Some crazy times at the Shore's Greatest Stretch this weekend. |
Jul 6, 2009
A Great Monmouth Park Weekend
Jul 1, 2009
The Tossers
Tell me you're not running to Itunes to download this song right now. |
How Much Does Secrecy Hold Us Back?
The list is easy to make. Stewards, medication, workouts, but I'd like to add something to it: Entries. |
Jun 23, 2009
A Tale of Misunderstanding
The BC Understands: |
Jun 19, 2009
The HOTY Race Could Be Over in August
Here's a very simple scenario that echo's the thoughts of Pricci: |
Jun 17, 2009
Perception of Gambling
I love to hear how the industry should focus on the gambling. At this point it's comical how wrong headed it is. People that make money in sports know you can't sell gambling even though millions do it. "If sports betting becomes more prevalent through state-promoted schemes, it will inevitably lead those gambling fans to question whether an erroneous officiating call or a dropped pass late in the game resulted from an honest mistake or an intentional act by a corrupt player or referee."h/t to Shutdown Corner. |
Rachel Alexandra in the Mother Goose
LEXINGTON, KY—Rachel Alexandra, will race in the 1 1/8 |
Jun 15, 2009
Higher Authority Runs Today
What Happens to Fans when they become Owners?
Let me clean up that title: What happens to some fans when they become really successful owners. And I'm looking at you Mr. and Mrs. Moss. |
Jun 10, 2009
Summer Bird in the Haskell
Well this news came fast. Summer Bird is a go for the Haskell. |
Jun 9, 2009
Gambling & Betting
Gambling is done on random games, the house edge always wins over time. Betting is just another word for investing. You form your best opinion and back it up with cash. The house (clearing houses, vig, mafia, whatever you use) still makes their money, but it feels like you have a better shot. |
at
6/09/2009 11:52:00 AM
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Labels: online gambling, sports books
What is a Deep Crop
joedrape: This was among the better crop of 3-year-olds in Triple Crown History. Should be a tremendous second season. http://bit.ly/hFrtC |
Jun 8, 2009
Haskell Watch
Ok, on to the real race this Summer, the 2009 Monmouth Park Haskell on Aug 2nd (Yes a Sunday). I'm sure track secretary Mike Dempsey is hard at work working the phones and seeing if there's anything he can do to get a great field set for the Haskell. "The question is how we are going to get there. It's going to be either the Jim Dandy or the Haskell (G1). We think it's ideal to give him two months of spacing in between races. The three-year-old picture is still open. We'll have to see if someone steps up and strings a couple of victories together."I'd also like to throw in another Pletcher worker who I think would be a good fit for the Haskell. Join in the Dance. His sire Sky Mesa looked the perfect picture of a horse when he ran in the Haskell, and the style might fit this horse as well. He was the top finisher for Todd in the Derby. Might be his best horse. |
So, That Was Fun
And again the craziness of Triple Crown season is over. 3 races 3 separate winners. This has now happened 3 out of the last 4 years and I gotta say I was dead wrong about this group of winners. I thought we had a deep crop, but looking back what have we got so far? 2 legs were won by horses that were greater than 50-1 on Derby day. You can talk all you want about injuries, but that's part of the game, that's part of what makes this crop crap. |
Jun 3, 2009
Horses Aren't Golfers
I'm a big fan of Fred Pope, think the guy is usually within spitting distance of a right answer. His newest rant over on Thoroughbred Times though I think misses a pretty big point. |
Jun 2, 2009
Belmont Trends
Da' Tara, Jazil, Sarava. Those 3 names don't really ring the bells even for true racing fans. They were decent horses who caught a favorable race at the right time. The race just so happened to be the Belmont, the final jewel in the crown. |
Jun 1, 2009
Gary Stevens the Trainer
This press release is a little confusing, is he an owner or trainer. I'm guessing it's as a trainer, but it never really lays that out. Isn't there a ton of stories about how jockeys always think they know better than the trainer, though invariably when given the chance they prove themselves wrong? We'll see how Gary ends up, but I have a voice in the back of my head saying that I once heard that Gary was like one of those jockeys mentioned, we'll see if that voice has any truth to it. June 1, 2009 - Sierra Madre, CA - Gary Stevens, the Hall of Fame jockey who hung up his tack in 2005 with over 5,000 wins and earnings exceeding $221 million, is opening a California-based racing stable. The newly-organized Gary Stevens Racing Stable Inc. will have stalls at Santa Anita Race Course in Arcadia, Calif., and runners will ship from there to various locations across the United States. “This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and things finally fell into place,” said Stevens, who also works as an analyst for NBC sports and HRTV. “We’re starting out with several nice horses and looking forward to slowly building up the stable.” Stevens will be assisted by his son, T.C. Stevens, who worked for Ashford Stud for two years and also gained experience with other California and Florida-based operations before joining his father’s fledgling team. “It’s a family business,” Stevens said. “My father Ron is a trainer, my brother Scott is a jockey, and my older brother Craig is a breeder. It was only natural for T.C. to follow in those footsteps as well.” Stevens, 46, won eight Breeders’ Cup races, a record nine runnings of the Santa Anita Derby, and eight Triple Crown races - including triple editions of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes – in a racing career that spanned 27 years. Since his retirement, he has served as a consultant for IEAH Stables and various other racing operations, in addition to his duties as an analyst. “We met on the set of Seabiscuit,” said Nick Mestrendrea, owner of 2007 Inaugural Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Maryfield. “Gary brought me into the business shortly thereafter and I haven’t looked back. I am thrilled to be on board with him as an owner in his new racing stable and wish him nothing but the best in his new endeavor.” |
May 29, 2009
Reverse Reverse Jinxing It?
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May 28, 2009
Who Do The Stewards Work For?
May 27, 2009
Zenyatta vs Rachel (it would have to be twice)
Zenyatta has absolutely no reason to leave the confines of Southern California. The Moss' are good people, they do well by the industry, and are good folks with great horses. Shipping horses is a stressful thing, with the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita there's even less reason to run around and try and beat a 3yo. When you're sitting on a 10 race win streak to don't fix what ain't broke. |
Too Many Place Too Little Money
The print news industry is dead. I probably should cite that, but I think we've all come to accept this as fact. People are going to other resources to get their news, and not enough people are reading papers. Again, don't have to cite that, it might as well be written in stone and handed down on a mountain. But I would add that it's not that people have stopped reading the paper in droves that caused the problem, it's that there are so many options for advertisers. Look, paper's circulation numbers were always dicey, I used to get a free Daily News on my way to work in the city, and so did everyone else who rode the NY Waterway, sometimes we got one as we got on the PATH all for free. We always got one for certain months because that's when papers audited their circulation numbers, I'm guessing they weren't counting paid circulation. |
May 26, 2009
For the Love of the Game
Have you noticed it's been light posting around here lately? Are you just relieved I hadn't been clogging up your twitter stream or RSS feed? I've done this on purpose. It's Triple Crown season, and it's the one time a year where there is a ton of main stream coverage, so what could I the blogger really add? Pretty much noise (not saying that other blogs are adding noise, just that I'd be doing that). So, I've remained on the sidelines. But it got me thinking where Bloggers fit in, and how they fit in. |
May 21, 2009
Sporting vs Well Being
I have no idea whether or not Rachel Alexandra will run in the Belmont, but it is an interesting conundrum; whether she should run or not. It was made all the more interesting when Mine That Bird proved himself no fluke with another devastating closing kick at Pimlico, and finished a hard charging second. |
May 16, 2009
I Was Wrong
I thought that because Rachel wasn't pointing the race it was foolish to throw her schedule off. I was way wrong, she was dominate, I didn't cash a ticket, but felt like I got my money's worth. |
May 13, 2009
An Idea I Believe In to be Tested
If Harrison Fraser gets his way there will be less focus on gambling when racing is shown on English TV. For the record, I'm not 100% sold on this for England as they embrace gambling far differently than we do stateside, but let's see how this plays out. Equidaily already called it a failure so I'm pretty sure I'm on the right side of this one. 1 Premierisation - identifying the top fixtures and clarifying jockeys' and trainers' championships (oh you mean like standings and a Saturday coordinated TV show) 2 Brand identity and web portal (covered it) 3 Stakeholder engagement - getting everyone onside (VP Online/Offline communication) 4 Betting and in-store communications - simplifying gambling (ok we didn't do this) 5 The raceday experience - improving quality for spectators (connecting online & offline experience) 6 Internal and external PR assets - getting the celebrity factor (Charity-capping) 7 Targeting the organisers of racing trips (missed this one 2) $375,000.00 worth of info created by a handful of fans. Sheesh, hope someone was listening. |












