ohlmeyer and served four years as president of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.
“I think it was the stint with the Coliseum Commission that got me the CHRB appointment,” Israel said. Also, he said he is friends with Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver. He met them through Maria’s brother, Bobby Shriver, whom Israel befriended when both wrote for the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner in the early 1980s.
Israel, like Derek, described him self as an advocate for the fan – both the serious horse player and the casual fan.
Of Derek and Israel, CHRB Chairman Richard Shapiro said, “I think they are both good choices.”
On July 17 at Del Mar, the day after opening day, Derek and Israel participated in their first CHRB meeting, where the board unanimously adopted a regulation effectively banning anabolic steroids in California racing.
Israel said he introduced himself at the meeting by saying, “I’m not Bo Derek.”

Editor’s note: Wednesday’s CHRB meeting in Arcadia was the third Derek has attended.

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