Win and You're In

Thanks for the link Mr Paulick, the TBA follows you and another 140 blogs. Did you know I'm no fan of W&YI? Ok, so you knew that, but what I really hate is this whining about how it's not REALLY W&YI (for those that don't pay the original fee or for those that don't supplement.) What those that are whining are suggesting is that no one should really pay into the BC, just go out an win one W&YI race (which are expanding every year) and compete to win a purse that is no longer funded by what they need to be funded by. The chances of a foal ending up in the BC are miniscule, that's why the fee is nominal at birth. A person is already spending 10s of thousands, what's another couple of hundred for a dream? This is where the BC gets most of its funding. Supplements are so high after the fact because people would stop nominating at birth all together if a person be allowed to wait to see if the horse is a "BC" type horse and then nominating for a couple hundred. Everyone would wait, so it makes sense that the supplement fees are as large as they are. For those whiners please suggest how the BC should make money if/when people stop nominating their horses at birth and wait to win a W&YI race (which should prove you have a BC horse).

Track Ratings

HANA finally put out the raw data of it's track rating system. And, I've gone in and put them on a bell curve and weighted everything the same. If a track didn't offer a bet w/ a takeout I put the max in from the group. I gave a 1 to tracks that had things like .10 supers and 0 if not. I guess you could weight it, but it seems pretty close to reality to me. So do you think the bell curve makes more sense? I'm happy to see Monmouth make the biggest jump from 44th to 14th Full Sheet Here

If You Blog Read Me

This is important. Go get a feedburner feed now. There's a new thing out called pubsubhub that is making RSS as close to real time as possible, by getting a feedburner feed you're doing all the work you have to do on your end (which is next to nothing) http://feedburner.google.com/ Put your RSS feed into the box that says burn a feed right this instant Give it a name and an address Keep clicking next; at some point across the top you'll see analyze, optimize, publicize, monetize,troubleshootize. Click on the Publicize Tab, Ping shot is choice down the left hand side. Activate it. Right now it won't help on the TBA homepage but I'm trying to find a programmer who can update the site in this way. Once I get the homepage fixed it will make your posts appear on the homepage almost instantaneous, and right now your readers will get notifications instantly if they are using things like google reader or other services once you update your ping shot. If you already have a feedburner feed the Ping Shot might not be activated, it's isn't turned on automatically, so go double check, and email me at handrideclothing [at] yahoo.com if you have a feedburner feed. This is the next big thing in publishing, want to make sure we're all out in front of it.

Reminds Me Of Ghostzapper - Not A Good Thing

Could there be any more buzz around Quality Road? I think they already painted the canoe. But, for me I'm not that excited about him. I won't take anything away from him: He's impressive with track records and blazing fast speed, but, for me, to be "great" you have to do it more often. I never really was a Ghostzapper fan, and Quality Road reminds me of him from the win streak, to the +110 Beyers, to the anointing him the best 3yo in the country, to me not being that impressed. Some are saying Rachel Alexandra is ducking him by going to the Wood. That's like saying Steven Strasburg dodged Matt Alexander (who hit .383 in the Mountain West last year) by going pro. The buzz literally hurts my head. Ghostzapper ran all of 4 races (3 120+ Beyers) in 2004, and of all the gaudy numbers Ghostzapper put up no one questioned that one. I think number of starts is just as important as best Beyer if not more important. This will be Quality Road's 5th Graded Stakes start of the year, so he's already ahead of Ghostzapper, but I'm just terrified that ol' Todd will take a win in the Travers (which I'm betting against) and train him up to the BC, and the buzz will just continue to build while he doesn't race.

No One Gives Credit

I've seen a lot of people say that Jess Jackson is being greedy for asking the NYRA to up the Woodward purse. Really? The Travers is $1,000,000 Rachel would be the favorite. The Woodward was HALF that, and Jess Jackson asked if NYRA could do something about that discrepancy I'm sure. They made it $750k, still 25% less than the Travers, and nowhere close to being greedy in my book. The connections are running for 25% less than where they could be running, and in a more difficult race (always depends on who shows up, but no filly has ever won the Woodward... anyways...) It's a vicious cycle. The Road to the Triple Crown makes 3yo colts mainstream famous, tracks want to be mainstream important so they'll do everything to lure those 3yo's to their tracks, meanwhile the open races (the more difficult races) get smaller purses because the older horses (and F&M Turf, Sprint, Turf) aren't as mainstream famous. If you want horses staying around longer you need a way to make your older horses more mainstream important, and the money will follow them. Standings that lead to gate choice.

2yo Bandwagon Alert

I want to get this out there before the race is run, and won. I like Thiskyhasnolimit. In June at Churchill downs in a race he finished 2nd all 3 top finishers came back and won. The winner Backtalk is the most decorated of the 2yo crop so far. One month later, over the slop, he got on the lead and opened up. 10 days later he was in Saratoga. This race must have been the target, and since coming to Saratoga he hasn't missed a work and seems pretty consistent in the morning. His second dam is Cara Rafaela, this name might be somewhat familiar as she was the dam of Bernardini. Thiskyhasnolimit is bred on the same sort of cross: Bernardini was by AP Indy, Sky Mesa is an AP Indy line stallion. How he only cost $120k I'll never know, that sounds like a bargain to me. And it'll be a bigger bargain when he gets on the Derby trail today.

Roku Streaming LIve Horse Racing In HD via NTRA.tv

If only. No it's not NTRA.tv but MLB.tv who have figured out that the cable company is on its way out the door.

Horse Racing Fans to Look More Foolish

What you are looking at above is a patent filed by Nintendo for a new game controller: a cushion. And, yes you'll be able to rock back and forth on it and simulate horse racing games. While the above picture looks serene with a young boy enjoying a trail ride the image that comes to mind is more like the gamer on the left pummeling that cushion into submission. Siliconera via Kotaku via Gizmodo

Darren Rovell up in Saratoga

Dana White Makes More Sense Than Most People Can Handle

“One of the great things about MMA is you don’t lose your mystique if you lose a fight,” White said. “Fans show up because they want to see guys go at it. That’s what they pay for. And if you give them what they paid for, they are more than happy." This is not the case in horse racing where one loss is the end of a campaign toward season end honors.

Why I Like Blogs & Jennie Rees

It's far easier to point and say, "Hey look at that reporter writing a blog, you're doing it wrong!!!" Then you make fun of their age and wonder aloud if they still use a typewriter to write their stories. In honesty, it's hard to move from reporter to blogger for one simple reason: Opinion. A good reporter reports the news. A reporter should be unbiased. A good news piece is one that is clear, concise, factual, and at the end of reading it you should have a good feel for what's going on in totality. It is VERY difficult after a lifetime of staying "out" of the story to all of sudden, have your editor ask you to "BE" the story. I think the best reporter who has become a great blogger (and still remains a great reporter) is easily Jennie Rees. Her latest piece about the BC in LA two years in a row is an equivalent to pitching a perfect game. It's factual and fairly opinionated, it reports and editorializes with facts and insider knowledge. It'll take time for reporters to feel comfortable sharing inside information and then editorializing it, but Jennie is leading that charge. Credit where credit is due.

My Rachel Plans

Why not? To me the Woodward won't be a challenge: her Beyers, the Older Division (or lack there of), Saratoga's nickname would all make me stay away (from the dirt there) this is what I'd do. Ballston Spa Aug 29th against older F&M - Dominate then board a plane for France Prix De l'Arc de Triomphe Oct 4th They wanted to bring Curlin there, so you know it's on their radar. Furthermore, a 3yo filly winning the Arc isn't unheard of... it happened last year.

Run for ReRun

I got my entry in, and I've heard there's only about 20 spots left. $20 and you get to run on the track at Monmouth Park. Doubtful you'll do it in the same time Rachel did it in, you probably wouldn't be able to even stay with Atomic rain for 200 yards, but the longer you stay on the track the more you get for your $20. The fun run is this Sunday. Registration is still open, though not sure how much longer that will last. My plan: Speed and fade, look to bet me next time out.

Let's Talk About Eclipse Awards

Jersey Girl! Rachel Alexandra and Calvin Borel win the $1.25 million Haskell Invitational Originally uploaded by Rock and Racehorses No, not Horse of the Year or 3yo filly, let's talk about photography. We know how badly they screwed up last year. I just want to say this is the best photo of the year bar none. I've been keeping my eye on photos all year ever since the TBA ran the photo contest last year, and this is the tops. Perfect setting, great action, even better light (somehow!) I think we have an Eclipse Winner. Sarah K Andrew writes a blog here http://rockandracehorses.wordpress.com/ and her feed is part of the ALL SOURCES section on the TBA http://tbablogs.com/?rss=blogs

Rachel Alexandra - Let's Think Big

The great thing about Jess Jackson is that he's prone to think big. He's also prone to hold a grudge too (see no BC), but the goods out weigh the bads. With Curlin there was talk of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. It was fun, it was good for racing. Now the talk might turn to Rachel taking on elders. Gary West starts with the Woodward. I'd like to see a grass race, and the F&M Turf division has a great horse named Forever Together in it, Ballston Spa Handicap? or maybe stick with 3yo in the Del Mar Oaks in 3 weeks and take the show West. This is fun because really there isn't anywhere they couldn't go.

New TBA Blog

I'm pleased to announce 4 new bloggers into the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance. The process of adding blogs recently has been a little "broken" and I'm sorry to say we probably let some fall through the cracks. I hope the process is now fixed and if you'd like to be considered for the TBA email contact [at] tbablogs.com and we'll get back on the ball. The 4 great new additions are: VTA Blog The Brock Talk Perfect Peace Farm They Are Off. Don't forget you can access over 130 blogs by clicking on ALL SOURCES.