The final leg of the 2010 Triple Crown is finally here, as a field of 12 will go postward in the 142nd running of the Belmont Stakes. Much like the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont (on paper at least) sets up perfectly for one horse, who of course also isn’t really the best horse in the field. In the Derby the race set up perfectly for Ice Box, who really wasn’t the best horse in the race. That honor went to Lookin at Lucky, who went on to win the Preakness.
So what does that mean for today? For me, it means trust your instincts and take the horse that the race sets up for. Ice Box nearly won the Derby, and but for a bad trip probably does.
First Dude - The only real speed in the field which makes him very dangerous today. He nearly took the Preakness field wire-to-wire, and despite looking done at the 3/16th’s pole, he was very game to the wire against what I believe is the best 3YO in training (Lookin at Lucky). He’s going to be far more attractive on the tote board than the likely favorite (Ice Box) which is another reason to like him. No question it was a tough race, and the only knock might be that it took too much out of him. He’s reportedly been doing well leading up to the race, and I think Romans was smart to get him to Belmont early, so I think he’ll run big again today.
Ice Box - My real ‘top choice’ in the Derby because I thought the race set up perfectly for him. I played him straight and in most of my exotic tickets. Rewarded me handsomely despite a bad trip relegating him to the place position. I think he’s probably the best horse in the Belmont, and he will likely be bet like it. No question the extra time off helps his chances, and he will be rolling late. He does need someone to challenge First Dude early, and if he gets someone to do it, he will be hard to beat.
Drosselmeyer - I’m taking a little bit of a flyer here, but am intrigued by the reuniting of one of the top teams in the history of New York racing, trainer Bill Mott and jockey Mike Smith. He was the overwhelming favorite in the Dwyer (the local prep) but finished second to Fly Down. He was in tight quarters with 3/8ths to go, and not sure he could have gotten to the winner after breaking poorly too. Desormeaux has had a bit of a rough go recently in terms of his riding, and I think the jockey change will be good for this horse. Very sharp work on 5/31 at Belmont, a track he clearly likes.
Exotics - I will probably use Uptowncharlybrown, Fly Down and Game on Dude in my exotics.
For some reason I don’t completely understand, I’m not all that excited about the Preakness this year. After all, Calvin Borel has told the world that he’s winning the Triple Crown this year, so we all should just head to the window and play Super Saver. Handicapping done.
Or not.
This group of three year olds would not (at this point anyway) be much to write home about in terms of quality. A total of three horses in the field have won Grade 1 races. Lookin At Lucky, Super Saver, and Dublin are the qualifiers, yet the Derby winner is the only one that that has done so as a three year old (in the Derby). If that weren’t sad enough, only the same total of three horses in this race have even managed to run a 100 Beyer. Jackson Bend, Super Saver, and Paddy O’Prado are those qualifiers. Jackson Bend hasn’t done it yet at three, and Super Saver and Paddy O’Prado both did it in the Derby.
The quality of this field seems to stick out, and it’s going to be hard to overlook them even with some new shooters in the mix.
Lookin At Lucky – Well, he was my Derby pick, but only because I couldn’t believe the race set up so well for Ice Box and didn’t put him on top because I thought I missed something. I did of course, Ice Box got a terrible trip, and Lookin At Lucky’s trip was even worse. I still thought Lucky was the best horse in the field on the first Saturday in May, and the one hole did him in as many predicted. This time around he draws the middle of the gate, and gets a new rider to shake things up. Baffert was iffy on sending him here after the Derby, and the fact that he’s here leads me to believe we’ll see a better effort here.
Super Saver – The Derby winner certainly belongs here, and Borel pulled off another one of his miracle trips to get the roses. Despite his fondness for Churchill, Borel can find his way around Pimlico, having won last years edition with super-filly Rachel Alexandra. There isn’t as much speed in the race today, but Super Saver has proven he can win near or on the lead.
Paddy O’Prado – This guy killed me on Derby Day … but not because I didn’t like him. I played him in my exacta box with Super Saver and Ice Box, but didn’t play him in the trifecta. Ouch. He has proven to be a runner in the slop, on the turf and on Poly. Now it’s time to see if he can run on fast dirt. His works on fast tracks have just been so-so, which is why I didn’t put him on top. Desormeaux figures to ride a top notch race to dispel the criticism for his Derby finish, which many think cost Paddy second.
All – After the top three, I probably like Dublin and Jackson Bend most, but I think in my Supers, I’m just going to hit the ‘all’ button and hope for a bomb.
Well, last year was a bust, as one of my throw outs came home the winner. As the old saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.
Unfortunately for many, the likely best three year old at this point in the year isn’t running. Eskendereya is out with an injury. It also didn’t help the next two best three year olds drew the inside and outside posts. Lookin At Lucky and Sidney’s Candy will have much to overcome on Saturday. This Derby is even more of a wide-open affair than normal. So what’s a handicapper to do?
Punt?
OK, I know you won’t let me get away with that, so here are my darts thrown at the board.
Lookin At Lucky - The one hole stinks. Lucky was anything but that at the draw, but at least he has a running style that will allow him to be in the race despite the bad post draw. Sidney’s Candy is one of the speedballs, and coming from the 20 post pretty much kills his chances, but Lucky at least has a chance with a good trip. Don’t get me wrong, Gomez has a challenge on his hands and he’s going to have to ride a better race than he did in the Santa Anita Derby to win. He’s the only multiple Grade I winner in the field, and had some trouble in his only two defeats. Bullet work in the mud on 4/26. On the down side, he could be over-bet, but put him in the middle of the gate and he probably wins easy so I’m going to pray for a good trip.
Ice Box – I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice the abundance of speed in this year’s edition of the Run For The Roses. There are probably more potential front runners in the race this year than there have been in a long time. Logic (and a quick spin through the DRF) tells me that there are few editions of the Derby that have set up this well for a horse. If the race runs true to what is in the past performances, then there can be no other winner. He even threw in a bullet work in the slop at CD on 4/23. It’s too perfect in fact, so I couldn’t place him on top … I must be missing something.
Noble’s Promise - OK, I know his breeding says he can’t go this far, and he had the lung infection, yada, yada, yada. I know Ken McPeek and like what he has been saying about his horse. He talked the same way about Sarava before the Belmont, and guess what happened? IF he really can get the distance, he’s going to be right there at the wire. Here’s the kicker. He has the highest Tomlinson number for wet tracks in the entire field.
Devil May Care - The lone filly in the race is one of only two horses in the field that has managed to run a 100 Beyer at three (Sidney’s Candy being the other). She is one for one on an off track, and worked sharply in the slop on 4/24. It will take a big effort from her against the boys for the first time, and she’ll have to have her head on straight. She’s in with a chance.
Backtalk – my longshot play. Two for two at Churchill, and two for two on an off track. His sire, Smarty Jones, won the Derby on on off track. Toss the IL Derby and keep in your exotics.
After last year’s results, I’m not providing a list of horses that I could bet with other people’s money this year. Obviously the winner made that list in Derby 135, and another nominee, Summer Bird, turned into a pretty nice colt too …
An interesting story came out yesterday on AOL’s new Daily Finance website which dealt with ‘High Speed’ trading in the stock market. The parallels to what is called ‘computer robotic wagering’ in pari-mutuel wagering were easy to see, and some on Wall Street use the same arguments that those in the racing business use to condemn the practice.
“There’s also the concern that high speed trading gives an unfair advantage to high-rollers and major institutional clients who can afford the expensive, high-tech setups needed to participate.”
Much like the current CRW players have on the pari-mutuel side, high speed traders are also concerned about how the industry reacts to their business model and what future rules and regulations they might face moving forward.
“Traders are uncertain about what type of new regulations may come from the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission or Congress. The biggest fear is that regulators could potentially move to ban high frequency trading altogether. Less dramatic, there could be restrictions on trading volumes or new taxes being levied on the industry to rein in profits.”
Many believe in the old addage from Lawrence Garfield in Other People’s Money however. “You can change all the laws you want. You can’t stop the game. I’ll still be here. I adapt.”
“Faced with new regulations, Gray Long, chief information officer for Trading Cross Connects, said that technology and innovation would immediately be implemented to find “work-arounds.” He suggested that as soon as any new regulation is enacted, new algorithms could be created to adapt and find trading strategies that would be able to help firms profit in the new environment.”
The most interesting parallel however is the realization that it’s not just about the numbers and arbitrage. As with any good CRW system in pari-mutuel wagering, high speed trading requires long term strategy.
“But in most cases, a long-term business strategy will win the day, he (Allen Zaydlin, CEO of electronic trading software firm InfoReach) said, because no matter how many thousands you spend creating the infrastructure needed to compete with speed, ultimately, “somebody comes with newer, more modern and optimized equipment, and you have to rethink your strategy.”
Give more people the same tools and the ‘edge’ goes away. As more and more people try to get into the arena, the more important part of the equation will be the ability to optimize the underlying logic making it run. In pari-mutuel wagering, it means that to optimize the ROI, the person using CRW has to become a better predictor of the outcome of the race. They must become a better handicapper.
The big question on the pari-mutuel side has always been “Is it fair?”
My response has always been yes.
Pari-mutuel wagering has always been one person wagering against everyone else in the pool. Anyone who plays with any frequency always tries to have some kind of edge over the rest of the players. You can’t beat the takeout without it. Some people can read past performances better. Some people use ‘The Sheets’. Some people know the trainer. Some get up in the morning and time their own workouts. Some people spend hours watching race replays. And yes, some people use computer software to help them wager. There is even simple software available to anyone, like DRF’s Formulator, and the conditional wagering systems available on a few of the ADW platforms (TwinSpires and Premier Turf Club for example).
There are many tools out there to enhance performance at the window for those that care to put in the time, effort, and capital to use them. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to do it, and therefore believe that it’s not fair to them that there are people out there that do.
I want everyone to know that I am a fan of Larry Winget. For those of you that don’t know who he is, I’d like to call him a motivational speaker, but he’d probably give me a tongue lashing for calling him that, so I’ll instead use his own title to describe him … The Pitbull of Personal Development.
I first ran across Larry one day when I was on the road and happened to be sitting in the Detroit Airport. I was stuck there due to a flight delay and had finished the book I always bring with me when I travel. Bored, I headed to the bookstore in the main concourse, and there in the window was a books with the following title screaming out at me (yes, some books can scream) …
“Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get A Life – A Kick-Butt Approach To A Better Life”.
How can you not pick up a book with that for a title?
All I can say is that if you haven’t read it, run, don’t walk to the nearest bookstore, head to Amazon, or find it at the library. I’m not going to go into all the details, but it’s a page turner, and an eye opener. He really cuts to the chase. He has several other books with equally provocative titles (“It’s Called WORK For A Reason”, “You’re Broke Because You Want To Be”, “People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It!” among others).
But I’m not here to sell you on a book(s).
You can also find Larry on YouTube, and as good as his books are, hearing him deliver his message in person (or on video) is something not to be missed. And that is why I am posting today. Before you go any further, please watch this …
Every racetrack Owner, ADW Owner, OTB Owner, General Manager, Board Member, employee of all of the Alphabet Soup of racing organizations, horseman … well you get the idea … should watch this. It’s simple, and cuts right to the point.
I was very fortunate to have a father that is a great racetrack executive to learn from (and boy have I learned a lot). I remember the first time I attended the RTIP Conference in Tucson very clearly to this day. It was December of 1984, and my father was about four months into his first stint as the GM of Canterbury Downs. He was asked to give a speech at the conference, and during that speech he talked about how Canterbury was going to be a customer focused company. Now for a lot of us that attend the various conferences each year, we are used to hearing grandiose plans and great ideas put forth in speeches … and then next year, the same things get talked about again, because nothing happened.
Except at Canterbury Downs.
When the track opened the following year, it was universally praised for having great customer service, even by the news writers that regularly didn’t have much nice to say (we all know how critics are). And the following year at the RTIP Conference my father gave another speech where he told everyone that Canterbury executed, and succeeded. He brought that message back to Canterbury Park with him in 1994, when the Sampson family (who had just bought the track) asked him to be the GM for the second time. Canterbury Park is still a fan-friendly place to this day, and although I am surely biased, I strongly believe that his influence is a big reason why.
I remember my first day at work after being named the GM of what at the time was OhioTab. I had spent my summer working at Canterbury as I had for the previous five years, and was flying back and forth to Ohio to help work on launching WinTicket.com. Charlie Ruma gave me a chance to run the operation after it launched in August of 2000. It was a big leap for me career-wise, and I have to thank him for taking a chance on me. Eventually, that little company became AmericaTab and got a lot bigger, and when it was not so little any more Churchill Downs bought it and its now TwinSpires.com.
From the start, I made sure that AmericaTab was a customer-focused company because of the lessons I had learned from my father. It manifested itself in many ways. We hired more customer service staff than other ADW’s that were handling five times our volume. If you look back at a lot of common features that are available at all the ADW’s now, you would have found a lot of them at AmericaTab first. Our betting platform was simple, worked on most PC and browser combinations, didn’t require software downloads, and was very easy to use. It was fast, and very reliable. We spent a lot of money trying to stay ahead of the curve on our hardware and bandwidth. We had (I believe) the best streaming video and race replay system, and the best handicapping data. We sent checks to our customers that wanted withdrawals from their accounts daily, and initiated online credit card processing and ACH transactions. I even had to fight a little to get rid of the wagering fee that was being charged when I got there, and we spent a long time agonizing about charging for video or services before just putting in a small wagering minimum instead.
I could go on, but we tried very hard to make sure in everything we did that the customer came first. Were we always successful? Unfortunately no, but I heard and saw enough positive reviews from our customers (and significantly fewer negative reviews) to let me know we were doing a lot of things better than our competition.
I could also tell by how fast our business grew.
The Customer Service staff lead by Laura Simmons was a big part of AmericaTab’s success, and other than from me, they probably never got the credit they deserved. I do know that without them and their tireless efforts AmericaTab would not have become the great company it was.
So now I’ve tooted my own horn, my father’s, and Laura’s. But that’s not why I’m posting today either.
If you talk to the bulk of the knowledgeable customers (the gamblers for those that haven’t figured that out yet), they are pretty universal in what makes them happy. They also are not shy about telling you what makes them unhappy if you take the time to listen.
1) They think takeout is too high.
2) They question the integrity of the pools.
3) They believe drugs are rampant in the sport.
4) They hate being held hostage to tracks, groups of tracks, or the horsemen. They believe they should be able to wager on whatever track/pool they want to … through their preferred outlet for wagering.
Now there are countless other smaller things they would love to see too, but these are the big four for most knowledgeable players. You know the 80-20 rule? Guess where 80% of the handle is coming from? Yep, the customers that care about the big four.
Racing needs to remember who the customer really is, and get to work on these things first.
Oh, and If you didn’t watch the YouTube clip, please go back and watch it now … especially if you have a title at work ….
Many moons ago on one of my websites far, far, away, I used to handicap the major stakes races each weekend. I haven’t done it for a few years, but figured since this year’s Kentucky Derby looks to be a wide open affair maybe it was time to jump back in.
If the track is ‘good’ or ‘fast’ then I will be using these four in most of my tickets:
Papa Clem - He would have been overwhelming top choice in this wide-open event but he has looked less than stellar at Churchill in the morning. He’s proven he can make the move from poly to dirt, and beat what was everyone’s top horse before he withdrew from the Derby in Old Fashioned in the Arkansas Derby (G2). I still like his chances, but less so than I did a week ago.
Chocolate Candy - If Pioneerof the Nile wasn’t in California, this guy might be sitting on a six race winning streak. He’s also improved every race during that time. If you like Pioneerof the Nile, you should be using him here too.
Hold Me Back - Certainly has the breeding to get the distance, and from all reports out of Churchill has looked great during training hours. I love hearing about the horses doing well in the mornings, as it has led me to several winners over the years. I also like that he is a closer, as I am seeing several speedy types in this race. If he get’s a clean trip look out.
Mr. Hot Stuff - I actually played him in Future Pool #3, so I’m not just jumping on the bandwagon. Not sure if he can win, but he will factor in the exotics if he’s settled down since arriving at Churchill Downs.
If there ends up being an ‘off’ track then these two will factor heavily:
Desert Party - Might be the Shiek’s best chance to capture the roses. Won the Sanford (G2) in the mud last year at Saratoga. Beaten as the favorite in the UAE Derby, but was trying to close into a speed favoring track. Might even be OK on a fast track, but I like him a lot more if the track is wet.
Freisan Fire - logic tells me that it’s just too long between races for him. Even longer than Hard Spun, who ended up second. He might hit the board on a dry track, but don’t leave him off your tickets if the track is wet. He ran great in the slop in the Louisiana Derby (G2) and is coming into the race off a nice work at Churchill on 4/27.
What about the favorites?
I Want Revenge - certainly good enough to win, but I’m taking a stand against because I think he will bounce off the two races at Aqueduct, and he didn’t face much there after leaving California so he wouldn’t have to hook Pioneerof The Nile anymore. I think he will be over-bet.
Pioneerof The Nile - has never run on dirt, and has two average (compared to the other contenders) works at Churchill (11/26 on 4/27, and 4/19 on 4/21). Contrast that to his works in California where he had three bullet works in his last four (and was second in the other). He will have to prove me wrong.
Throw outs:
Sorry to the connections, but I can’t play any of these even with someone else’s money.
Advice, Atomic Rain, Dunkirk, Flying Private, Join in the Dance, Mine That Bird, Nowhere to Hide, Summer Bird.
So there you have it. Good luck on Saturday, and ‘let your conscience be your guide’.
I woke up this morning to my normal routine. A little breakfast coupled with ‘Mike and Mike in the Morning’ on ESPN2. As would be expected now that baseball is in full swing, there was quite a bit of discussion going on about the games. I admit that I am not much of a baseball fan despite having a huge collection of baseball cards as a kid, so normally I don’t pay much attention until playoff time. This morning however was different.
The main story of the day was the death of storied Philadelphia Phillies announcer Harry Kalas. Personally, I had never heard of him before yesterday. I certainly never equated him with the Philadelphia Phillies. Interestingly enough, I knew him better than I thought, because in addition to his work with the Phillies, he also was the voice of NFL Films. There have been many famous baseball announcers that I did know (Harry Carey, Vin Scully, Jack and Joe Buck to name a few), and to a certain extent I see similarities to our track announcers in horse racing. There have been many announcers that have spent years primarily at one spot, or on one circuit and have earned the same kind of reverence that Mr. Kalas had in Philadelphia from the local fans. I think that’s great, and should be celebrated.
I could list countless names, and I’m sure I would fail miserably at remembering them all, so I’ll just give you one. Terry Wallace. At Oaklawn he has called nearly 20,000 consecutive races. I’ve known Terry for a long time and consider him to be a friend in the business, and an all-around great ambassador to the sport. I first met him when he also called races at Ak-Sar-Ben, where he took over for another announcing institution in Bill Murphy. This is a remarkable streak which I am certain will go unnoticed outside Hot Springs, should it come to an end.
But, that’s not the reason for this post.
As anyone who follows baseball knows (and even those of us that don’t), baseball is a sport that probably has more statistical information available for fans than any other sport in the world. Every time I watch a sports show you hear of an event taking place in baseball which is followed by its statistical significance. For example, the next no-hitter to be pitched will be number 258 in Major League Baseball history. Oh, and by the way, in case you were interested, number 257 was also the first no hitter in history to be pitched at a neutral field, and numbers 255 and 256 were both thrown by Boston Red Sox pitchers, which was the first time since 1974-1975 that two consecutive no-hitters were thrown by the same team (California Angels if you care). I swear someone is out there keeping track of what each and every player had for breakfast.
So what does that have to do with horse racing?
Our sport is also driven by statistics. Only for some reason horse racing makes it very difficult to find and use statistics … and very expensive.
Baseball statistics are easy to find and work with. For example, let’s take a look at Hank Aaron. One quick Google Search and you can find this:
Now you might be thinking ‘OK, he’s one of the greats, and if I wanted statistics on Secretariat I could find that too’. Well, here’s the same statistics for Ben Hayes, who I happen to know. He played two seasons for Cincinnati before getting hurt.
Contrast that with the horse racing industry, where having this information is paramount to being successful wagering on the sport.
As with baseball, there is a central authority currently keeping the historical data, Equibase. Thankfully Equibase also distributes the data to other vendors like Bloodstock Research, the DRF and others … for a fee. Those companies also slice and dice the data, add some of their own, and resell it. The data business in horse racing generates a lot of money for the companies that buy it, and those companies that sell it make it difficult to use once you buy it or make easy to use data so expensive that the average gambler can’t afford it.
Yet in baseball, it’s free … and in baseball, the data is accurate.
Despite there now being technology available to track every horse in every race at every track, the industry has not implemented the technology. I think most fans know about Trackus, which is currently deployed at Keeneland, Del Mar and Woodbine. Is the Trackus data part of the official record? No. In fact the tracks that are paying for the Trackus service can’t even get the data from the vendor in some cases!
There are also other systems that can do similar things, for example legendary timekeeper Tag Heuer has a system specifically designed for horse racing. There is no rational explanation as to why horse racing is not providing accurate split times for each horse, as opposed to just the horse that crosses the beam first. A customer should not have to estimate these by calculating them manually. Can you imagine how long it would take to just do one race with a 12 horse field and 10 PP lines for each horse? Now extrapolate that to nine or ten races for a single card and maybe five tracks for a single day. It’s insane to expect a customer to have to do this.
Enjoyment of horse racing is IMO more dependent on statistics than baseball, yet the industry does a poor job of providing data to its fans. At a time where the industry is struggling, this needs to change soon. We need to start giving customers all the tools they can possibly use to make it easier to play. Accurate data in a format that is easily used is but one step.
There seems to be a big push (at least among horseplayers) to eliminate race day medications in horse racing. If they can’t be eliminated, then most people in the industry think there needs to be significant reforms on the medication front, as things appear to be getting a little out of control.
I wrote a pretty long post on my feelings about this subject last year, which is here in case you haven’t read it yet. I hope there were some good ideas in there, and at least some others in the industry agree with the needs to accomplish something in this area.
In particular, I was happy to see the NTRA recently formed its Safety and Integrity Alliance which included amongst its goals:
uniform medication rules for each racing state
ban of steroids from racing competition
out-of-competition testing for blood and gene doping agents and pre-race testing
uniform penalties for all medication infractions
The NTRA is good at doing research and making recommendations to the industry. Unfortunately they really have no power to actually do anything. While I applaud the effort and support them in what they are trying to do, it will make no difference if there is not widespread adoption of the recommendations that come out of this program. Or worse, if the recommendations don’t really address the problem.
After spending a year since my last post on the subject away from the day-to-day operations of racing, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I didn’t go far enough in my last blog post on the subject. Maybe an outright ban on race day medications is really what needs to be done.
But how do we get there? Simply flipping the switch would create a huge problem given that nearly all horses in training are currently running on some form of medication in this country. It would be a little rude of me to lay down the gauntlet without some kind of plan. So here it is:
All horses foaled in 2008 or later are never allowed to run on race day medications, period.
In 2010, when those horses are two year olds, they will not be allowed to run on race day medications. All horses three years old and upward still can.
In 2011, when those horses are three years old, they will still not be allowed to run on race day medications. All horses four years old and upward still can. This is going to be the difficult year. Racing secretaries are going to have to write more races for straight three year olds, or unfortunately the three year olds that step up to run against older horses will be at a medication disadvantage. Perhaps some additional weight allowances can help here, or the racing secretaries will have to get creative with conditions.
In 2012, when those horses are four years old things will get easier on the racing secretaries because now they can write races for three and four year olds without race day medications, and five year olds and up will still be able to race on race day medications. If the racing secretaries still write three and up, or four and up races then the younger horses are still going to be at a disadvantage, but less so than the previous year.
In 2013 there will now be a category for three, four and five year olds, or just four and five year olds. Again, older horses can still run on race day medications in races not involving the younger horses.
In 2014 and beyond, a racing secretary can still keep moving the medication bar out, one year at a time, or at some point the track can just decide to stop allowing race day medications altogether.
OK, it’s not a perfect plan … it still takes five years to get through all the steps. For the player however, there will be at least some ‘raceday medication free’ races to play beginning in 2010. It also gives owners and trainers plenty of time to adjust. Those that want to be early adopters can, and those that want to play out the game can do so too. I also think it’s a little more fair than to just draw a line in the sand.
This plan doesn’t eliminate the need to improve the things the NTRA is targeting, nor the things I brought up in my previous post. All of those things are important to try to catch the cheaters and bring the playing field back closer to level than where it currently is.
–Racing needs more stars to promote the sport. Horses need to stay in training longer. How about mandating that no horse gets to breed before it’s a six-year-old, and no two year old racing before August? When the animals are worth more in the breeding shed than they are on the track, something has to be done to slow that down.
–Also, as an incentive to keep horses on the track, allow artificial insemination for all breeds. Quarter horses are doing it now, and it’s OK. There can certainly be rules put in place so as not to over saturate the breeds. Two things come to mind immediately, limiting the total number of conceptions to something that would occur naturally (both in number per year, and for how long), and if an animal is able to breed naturally, they have to do it that way. Insurance costs for the stars (like Curlin) make it nearly impossible to keep them in training when they can’t make enough money to overcome the premiums by running. If they were able to harvest enough sperm to lead to the equivalent long-term income from his breeding naturally, then premiums would go down, and there would be an upside to keeping him in training since more could be charged for his offspring if he keeps winning.
–While I am on the topic of Stars, all Owners, Trainers, Jockeys and drivers should be able to sign endorsement deals with anyone, and be able to promote whatever they want on their clothing. I will allow for some regulations such as the size and location of the ad, and making sure only legal things are advertised. No one gets to claim business conflicts though. Golf has figured out a way to allow its athletes to do this despite corporate sponsors putting on events. We can too. And a personal note to a trainer who shall remain nameless … no taking hats of your rider’s head … he was just as important in getting to the winner’s circle as you were.
–Note to the Breeders’ Cup … please do away with the purple saddle towels. The entire rest of the industry uses standard colors, so you can too. And while we are on the topic of saddle towels, dog tracks and harness tracks should switch to match the thoroughbred colors. Yes, I know you had your color schemes first, but thoroughbred and quarter horse racing is far and away the biggest handle generator, and therefore fewer people are impacted doing it this way. Yes, customers will grumble for a few weeks, maybe for a meet, and then all will be forgotten.
–Programs should go final for all racing no less than 72 hours prior to race day. Enter to run please. The customers will thank you because they have more time to handicap, and you will make more money because handle will go up. Trainers, if you are entering to run, this isn’t an issue.
–Animals should not be allowed to scratch without a valid medical reason, confirmed by the State veterinarian. If allowed to scratch, they should be put on a list until after the next race at the same condition is in the condition book. Again, enter to run, not to see if the field is soft enough to keep your win percentage at 25%. If your animal can only win at that level if the stars align properly then you aren’t running at the right level.
–If an animal is in training at a track, it should be required to race there at least one time a month, barring injury. If there are not any races at the track for the animal, the animal is in the wrong place and should be sent somewhere it can actually participate. If the animal is hurt, turn it out and make room for another animal that is healthy enough to race. Looking at field sizes at most tracks, there are clearly a lot of animals “in training” and not enough runners.
–I don’t know who to put in charge, but something has to be done to better coordinate post times … and stakes races. Maybe fewer races and/or fewer racetracks will solve this problem.
Breaking from the Gate
contains the random musings of Todd Bowker, who began his career in racing by sweeping floors and doing laundry in the Jock's Room at Ak-Sar-Ben in 1981.
