Not A Good Year to be a Horseracing Fan

Take a look at the TBA standings, not much you can really quibble about I think.  The #1-5 seem about right to me (for horses not trying to win the TBA standings), but overall count me nonplussed.  Is there any division you're looking forward to a showdown in now?  I can't say I am.  Maybe I'm just bored on a Tuesday morning.  Let me know what you think.    Older Horse  - One of the few divisions where you have horses with multiple Gr I wins.  Quality Road and Blame both with 2 Gr I's, this one will come down to the Classic I'm sure; and I'm on Blame's bandwagon.  The rest of the division? Pretty thin.  Other Gr I winners: Richard's Kid, Awesome Gem, Misremembered, no one is even stringing Gr II wins together.  It's not that great.  Older Mare - Zenyatta.  She hasn't travelled, but with no one else stepping up, where should she go?  With no one else stepping up who cares?  Give me the 3yo's.  3 yo Colt - Lookin at Lucky is the ONLY 2 time Gr I winner and they give out Gr I's for 3yo colts like candy.  Is that a standout?  I'm not so sure.  3 yo Filly - This is the category to be excited about, this is the exception that proves the rule.  Blind Luck, Evening Jewel, Champagne D'Oro, Devil May Care.  That's what I'm talking about.  Turf - B- minus horses from Europe are eating our lunch.  F&M Turf - Real sad about Tuscan Evening.  Proviso is exciting, but again, from the top 2 down it's thin.  Sprint & F&M Sprint - Can you name a horse in this division?  Pretty good if you can.  Am I wrong for being so down right now?

You Have to Be F'ing Kidding Me

I'm not a rocket scientist but I do consider myself intelligent (i'll wait for the laughing to die down), and I think it's fair, as a person with a functioning brain, to second guess professionals with 20/20 hindsight as professionals should have known better with foresight.  They are paid to know these types of things in advance, no?  The situation at Santa Anita has left me gob-smacked that a project worth millions of dollars was basically done on the cheap, by people no smarter than trained monkeys.  (FYI...Trained monkeys CAN lay a bunch of shredded spandex on a flat surface) Peterson also, in a slide presentation, showed a picture of a dozen or so small rocks he found in a 30-foot area on the track. It is believed the rocks came to the surface through a protective membrane that covers the base.  It's called a granularity stupid, I read about it a while ago, basically it's a different state of matter and explains why large objects will "float" to the top in a mixture of different sizes.  So, if you're in charge of a project that costs millions of dollars, that involves these sort of engineering/science questions; you should know that in a place prone to small tremors, that people can't even feel, that the granularity will be affected.  And, that the membrane should be able to withstand that sort of movement and pressure. I believe synthetic tracks are still a step in the right direction.  I think hiring cheap idiots to figure out the engineering process is criminal.  Everyone is slapping ol' Frank on the back for ripping it up and going with dirt, but where's the blame for short changing this whole thing in the first place.

Social Interaction

I have been mulling this over in my head for months now, but with Ed DeRosa's recent post I figured I'd add my .02 cents into what I'm looking for with social interaction from any horse racing website.  What started my thinking this was the obnoxious sign-ins I still have to do on some websites.  I sign-in, but I have no idea what I'm getting in return for providing that information.   I think it is about time these sites put some resources behind this sign-in and make it worth our while. My thinking..... On Saturday I wake up to find my wonderful wife has taken my 3 wonderful kids away for the day, and Daddy has the day for himself.  There's even that day's DRF on the table cause she figured that what's I would do, but it's crappy outside and my friends aren't going to Monmouth, so I'm left to watching it on TV, and I'll be betting online.  I log on to a the website (or maybe an app).  I have a little interface like I do on most sites, I have friends,  i have signed up for specific track news, or people posting messages about a few tracks:  I also have what my friends are talking about in general on my feed.  However, my focus is at Monmouth Park.  So, I check-in to Monmouth Park, I'm not quite the mayor there, but I've earned the badge "degenerate" and a couple more weeks I'm sure I'll be mayor.  Other users are here talking about that day of racing, bets, conditions, just talking on this private feed.  Some information right at my fingertips: MTP, PP's (I can purchase), basic info like runner's name, trainer, jockey, odds, race info.  Furthermore, there are links to ADW's handling that track so I can go make a bet, but I can also place my bet w/ this website (fake money of course).  I have options when doing this.  I can keep it all private which I might want to do if I just want to track my personal bets; because if I track them with this website, this website will slice and dice my cumulative wagering 1000 ways, and track all the tracks I wager on.  However, I'm going to go public w/ my wagering (Why? I'll get to that shortly).  I place a bet, and it comes up in the group,"Handride: $5 W/S on #5 in race 2 (stats)"  What is that "Stats" well the site will use my prior history (real or fake whatever the user wants) to publish how i do on these type of wagers, think about the trainer line at the bottom of PP's, but now think about it for gamblers.  Cool right?  So i can watch other players make wagers and if I see something I like from someone who has a good record I'll probably jump on his bandwagon, maybe if I don't like the bet I can "back" it.  It's fake money of course so this type of exchange is no big deal.  The first thought is "Why would a good gambler put their picks out there" and I answer, "why do people tell the world they are going on vacation for a week and their house will be empty?"  I don't think everyone will do it, but there are some people who like to open w/ their bets and they like to gain popularity and credibility, so people will do it.  Popularity and credibility isn't all a public wager will get you.  A gambler earns "points" by all manners of things:  Obviously with money earned, but also hitting the biggest exacta of the day, or hitting a super, backing the most of other's peoples bets and coming out on top... you can take your points and gift them to other users who helped you score, or you could turn in your points for something from the site, like an upgrade on your next purchase of PP's or other types of discounts, we're talking A LOT of points, most social sites just have points/karma/likes that get you nothing.  While I'm betting at Monmouth I can check into Saratoga and have the same experience and now I'm getting the feeds of both tracks and placing wagers and interacting w/ other people from both places.  It's as close to being on the rail with friends as you can imagine, and possibly you make new friends. Why would a site do it?  Maybe they sell PP's, or other wagering information. Maybe they are an ADW and do this for their fake money site.  Either way they will end up with a captive audience for a day to show their advertisements to and hook into.