Frank Stronach - Right about Standings

Not sure if I'll be asked to take this down, but it's from TDN. A great site w/ great news, and you should consider a subscription, so you can read some of the great things like below. THE ECLIPSE AWARDS: TIME FOR A NEW SYSTEM OF SELECTING WINNERS by Frank Stronach Since the announcement of the 2008 Eclipse Awards several weeks ago, there has been public controversy surrounding the selection of Outstanding Owner. A number of owners and sports writers have questioned the validity or fairness of the results--but few have stopped to question the actual process used to determine the annual winners of the Eclipse Award. Federico Tesio, one of the greatest thoroughbred breeders and owners of all time, once said that he preferred the racehorse business to the show horse business for the simple reason that, with racehorses, you could always tell who the winner was: it was the horse that crossed the wire first. Perhaps there is a lesson there for the way our industry hands out awards. I would like to state up front that I've never been happy with the selection process for the Eclipse Awards. It has always seemed to me to be too arbitrary, too much a popularity contest. The award is needlessly exposed to criticism and controversy, with the result that its integrity becomes tarnished and the award itself risks falling into disrepute. More than 10 years ago, my horse Awesome Again won every single race he entered during the course of the year, including the 1998 GI Breeders' Cup Classic--a race that many experts believe featured the strongest field of Thoroughbreds ever assembled. And yet, despite going undefeated, despite winning the biggest race of the year, Awesome Again was passed over for Horse of the Year, losing the award to a horse that he defeated at the Breeders' Cup Classic. I never publicly questioned the result, but I was left wondering about the judging process--as were many others in our sport. I believe the Eclipse Awards need to be based on a points system with a clear-cut formula. Points would be awarded to owners for races won, with low-level races (e.g., a claiming race) receiving the fewest points, while stakes-graded races (e.g., Grade I races) would receive the highest number of points. Under such a system, owners that had smaller stables, but with a large number of high-quality, championship horses would end up with more points than owners that had larger stables and a lot of low-grade wins. I believe a points-based formula similar to this could be easily developed and implemented for both the Outstanding Owner and Outstanding Breeder awards. The points-based formula would be completely transparent, with the result that anyone could independently calculate the total number of points won by an owner. There would be no guessing as to who might win and no questioning afterwards why a certain owner or breeder received the award. And because the points-based formula would be pre-determined, no one could claim the process was unfair owing to the subjective views of various judges or the result of votes cast by judges with potential conflicts of interest. All of the inevitable human bias and favoritism that judges bring to the selection process would be stripped out, leaving nothing but hard data and quantifiable results. This is simply one proposed method for determining the winners of the Eclipse Awards. Others may come up with a different solution--one that the entire industry can support and stand behind. If so, we should openly debate and consider all of the options for enhancing the award selection process, and we should begin the discussions now. If our industry were to move to a points-based system such as the one I described above, then I believe the Eclipse Awards can preserve their integrity. The awards will no longer be based on mere popularity or the prevailing whims and views of a select number of judges--they will be based on tangible, indisputable yardsticks of success. In short, the Eclipse Awards can once and for all become the undisputed hallmark of success for our industry. Frank have you been to the TBA homepage recently, we have our thoughts about standings as well. Again, TDN, great news story, everyone please think about a subscription.

Beaver Patrol

In the future what Google Searches will land on this post? Anyways, I was over perusing the TBA homepage International News tab and this headline grabbed my attention: DUBAI DELIGHT FOR BEAVER PATROL I'm not sure how Sharia looks upon horse names, but how did this get by? Best line from the article: "Gaining the upper hand in the final half a furlong" No doubt! Should Sharia law ban horses based on name?

Sunday's Headline

Small contest... ok so any contest I run will be small. I want you all to come up with the best headline you can for this Sunday before the fact. The Sham and the Fountain of Youth will have been run and I'm sure some buzz will be on a few horses, so be clever, keep it short, and will see if we can determine a winner before AND after the races this week. My entry Notonthesamepage Not Even the Same Furlong or Mr Hot Stuff Who Do You Think You Are?

How Rankings Should Work

Where can you find the daily thoughts of 4 members of the PDI index? The TBA homepage. On the Derby trail there is nothing more enticing than a maiden winner, nor is there any object more unquantifiable. These horses usually win emphatically, and have an aura that people can see all the way to the first Saturday in May. They start thinking about the odds they could get in the future book, or how they'll be able to tell their friends how they "knew" way back when. The same can be said of allowance winners, to a lesser degree. Let me tell you where Dunkirk ranks on my top 10. He doesn't. In every other sport you have to beat somebody, and you have to beat somebody where it counts. Dunkirk will appear in the Florida Derby, he will appear in my top 10 after a good appearance there, not a moment sooner. I have no doubt he's a good horse, but to put him in the top 10 of 3yo's right now does a disservice to those who have taken on the toughest competition. Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi have a child, if he wins his first amateur tourney will they put him up at #1 in the World rankings?

Sure Fire Bet Against - At Least for Me

If you're father looks like this I will be leaving you out of the W spot on all my tickets. Prove me wrong. Midshipman - Unbridled's Song + Dubai = Easiest bet against ever. Old Fashioned - Wouldn't shock me if he's leading at the 1 1/8 pole of the Kentucky Derby, unfortunately they still have a ways to run. Dunkirk - I watched the replay last night, and to say that I'm not a little worried about this horse would be foolish. His mom's side is stamina, but I'm sticking to my principal's; maybe he leads at 1 3/16 Silver City - This horse will win a good race here soon enough, but still, not gonna get the mile and a quarter.

Which One Would you like to Own

Frank Stronach has gone and done it. The company is on the brink of bankruptcy and it appears there's not much he can do about it. So given you given your choice which track would you own? I'd put up a poll, but I'd rather hear the reasoning over a blind choice. I want to hear someone make a case for Remington. I think it's easy to say you want to save Santa Anita, but really this wouldn't need saving. A track like Pimlico might be a harder sell. So, think it through.

Road to the Roses

Up and running, and now displaying! Head on over the to the TBA homepage, squeezed in there bottom right hand corner are the top 25, with their points and stable name. Thanks to all those participating. The winner gets: A signed photo from Calvin Borel on top of Street Sense courtesy of Colin's Ghost 2007 Horse players Expo DVD box set courtesy of me Sire stats courtesy of Brisnet

Chantal Sutherland Selling It

HRTV just released this video on YouTube. I guess they're looking for a Chantal bump as well. It's a great insight into a great jockey. "horses are like little kids" Why did I put it up, well I wanted to show you a great race you might not have seen. The 1997 Iselin. Only 4 horses, but they were Formal Gold, Skipaway, Distorted Humor, and Foolish Pole. Formal Gold runs em off their feet. Monmouth Park opens for racing in... a few months. Where's a countdown clock when you need one. I found both videos over on the Youtube tab of the homepage. I'm tellin ya there's a lot of good info over there.

My PDI Top 10

Making a top 10 list is the height of "look at me, look at me" and I'm usually against that. In fact, I feel dirty having done it, but I did it. I think the idea of a group top 10 sounds pretty good and cleans me up a little, and I'm interested to see how it works for the Paulick Report. So, far front page, sounds good. My Top 10, with just a little reasoning. Friesan Fire - First time w/ blinkers he burns up the course only to falter late, since then he's figured how to relax in them and he has 2 impressive wins. That + AP Indy + Larry Jones = Kentucky Derby winner. General Quarters - Definitely ranked a little high compared to others, but he has 9 starts, got a little unlucky or just wasn't ready for the last 2 and put those other behind him in the Sam F Davis. Inbred to Round Table and by one of the most impressive looking horses I've ever seen; Sky Mesa, I'm thinking big things. Chocolate Candy - His stride put him at three. Pioneerof the Nile - I'm not that sold on the Southern California horses, and this is currently the best of the bunch. Patena - Looks like my last name is a +, and if any horse can jump up I think this is the one. Waiting for the Louisiana Derby. Hello Broadway - Speed favoring track down in Gulfstream, and the upcoming FoY won't shake up the list too much. He should be able to go longer, I want to see it. Old Fashioned - I would rank him higher, but I know he won't go a 1.25 miles. I'll eat my hat if any son/daughter of Unbridled's Song wins the Derby. Probably has enough class to complete the superfecta and that's why he's here. The Pamplemousse - West Coast bias. Sorry. Flying Pegasus - Made the move every Derby horse has to make: make up ground on the far turn. This horse did that, but flattened out. Maybe next time. Notonthesamepage - I prey he can go 2 turns. The Derby is due for a legit speedball to run everyone else into the ground.

The Monmouth Stakes

I like reading about Monmouth Park, so this article made me happy. The Monmouth stakes will now be held on June 13th and be a prep for the UN. I love this move, Monmouth has one of the best turf courses in the country, and you add that they bumped up purses for races like the Red Bank and Matchmaker and you give trainers a good solid reason to stable some more horses at Monmouth. Now let's all prey for dry, sunny, warm weather. And anybody else think we could rename the Monmouth Stakes something a little more catchy? There's gotta be a horse deserving of a race named after them, one that raced at Monmouth.

Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance Love

How did you get to this page? Do you have an RSS embedded on your toolbar or on your homepage? Thanks for being one of 74 people. Would you rather get the feed on Twitter? We can do that. Would you be interested in a horse racing specific toolbar? Have you been to the homepage, about 600 people show up there a day, it has the feed, our tweets, US & Int'l news, YouTube racing videos, Non-TBA blogs, and we're tracking where Derby horses are probable to show up next. There's some other things on there as well, check it out. Thanks for reading us.

Haskell Hat

The Haskell Hat is a long and storied tradition that dates back to when the track first opened in the 1700's. Ok, so it's not that long of a tradition, but there's nothing quite like dating yourself by walking around in one of these: And yes I own one of those bad boys. Recently, the hats have become more than acceptable and I've seen them in my travels to other tracks across the country, and to Aqueduct (which is a different planet if you ask me). Recently the hats had been in the color of the prior year's winner, and this year they're adding a voting feature. Vote for your favorite color. Voting is occurring on line on their facebook page. And yes... Red would be the way to vote.

Market Forces

Now that I can see the entire list of HANA's top 10 two glaring things hit me. In the words of Dennis Green, "They were who we thought they were." Keeneland at #1 is a fan's dream. I've been there a couple of times and sitting in their grandstand feels like home. All the stress just comes right out of my bones at that place, but there's a reason it's #1. Keeneland is not just a racetrack, the business includes benefits from a very lucrative sales company. Having the best quality racing & fan experience doesn't just benefit their track patronage, but their sales' integrity as the Keeneland name is associated with the "best". We all hope that they put the bettor first for the bettor's sake, but a factor must be the business decision to have the best of everything to maintain the image of their sales. And likewise Keeneland has the ability to take profits from its sales to justify expenses on the racing where other tracks just don't have that ability. The second thing was for the tracks like Remington, Hoosier, Retama, Hawthorne, & Turfway. I believe it shows market forces working in this business. [I believe a smaller racing product would be a healthier one, but government subsidies & slots rev cloud the issue]. If these tracks weren't friendly to bettors how would they ever get someone to bet $4200 MSW's on a Thursday night? I'd be interested to see the raw data on these tracks along with some additional columns for average purse size & number of graded stakes.

Who Says Racing Doesn't Pay

Even back then racetracks needed the govt' to exist. A great little article about bonds, accounting, pedigree and racing; a quick enjoyable read nonetheless. And the Ponzi scheme hits #2 . That new website might be a long time coming.

Jockeys: Win or Hopefully Someone Dies

Full Disclosure: The few days before Jockeys came out I received, along with many other TBA members, a media package from Jockeys the TV show on Animal Plant. See, while the show advertised (paid advertising) on Bloodhorse for a fee they knew true fans of the sport like us would hype it for free. The idea was to go viral with the show. Basically, give a few people freebies and let real fans of the sport take from there. I think it worked like a charm. Many of the TBA bloggers, and non-TBA bloggers hyped the show. And, as a bonus it was a good show. Overall, I enjoyed it. I plan on watching it this week. No harm in trying to go viral. But Now the free advertisers (hypers) are back again? Look, I get the first week, getting a good showing and going viral and all that jazz, but they're going back to the freebie-well a second time? In the second week? So, I bit, I looked at the video, and now I'm starting to see where this show is going. First, here's the video: Now I'm starting to think these people would have loved to seen someone really hurt. The first two shows showed somewhere between 10-15 times a horse going down with rider. I get it, death sells. But how much death should I have to take? How many times did they go into commercial with a horse going down? Is that the image the sport wants to portray. I understand sex and death sells, but give me Chantal Sutherland's nipples any day over the prospect of someone dying. So, now in the second week - If the horses aren't killing jockeys, they're killing themselves AWESOME!!! The show is already in the can, they can't change it, but if the rest of the shows are a top 10 ways for jockeys to die along w/ some shots of Kayla Stra and Chantal Sutherland in tight shirts the ground swell of support for this show will fade. And, I know what you're thinking. You're right, I probably wouldn't have said anything in the first place had it not been for this uncool hype machine they're throwing at me a second time. That's your grain of salt.

A Horse Can't Run on Five Legs

I like Clive Owen. I liked Children of Men, Sin City, Croupier, and I even watched I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. So, when I came across this Esquire article that pairs him w/ horse racing I had to read it. It's not really horse racing related, but it's an enjoyable read, with some truly funny lines. The race in question, can't remember if they mention it, I think is the race won by Goldikova, the Prix du Moulin. Goldikova was 3-1.

Stepping in Shit Smelling Like Roses

Sorry for the foul title, but I really don't want to censor it. I mean it, I'm saying it, therefore the words stays in title. The economy is bad, you don't need me and my undergrad Econ degree to tell you that, but maybe I know a thing about history that's important right now. One of the factors in repealing prohibition was that the economy was in dire straits and the tax revenue from alcohol was seen as a huge boost. Lately, I've been reading (from Econ Noble prize winners no-less) how marijuana would be a boon to the economy, but before I go all reefer-madness on you all I'd like to bring up a far more easier sell. On-line gambling, and more specifically sports gambling legalized outside of Las Vegas. The infrastructure is there, the demand is there. The force that stopped this from happening in the past were the sports themselves. The pro-sports lobby is anti-gambling, and there not even friendly w/ the horse racing lobby, we have to be careful where we tread... usually. But the economy needs a boost, taxes revenues need to increase, and I need to legally wager on the NCAA tourney this March. A simple bill: Legalize sports gambing inside racinos/tracks that conduct at least 45 days of racing at atleast X dollars per purse in states that ratify legalized gambling. Horse racing has done nothing to deserve such a great opportunity the economic crisis affords them. Now let's see another opportunity slip through our fingers.

Challenge to Trainers

Just read this interesting piece on the Final Turn by E Abraham Ola. I'd like a response from a trainer. Surely, Bloodhorse can make this happen. And, I'm not looking for an outright shouting match, if I wanted that I could go to cable news. I'd like to hear the other side in a calm sensible manner.

Cause Nothing is Perfect

Ray thanks for the link! Does this mean you're joining the league? The Road to the Roses is up and running, and the TBA has started it's own stable with prizes (create your stable then join our league: League Name: TBA 2009, League Identifier: 148302201, Activation Code: 1230681349), but because I'm a blogger I think I know everything, and want to share: Let me add and drop horses up until this Friday midnight. I rushed my selections to get the group up and running, and I already hate my choices. Ok, so that's my fault, but it would be a nice feature. Points have to be altered by the prices they pay. Look, I understand, it's not a gambling site, and if anyone understands the negative that is gambling it's me, BUT, make the points worth the same multiplied by the horses odds for the horse, jockey, and trainer. If you picked Giacomo back in January of of '05 you deserve more points than the guy that picked Big Brown last year. If not able to do that maybe tier the jockeys and trainers together. For example you can only pick 1 trainer and 1 jockey from the following list: Pletcher, Gomez, Bejarano etc etc. Other than that it's a great game. I look forward to it every year, although it has its limitations. We're up to 8 people in our group with only 4 days left.

Road to the Roses - Join the TBA League

I've created a new league in the 2009 Road to the Roses. My league information is: League Name: TBA 2009 League Identifier: 148302201 Activation Code: 1230681349 To invite friends to your new league, you can invite them from the game's league join page, or simply share with them the above information. Prizes: Right now I have a 2007 Horseplayers Expo DVD Boxset, and I'm hoping other players might like to put something up themselves, but that's pretty good for first place. I'll be updating the standings weekly, and maybe try and figure a way to get it up on the homepage. Good luck!

The Look The Feel The Pages The Content of our Lives

It gets pointed out to me every now and then (ok a little more than now and then) that people don't like the TBA homepage. First, people only talk on the internet when they have something negative to say. Second, I'm fine w/ complaints, but I never hear a solution (let it be known this blog likes to complain, but I'm always quick w/ a solution, or at least I've tried). Complaining w/ no solution is also big in internet speak. So to follow this code of complaining let's take a look at the racing sites. I'm not including Equidaily and Paulick as they do what they do. I've grabbed snapshots of each page excluding the header. I was going to go w/ just "above the fold" but that just got too mean as there was not a lot to see if you took above the fold literally. HOT MESS = The Thoroughbred Times I used to believe the TTimes was the best place to go, but this new redesign is terrible. First, is anyone clicking those ads? There's only about 3,000 of them, even the header, not shown here looks like an ad, and probably causes people not to click on it. I blame ESPN which really started to be a pig, but they've since streamlined. TTimes should take note. There's about 15 stories above the fold here. That's too much. There's no focus. I really have no idea what i should click on when i go to this page. I only go to this page now for the stakes calendar and results. It's really good for that. The Little Brother who tries too hard = Bloodhorse This page was #1 for me about 1-2 years ago, but I've definitely cut back over the last year. Remember like 2 years ago it was 3 sections each w/ 3 headlines. Boom you're done. Now someone had a meeting about web 2.0 and they've put up videos, special boxes about preps, reports, i can't get through half of it. I actually spend more time on their mobile site w/ my regular computer. It cuts to the chase much quicker. The Aunt who let it go = DRF At one extreme you've had Bloodhorse who's happy to add any buzzword or category to their homepage and at the other you have the DRF which you still have to register for to read content. (I'm not against registering, it builds mailing lists, and that's what making money is about) but it would be nice to make DRF more "live" feeling. The page gets updated once a day. No videos, the blogs aren't really incorporated on the front, though it's some of the best content they have. Personally, I think DRF is the best main street site there is now, but it wasn't due from trying, they just let everyone else blow up. Finally, the TBA site. The thing that brought us together at the outset were 2 things: Standings and cross-linking. Those two things are still the most prominent on our homepage. We keep track of latest workouts of all the top horses in training, and right next to it is the best blog feed around. Are there are a lot words on the page? Yes. Are words clutter? Well, hmm, maybe, maybe not. They are organized. Now if you don't want blogs - that tabbed widget displays the best feeds for what you choose - US News, International News, Other Blogs, YouTube & Twitter, and a special tab (right now it's Derby trail probables). There's a lot of info above the fold which is good, and most of it 2 clicks away. I'll let you, the commentators, compare and contrast, but above the fold the TBA homepage definitely holds its own. So go ahead, complain away. I'm a homer I use the TBA homepage for everything. I end up on the content at B'horse, DRF, and TTimes far easier starting at the TBA than I do at those pages. I get to read all the blogs and I read the non-tba blogs as well that don't update as much (Fox Hill Farm has a good one, so does Gary West at the Star Telegram). Ok, have at it. I don't expect to read too many nice things.

Who Deserves It?

Did Rick Dutrow and IEAH deserve a Derby win last year? Case can be made on both fronts, but this year, before it happens, I'd like to know who is MOST deserving of a win. Give me jockeys, trainers, owners who have never won, but deserve the roses. My nominee - The Ramseys. They've been involved in the game forever, they breed their own, they've had champions, but the horse named for the race, Roses In May, was hurt as a 3yo and didn't shine till 4. This weekend they have Brother Keith hoping to not only stretch out, but straighten out in the Bob Lewis. So, give me your choices and I'll post a poll on Monday.

We Must Be Wrong

Big Brown stands at Three Chimney's; a great farm, a great team, a great place to visit. Three Chimneys is also a pretty big advertiser in all the media that is horse racing, though not the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance. So, I guess I shouldn't wonder why no one has dared to say this: What are people thinking breeding to Big Brown at $65k a pop? Here are the notes provided by Three Chimney's w/ my comments in RED First horse since 1915 to win the Derby with only three career starts. - Shouldn't you wonder why he was only able to make 3 prior starts? Only horse to win the Kentucky Derby from post 20.- That was pretty impressive, I'll give you that Only horse to win the Florida Derby from post 12.- Again credit where credit is due Co-high weighted three-year-old colt in the world­132.- This is based off of one race Best Rag number for any Kentucky Derby, and best Thoro-Graph number for any three-year-old. - One race Only colt in 2008 to win four Grade I races on dirt.- Are they admitting a weak crop? One of four undefeated Derby/Preakness winners. - Totally flopped in the Belmont, and let's not talk about how he walked to the outside rail after the Preakness and Belmont, that's what horses do when they want out. Undefeated on turf and undefeated over older horses - C'mon, this is one race, this is a little misleading, no? I get the fact that Stardom Bound has to go to Big Brown, same owners, but that doesn't explain that Big Brown has one of the best books ever. Here's a stallion with an unquestionable foot problem, and questionable pedigree (Boundary other notable son Pomeroy stands for Vinery in their Florida division). Who in their right mind would breed to this guy? Are people just hoping that the sales help them? Have they seen the sales recently? I'm not a breeder or owner so maybe I don't get it. Let me know (but be kind). Give me Medaglia d'Oro @ $40k any time.

Borderline Giving Up

2 links from Paulick in 2 days! Am I gonna have to name my next born Ray or Raymonda? Thanks for the link and as always there's a ton of great blogs out there, including Ray's, some are found at the TBA homepage. I can't take much more of this to be honest. I love this sport, but the complete lack of trying is starting to wear on me. I'm reading all the pissing contests at the Paulick Report, and even tried to get involved in one myself, but now I'm just like...bleh. I think the industry tries too little, when its fans are ready for something big. The old saying is something like, "Those that can do, those that can't get in pissing contests," but in this day and age that no longer holds true. The lines of communication has changed, and if you're not doing or saying something someone else is saying it for you and shaping the argument. The blogs are doing this. I'm doing this. The sport is sucking wind right now. Whether that's true or not doesn't matter, the perception to me is that it is, and no one is saying different. There's $30 million left in the coffers. Are we an investment endowment or do we like racing? My example today: It's not a good thing when an eye-catching maiden winner is being best chronicled by two fans with hand held cameras and one w/ a penchant for early 00's music. (Tiz I kid, I love your videos) Mary Forney keeps you up to date w/ Zap's new videos, but you can also keep track of him & Tizdubai over the TBA video tab. Meanwhile John Sherriffs plugs along training the best horse in training and you have to go to YouTube to find the video. This really is front page news. Ok so the last 20 seconds of the cat isn't earth shaking, but as my wife said, "this is the trainer of the best horse in America, and he's videoing a cat?... Pretty cool." Takes all kinds, but sounds like the industry isn't part of it.

A Golden Opportunity Missed - Again

Thanks Mr Paulick for the link, if you like horse racing news, nothing better than Paulick, but if you also like blogs there's none better than the TBA. Just two sentences about "again:" Man we blew it in the 70's, but it's forgivable as really who knew about TV, the Internet, and communication's overall direction? Yeah, they kept their head in the sand for 20 years, but compared to today I'd forgive it... However, today mistake is unforgivable. Over the last few years every major sport has gone out of its way to get a channel. NBA Channel = 12 million subscribers. It's a partnership w/ TNT. NFL Network = Not the smoothest launch, but the owners, all 32 of them, invested a cool $100 million. MLB Network = Is the new kid on the block and had a very smooth launch. They were proud to be on in 50 million homes, and their deal is something others will probably try and copy. NHL Network = Also a new addition (here in the US) just added on-demand features, and is one sport that embraces the Internet with much of their content found on any platform you can think of. And even the minor sports of Golf & Tennis also have their own channels. TVG = over 15 million subscribers Why do sports want to control their networks? There's a ton of reasons, but know that every major sport (and minor) has decided it's in their best interest. So, we can agree/disagree about the strengths and weaknesses, but in the end everyone else has one. And yet when the opportunity arose for an industry entity to buy TVG everyone fell silent. $50,000,000 that's all it took. That's the value of Curlin last year pretty much. It's a disgrace that given a golden opportunity everyone again decided to bury their heads in the sand. What could have been done w/ TVG? I'd like to hear from you all. Assume that the people who bought it would have been capable. Me - I think it would have created a power structure the sport so desperately needs. And if that isn't worth $50 Million I'm not sure what is.

Anybody Else Have a Problem w/ This?

From Bill Christine's newest blog: So pack a camel, fill your canteen, have your best suit pressed and plan on being in Louisville on May 2. Does that rub anyone else the wrong way? I mean here's a man who has spent a fortune, not small, on horse flesh. He's built barns, employed hundreds if not thousands in our country and abroad, and keeps a good piece of this equine economy humming. I'm not trying to say he's the greatest person in the world, we know the human rights issues abroad, but I think he deserves a little more respect than the obvious racist connotation. The Sheik does not travel by camel, but I think most of Bill's blog post came out the back end.

Boring

Wake me when something interesting happens. I'm trying to get excited about the Road to the Roses. I even went to Monmouth Park this weekend to do some Gulfstream betting, but nada. I'm bored. None of these horses look like world beaters, and the ones that did a month ago looked terrible. Capt. Candyman Can probably comes closest to a horse that excites me, but then I remember he runs on wax and that Brother Derek teased me so much last year. Gulfstream put up merry go round winners so what do you with those horses next time out? And the horse that did catch my attention while watching 20 screens was just crushing the competition in a $50k AOC. I mean I'm all for horses coming out of the woodwork, but Dr. Large would be coming from space if he ends up at Churchill, he's not even going in the Southwest. The homepage has the upcoming races and their probables, so I guess it's hit the snooze button until 2/16 & the Southwest.