Put some Duct Tape on it

Time for the annual "lets see how the NTRA screws up this one" event. The NTRA has announced on their website that NTRA Live! returns in April with 3 live Webcasts of the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial and the Blue Grass Stakes.

Always one to toot their own horn, the NTRA Senior VP Keith Chamblin states:

"Last year's NTRA Live! Webcasts were extremely well received..."

Really?- by who? The host, Randy Moss, who returns again this year, did a nice job hosting, but technically the webcasts were a mess, with the debut performance of NTRA Live! in 2010 resulting in a feed seen by virtually no one in what the NTRA termed as "technical errors".

My advice: Log in early ( you must have a NTRA account set up) and plan to have an alternate video feed to watch.

First Time, Long Time

Former New York Governor David Paterson will put on the Sports Talk Radio Host hat as he hosts a 3 hour shift on Sports talk radio Giant WFAN in New York this Monday from 10 pm until 1 am. For those not in the listening area you can hear it live on the web with this link.

Will be interesting to see if the call screener's let any questions on racing get through to the former Governor. With Politics and Horse Racing so incestuous in New York State, where you really can't talk about one without the other, I would love to see how candid Paterson would be.

He most likely will get peppered with a bunch of Yankees, Mets, Jets and Knicks questions but would love to hear him give his take on the background skinny on the VLT award to Genting and what really happened with the whole AEG fiasco.

This story plus questions on NYRA, takeout fees, the closing of the New York City OTB, the future of OTB's outside the city, the expected saturation of racino's and Indian casino's, and legislation and penalties for drug usage could take the whole 3 hours up.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Beware the Ides of March

I'm not planning on attending the Theatre of Pompey, so I guess I will be okay today. But the 15th of March is always a turning point in the calender for me.

Back in High School it was always the first official day of Spring Track practice. It also usually falls right around the time that the NCAA March Madness begins, an unofficial start of spring for me. And of course it is just short of the midpoint of the Derby Prep chase. The Saratoga Race Course Union Avenue gates may still be blocked with snow (as they were in this photo taken by yours truly on the 13th) but believe it not, the mounds of farch will eventually melt.




I'm enjoying the prep races thus far, still deciding on who I think will give Uncle Mo a run for the crown. As for Uncle Mo, sure last Saturday was a glorified workout, but the horse seems like the real deal, and with owner Mike Repole as his spokesperson, I hope you enjoy hearing about him, as it will only get louder after he wins the Wood at the Big A. Remember, this guy became a billionaire by selling you something you drank for free as a kid. Water.

Chantal and the Big Cap stay in the News

It is good to see that 5 days after the Santa Anita Handicap, people are still talking about the controversial outcome. In past years the Big Cap would get a one day review in the media and talk would go back to the Derby Trail. We are in an age when everything is news for a minute and than it is gone, turn the page, on to the next story, always looking forward, no time to dissect what has happened. Egypt one day, than forgotten and on to Libya next. Yet 5 days later and still talking about the Cap. In this day and age for anything to be talked about more than a few days, is pretty amazing.

With the added publicity of winning the Santa Anita Handicap aboard Game on Dude, Chantal Sutherland picked the perfect time to redesign her website.

Charlie Sheen the right choice to lead the Breeders Cup

Ray Paulick reports on the Paulick Report that Greg Avioli is resigning as president and chief executive officer of the Breeders’ Cup. Paulick lists 8 potential replacements. In a sidebar poll readers have chosen "none of the above" as their choice.

With such lack of enthusiasm for the usual suspects to replace Avioli, why not think outside the box. We need a winner and who sells winning better than Charlie Sheen.

The timing is perfect as Sheen is currently on the open market.

The Breeders Cup Twitter site has 4,323 followers. Why not turbo charge that number and grab Sheen as your CEO who just set a Guinesss Book World record for being the quickest person on Twitter to gain 1 million followers, doing so in 25 hours, 17 minutes.

Some may say Sheen is on a classic downward spiral but I would argue the man is a marketing genius and he is acting like a business minded positive forward thinking CEO, something the Breeders Cup needs. Are not these recent quotes from Sheen reminiscent of great leaders of the past, like Winston Churchill and Vince Lombardi. Breeders Cup, may you consider these quotes as part of Sheen's resume:

"You can't process me with a normal brain"

"I have Tigers blood and Adonis DNA"

"Defeat is not an option"

"Drug tests don't lie. Scoreboard doesn't lie"

"Plan Better applies to everything where an excuse now sits. Try it. U won't be wrong. EVER"

I believe his first decision will be to replace the confusing "Win and your In" slogan with his more concise classic line:

"Duh Winning!"