A Rising Tide lifts up all boats

....and a low tide brings all boats down, including Horse Racing which is not immune to the current economic times.

NYRA has announced that they will cut purses by 10 percent for the Aqueduct winter meet starting October 29, 2008. CEO Charlie Heyward cited the bad economy and handle declines of 10.6% @ Saratoga this summer and 10% decline thus far at the fall Belmont meet. As previously blogged about here, admission and parking will be free at the Big A this winter.

Breeders Cup TV Race Schedule

Here is the Breeders Cup Television Schedule. All times listed are Eastern Time.

Oct 24 ESPN2 3:35 PM Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint
Oct 24 ESPN2 4:15 PM Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
Oct 24 ESPN2 4:55 PM Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies GradeI
Oct 24 ESPN2 5:35 PM Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf Grade I
Oct 24 ESPN2 6:15 PM Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic Grade I aka The Distaff
Oct 25 ABC 1:10 PM Breeders' Cup Marathon
Oct 25 ABC 1:50 PM Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
Oct 25 ABC 2:30 PM Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
Oct 25 ABC 3:15 PM Breeders' Cup Mile Grade I
Oct 25 ESPN 3:55 PM Breeders'Cup Juvenile Grade I
Oct 25 ESPN 4:35 PM Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf
Oct 25 ESPN 5:15 PM Breeders'Cup Sprint Grade I
Oct 25 ESPN 6:00 PM Breeders'Cup Turf Grade I
Oct 25 ESPN 6:45 PM Breeders' Cup Classic Grade I

I already said my peace on the Television Coverage and ESPN promotion (or lack thereof) of the Cup over on Bloodhorse, and I thank you all for the articulate comments.

We now have a week to absorb the 180 pre-entries (including 35 Europeans) in the 14 Breeders' Cup Races at Santa Anita Park.

Breeders Cup Television Coverage-Is That It?

This Post was also published at The Bloodhorse as part of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance relationship with The Bloodhorse where members TBA's entries are now posted there.

After coming into it’s partnership with the Breeders Cup starting in 2006 the Disney owned ESPN/ESPN2/ABC Channels promised us the world in it’s coverage and promotion of the event including coverage leading up to the Breeders Cup. Now entering its 3rd year of coverage on the Cable network, I feel like an underfed kid at the dinner table, fed some leftovers instead of the 5 course meal I was promised.

ESPN2 will begin coverage of racing Friday Oct. 24 from 3:30-6:30 p.m. EDT and feature five Breeders’ Cup Championship races. The Friday card is an all fillies and Mare card complete with a very unpopular decision to rename the Distaff the “Ladies Classic’.

On Saturday Oct. 25, ABC will air 4 races between 1-3:30 p.m. EDT before switching to ESPN from 3:30-7 p.m. This will be the 3rd year of ESPN coverage since taking over the coverage from NBC.

The 2007 Saturday telecast drew a .75 national rating, up slightly from 2006’s .7 number. The .75 translates to approximately 1.05-million viewers.

Last years Friday card drew an anemic .3 rating. The ratings results of the last two years on ESPN represent a roughly 50% decline in viewers from 2005, the last year that NBC aired the Breeders’ Cup.

Moving to a cable network, the Breeders' Cup figured to have a falloff in viewership, although not as steep as it has been in the 1st two years of coverage thus far.

When the ESPN deal was announced we were promised By Breeders Cup President Greg Avioli that the promotion during the run-up to the event would be “unparalleled” and that ESPN and “would expose millions of sports fans to the Breeders' Cup brand."

After televising a few “Win and Your In” programs during August, ESPN had No live TV coverage during the entire month of September. That ESPN/ABC, home of the Breeders Cup, can go the entire month of September without putting on even one hour of Saturday racing is atrocious. Let me not even bother to list the Grade 1 races that we had in the month of September that could have been on the ESPN network. ESPN finally had a racing card on Saturday October 4th.

The promotion of the Breeders Cup during the October 4th card centered mostly on the potential Curlin-Big Brown(since retired) BC Classic matchup. This would have been a perfect opportunity to do a short feature on the dazzling undefeated filly Zenyatta. Why not promote this great horse, generating interest and also drawing attention to the Friday card, which most casual racing fans are not even aware exists.

On the Bloodhorse talking discussion page, Greg Land, Breeders Cup Chief Marketing officer said “the move to an all filly and mare schedule on Friday was a racing decision not a marketing decision. We believe that the fillies and mares deserve a Championship day of their own and that fans will enjoy two near equal days of Championship racing.”

Huh??? Does that quote make any sense to you? The fillies and mares deserve to be buried on a weekday afternoon card that will be seen by very, very few people??

It just seems like The Breeders Cup is doing everything possible to disenfranchise loyal fans and their broadcast partners, ESPN/ABC, are doing the same by barely promoting the event, in effect pushing the fans to the ground after the Breeders Cup gang punches us in the gut. In 2006 ESPN floated the idea of showing a race during Halftime of an ESPN October 2007 Monday Night Football Game. What happened to the idea????....nothing of course. Maybe you could have done that this year with Casino Drive in his allowance race. Expose the product-especially to new eyeballs already watching your existing programs such as football etc.

If the powers that be insist on giving the fillies and mares a day of their own, why not tinker with the time a bit and try prime time coverage Friday Night. You can do a 6:30-9:30 pm Friday Television card with the renamed Distaff going off in prime time around 9:15 pm (6:15 pm at Santa Anita). Now you are exposing great fillies and mares such as Zenyatta, Ginger Punch, Hystericalady, and others to a prime time audience; an audience certainly bigger than one would get on Friday afternoon. People can come home from work, eat dinner, settle in front of their TV sets and computer with their ADW account and bet and watch the race. This would also work out better for the overseas audience and increase the off track handle.

Now more than ever, competition for the consumer’s sports and entertainment budget dollars will be fierce. If the Breeders Cup intends to build itself as a 2 day showcase of racings best, they must learn to truly market and use their broadcast partner to promote and showcase the product. ESPN and its sister channels has the programming hours to broadcast weekly programs throughout August and September leading up to the Breeders Cup and cross promote during their other big time sporting events, but thus far they have treated horse racing like the unwanted step child.

What could have been

To all those who doubt the injury, here is the photo, courtesy of the Daily Racing Form:



Big Brown---8 Starts, 7 wins.

One bad race-The Bizarre Belmont Stakes.

Now look at the other races and show me what Big Brown ever did wrong.

It is so easy to bash Dutrow, certainly arrogant and loud at times, but what exactly did he do wrong in training Big Brown?

What do the other trainers and barns use on their horses that is so different than what Dutrow uses? Illegal drugs, you allege? Very easy to cast allegations, I say not fair.

Remember Big Brown was not originally trained by Dutrow and he looked pretty good then when trained by Pat Reynolds.

If you had the chance to ever see Big Brown in person you knew what an athlete this horse was. Big Brown was an athlete, a true competitor, and a 4 time Grade 1 champion.

Was Big Brown truly a great horse? I am not sure we had enough on the resume to conclude. I did want to see more from Big Brown to see if he was truly a "great" horse. I do believe Curlin would have beat him had they met up in the Breeders Cup Classic, but I bet Big Brown would have showed up, dug in and competed.

Casino Drive wins his allowance prep

Casino Drive won today in a 1-1/16 mile allowance at Santa Anita in 1:42 with Victor Espinoza aboard. With only 3 wins, and only one Grade II win, this horse certainly has his fans and grabs alot of newspaper ink and Internet chatter. Today he was never really asked and had a huge class advantage but he did show he had no problems with the same synthetic track surface he will be running over in the BC Classic. He seems to be one of these horses that despite being so lightly raced people take an interest in and keep in their memory bank, probably due to his very good pedigree, a easy name to remember and the Japanese connections.

Thanks to Partymanners for the race clip

Free Admission

According to a post I read today by Paul Moran on his blog Paul Moran at the Races, The New York Racing Association will eliminate all admission and parking fees at the winter Aqueduct meet.

This has long been a pet peeve of mine and something I blogged about before.

For the life of me I could never figure out why you would charge admission to get into an event where the event promoters need you to spend more money after you pay your admission (i.e. gamble) in order to make the real money. No other gambling entity does this, not Vegas, the Racino's, the Indian Casino's etc. It just makes more overall economic sense to let everyone in for free and certainly gives the customer (us) the impression that our business is wanted and encouraged.

Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

Autumn Leaves-Johnny Mercer

We had a frost in Saratoga Tuesday morning and again this morning. The nights are cold, the days are still warm, but we know the days grow shorter and before long even a bright sun will have a hard time pushing the mercury level up.

With seemingly less and less time for anyone to get anything done at all lately and looking to get away from work, screaming headlines, endless Presidential election chatter and general bad news all around, I took a walk on Union Avenue and East Avenue, taking in the sights of the Saratoga Race Course and the Oklahoma Training Track.

With a perfect blue sky and not a cloud in sight the peacefulness was comforting as I took in the sights around me..

The Oklahoma Training Track under a beautiful Sky



The leaves popping more each day, nearing peak



The Saratogian Pink Sheet dated 8/30/08 previewing the Hopeful Stakes, left behind, Pink now faded too yellow



A frayed and faded betting ticket, a non winner now to be recycled with the leaves



The main track backyard area-as things change around us, its timeless simplicity remains



Stock Markets go down, Money is made and lost, Presidents promise, But like Nature, the seasons will surely change, Summer will arrive and Saratoga will be open again.

Vineyard Haven to skip BC Juvenile?

Its looking more and more like Vineyard Haven, the gray or roan colt who won both the Grade 1 Hopeful and Champagne Stakes, may pass on the Breeders Cup Juvenile. As the only 2 year old male with 2 grade 1 wins, he would only be the 4th two year old Champ to skip the BC Juvenile. Steve Crist of the DRF has a nice chart detailing the history of past champs going into the BC Juvenile on his blog.

Vineyard Haven is Trained by Bobby Frankel, who co-owns the colt with Louis Lazzinnaro and Diamond Pride LLC. Diamond Pride LLC is Joe Torre, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Torre who always manages to land on his feet, left the Yankees after being told he was no longer welcome despite 12 straight playoff appearances and 4 World Championships, goes to the LA Dodgers, where the Dodgers tread water for 1/2 the year, than acquire Manny (no last name necessary) and take off from there. On the same day his team sweeps the "0 for a Century Cubs", his Horse wins the Champagne Stakes at Belmont. Torre was able to watch the game in the clubhouse with his General Manager and received a congratulatory call from Frankel afterword. The Yanks by the way, finished out of the playoffs under new manager Joe Giradi.

The other co-owner of Vineyard Haven, Louis Lazzinnaro, is well known here in Saratoga as the owner of the very popular Sergio's Restaurant in Wilton, just outside Saratoga. He also owns Spolini in Kew Gardens, Queens. Both spots are highly frequented by Saratoga and Belmont trainers, owners, and various hangers-ons.

Frankel tells Dave Grenig of the Daily Racing Form that he has not changed his mind about skipping the BC Juvenile. There was speculation that the horse would be sold after his win in the Hopeful at Saratoga, but now look for Lazzinnaro, Frankel and Torre to hold on too him and with Torre's luck of late, one would expect this horse to keep winning in '09.

Zenyatta- Can we get a shout out here?

ESPN finally had a Saturday Racing Program today, the first since August. Hard to believe That ESPN/ABC, home of the Breeders Cup, can go the entire month of August without putting on even one hour of Saturday Racing. Let me not even bother to list the Grade 1 races that we had last month that could have been on the network.

Anyway, about 1/2 way into the program today the ESPN show hosts, Joe Tessitore, Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey began a discussion about the BC Classic and who might win. The talk centered on Curlin and Big Brown, certainly understandable. Randy Moss also mentioned the strong European field including Henrythenavigator.

However none of the 3 even brought up Zenyatta the undefeated 4 year old Filly. Why not throw her name out as a outside possibility to run in the race, and if so talk about her chances to win the race? Zenyatta deserves mention in the discussion. This would raise awareness of this awesome horse, and if she runs in the Classic great, if she stays with the other fillies and Mares and runs the day before on Friday, maybe you have a few more eyeballs who turn on ESPN on Friday interested enough to check out the horse. Seems like simple 101 Marketing if you ask me.

In other Notes, Vineyard Haven looked very impressive today in winning the Champagne Stakes at Belmont.

The Champagne Stakes

The 137th running of the Grade 1 $400,000 Champagne Stakes for 2 year olds will take place this Saturday at Belmont featuring A.P. Cardinal, Break Water Edison, Cribnote, Girolamo, Gone Astray, Hello Broadway, Munnings, Reynaldothewizard, Ventana and the winner of Saratoga's Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes- Vineyard Haven.

This race always brings me back to the 1972 Champagne, where Secretariat won but was disqualified and brought down to 2nd for interfering with Stop the Music. That year I became hooked on two sports that remain my favorite sports to this day-Baseball and Horse Racing. My team was the NY Mets who I started watching because, like most 9 year olds at the time, that is the team my Dad liked. The Mets were horrible in 1972, but I was hooked and I remain a Met fan to this day, more bad years than good. As for racing 1972 is also my earliest tangible memory of racing. Like many, I was intrigued by a 2 year old horse named Secretariat, who came into the Champagne Stakes off 5 straight wins including the Sanford Stakes and Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and the Futurity Stakes at Belmont. His only loss thus far was his maiden race at the Big A.

He would next run in the Champagne Stakes on 10/14/72. After staring out slow, described as "void of early foot" in the Daily Racing Form, Secretariat made a move on the outside at the top of the Stretch. He veered in toward the rail and brushed Stop the Music (2nd in the Futurity Stakes) at the 3/16th pole. Secretariat continued to charge in on the outside of Stop the Music, easily passed him and finished 2 lengths ahead to get the win. Or so we thought. The inquiry sign went up, and after a long look, Secretariat was disqualified and placed 2nd to Stop the Music.

The decision was controversial as many felt the contact had no bearing on the outcome and no interference had occurred. Veteran Sports Illustrated Writer William Nack was quoted later as saying that Secretariat should never have been disqualified.

Only 2 weeks later Secretariat avenged the loss by beating Stop the Music by 8 lengths in the Laurel Futurity. He closed out his 2 year old campaign by winning the Garden State Futurity. He won 7 of 9 races as a 2 year old, and was voted Horse of the Year. It was an a amazing year, 7 wins for a 2 year old and really 8 if you count the Champagne Stakes.

This "unofficial photo" taken in the winners circle before the stewards made the final call shows Trainer Lucien Lauren apparantly anticipating the bad news, judging from the look on his face.



Sources: NY Times, Daily Racing Form, Sports Illustrated, Secretariat.com

Smart Money

"Most women use more brains picking a horse in the third at Belmont than they do picking a husband." Lauren Bacall (Schatze)in How to Marry a Millionaire(1953)

So what do we do with all the smart bettors out there? How about embracing them, says Michael Konik, a best-selling author, television commentator, and former member of sports-betting syndicates. Good suggestions found here, like experimenting more with rebate amounts and lowering of track takeouts.

In housekeeping news, if you follow They're in the Gate and the other writers of the Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance via RSS, please note that the address has changed, and bookmark or join the new feed.

On too the Breeders Cup

In front of a paltry but appreciative crowd of 8,563 fans, Curlin wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup to become the leader in career earnings, moving him past Cigar.

Now, if he is too cement his legacy, Jess Jackson, Curlin's owner, must enter him in the Breeders Cup Classic. He is the defending Classic Champion and the Champion must defend his crown. I believe Jess Jackson will do the right thing and the fact that he is shipping to California to work on the Pro-Ride synthetic surface is a great sign.

Now the race everyone wants to see, Curlin, champion 4 year old, versus Big Brown, champion 3 year old can take place. People love rivalries in sport-think Red Sox-Yankees, Ali-Frazier, Palmer-Nicklaus, and now we can add in Curlin v. Big Brown. Of course with BB retiring this is only a one race rivalry but nevertheless it is the race everyone wants to see. Throw in probable entrants Go Between, Casino Drive, Duke of Marmalade, Henrythenavigator, and Student Council and possible entrants of Commentator, Pyro, Well Armed and the great filly Zenyatta and we have a Classic to salivate over.

Curlin had 2 straight wins in the Woodward and Jockey Club Gold Cup, with no real challengers, and no real intrigue to bring more people out to see him. The BC Classic will be different. Fans will flock to the track and TV ratings will be strong. We have a solid month to talk up the race, and it should be alot of fun.

Weekend Preview

Big weekend for racing highlighted by The Jockey Club Gold Cup featuring Curlin. A win will put him past the 10 million mark and atop Cigar in the all time earnings list.

The forecast is horrible for the NY area. It is already raining heavily today and Belmont has cancelled Fridays card. The forecast is just as crappy for tomorrow and unless the rain moves out of here fast, do not expect any type of "crowd" to be out at Belmont to witness history. It will be interesting to see how Mambo in Seattle, last seen getting nosed out by Colonel John in the Travers, fares in the race.

Other Grade 1 races at Belmont include The Beldame featuring my favorite Ginger Punch (1st in the TBA Filly and Mare Standings) and the Grade 1 Vosburgh featuring First Defence (4th in the TBA TVG Spring Standings) and J be K.

Speaking of the Sprint Division, TVG is now sponsoring out Sprint Division and we welcome them aboard. Current TVG Spring leader Street Boss runs at Oak Tree-Santa Anita in the Grade 1 Ancient Title. Also at Oak Tree-Zenyatta, 2nd in the Filly and Mare standings, runs in the Lady's Secret.

Other horses running this weekend who are looking to rise in the standings include Well Armed-4th in the Older Division and running in the Grade 1 Goodwood at Oak Tree-Santa Anita; Mauralakana , 3rd in the Filly & Mare Turf running in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Inv. @ Belmont and Dancing Forever, 3rd in the Turf Division running in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic @ Belmont.

A great weekend with a chock full of Grade 1 races, lets just hope the rain lets up at Belmont.

Ahoy Mates-Arrrrr is Coming

Arrrrr is racing again folks, albeit 7 days late as he missed International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th.

Arrrrr, the 4 year old gelding with 2 first place wins at Saratoga this summer is running at Belmont Thursday in the sixth race.

His wins were made that more exciting by the calls from track announcer Tom Durkin. He also ran once this fall at Belmont, but Durkin was off that day and Arrrrr ran out of the money. Durkin will be back tomorrow but he has hinted his exaggerated Arrrrr calls will be put to rest. However if Arrrrr is in contention down the stretch it will be interesting to see if Durkin can restrain himself.

Post time for the sixth at Belmont tomorrow is scheduled for 3:40 p.m.

UPDATE: Arrrr came in 4th. Missed the call but according to the Equibase Charts, Arrrr raced along the stretch, needed encouragement to keep pace with the leader during the run around the bend, and tired after entering the stretch.

All Things Marketing

Congratulations to the TBA bloggers Green but Game, Handride, Superfecta, The Aspiring Horseplayer and Left at the Gate for their work on the 48 page NTRA Marketing Report. There were other authors involved, whose complete names and Bios can be found at the beginning of the report. So Grab a cup of coffee and read it, it is actually a fast read and chock full of good ideas regarding marketing of this sport to a new generation of fans, particularly online marketing. You can read it here. Also the respective bloggers have great recaps on their own sites.

In other Marketing news, Curlin will be running in the Jockey Gold Cup at Belmont this Saturday and NYRA has gone all out in promoting his appearance, particularly on the NYRA website. Of course, in typical NYRA luck, the weather forecast is for rain on Saturday.

However if you decide to stay home ESPNEWS found on most cable systems will televise the race live. Scheduled post time is 5:52 pm. MSG Plus will also provide coverage from 5:30-6:00 pm.

One of the marketing suggestions in the NTRA report is a "Take Back Saturday" theme where every Saturday from June or July up too the Breeders Cup there is a show featuring live races, race replays, features etc. Have you noticed no racing coverage on national TV outlets since the end of August? Why not? If you get them hooked starting in July, they will want to continue to watch into the fall, even with college football, pro football and pennant race baseball going on. I am a gigantic fan of those sports but I will find the hour on Saturday to watch horse racing if I know I can find it every Saturday on a set time and channel. And don't forget there is a thing now called DVR and TIVO.

Obama is a horse racing fan?

While reading todays edition of The Boston Globe to get a feel for the local coverage of this weekends Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs I came across Commentator owner Tracy Farmer stating that

"Barack Obama is a good horse fan and I think he will be good for our sport."

The article does not address whether he just like horses or actually horse racing itself nor does it address how Obama would be good for the sport. I have not seen any prior articles listing Obama as a fan of horse racing but I did find a mention that his "Heartland RV" tour of Ohio planned to stop at the Little Brown Jug harness race at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, Ohio on September 18th. Don't know if the current financial mess pulled him away from that event.

As for the Massachusetts Handicap itself I will go with the Chalk-picking morning line 3-5 favorite and 2 time Whitney winner Commentator. With gorgeous weather look for a nice turnout.

In, Out or Maybe?

With the Breeders Cup just 5 weeks away, it seems like we need a flow chart of who will be running out in California on the synthetic surface, who is in and who is still a maybe.

It is an indication of how dysfunctional and confusing this sport (or is just gambling?) can be. If you think the industry is just gambling and not sport- I guess you don't care. You just get the Past Performances a couple of days before, grab a pencil and start handicapping. As an old gambling buddy told me once, "I will gamble on ants running around on a sidewalk". However , If you consider it a sport and assume there are these type of people who follow horse racing because of a sporting interest, how do you ramp up sporting interest if you can't even figure out who is even running in it? Curlin-maybe, Commentator-maybe, Proud Spell-maybe. Big Brown-in-he's running in the Classic right (or is it the turf ?) at least I think he's definitely running in one of them??

Could you imagine if you followed NASCAR all year and some of the NASCAR drivers decided not to run their drivers in the year ending 10 race Chase?

How do you explain the Breeders Cup to a casual fan, when they ask how can it be a championship if all the potential champions are not competing in it?

Time to give the horse his due

The Associated Press describes the Big Brown win as a

..courageous front-running victory over older horses in the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

I would agree. I was very impressed with Big Brown's win and the horse showed me he loves to compete and wants to win. A great horse should rise up and show us that he "wants to win" and I think Big Brown showed that yesterday. He showed me he can be the Horse of the Year, and I feel now Curlin would have to beat him in the BC Classic to take it away from him.

Remember this is a horse who got bashed after Belmont (okay maybe it was his trainer and owners-but still). Many said he would never step foot on a racetrack again. Well, he has stepped on a race track and is 2-0 since than. Watch this race again and tell me you are not impressed.

Doremifasollatido wins the Matron

In the Matron Stakes at Belmont on Saturday, 2 year old filly Doremifasollatido with Eibar Coa aboard split rivals at the top of the lane and pulled clear to secure her second win in four starts.

Enjoy Tom Durkin Singing the call.

Mad Dog on Big Brown

On Monday 9/15/08 Chris "Mad Dog" Russo starts his daily sports talk show on SiriusXM satellite radio from 2-7 pm. If you are looking for talk on horse racing you will not find it on his show (stick with Steve Byk, heard weekdays on Sirius on Ch. 126). Mad Dog was part of the highly popular "Mike and the Mad Dog" show on WFAN radio in New York. Former partner Mike Franscesca is a huge horse racing fan, and he also owns his own horses and is partners with other horse owners including his Pal and Part time Saratoga Resident Bill Parcells. Mad dog was never a fan of horse racing and friction was always present whenever Mike Francesca tried to shoe horn in talk of horse racing on the show.

How ironic however when Mad Dog's prediction/hope of Big Brown's chance of failing in the Belmont came true. With Big Brown running Saturday in the Monmouth Stakes lets flash back to Mad Dog's rant against Big Brown after he won the 1st 2 legs of the Triple Crown.

Big Brown Talk

A google search for "Big Brown and Curlin" brings up 256,000 different results.

They are also both mentioned almost daily in the various horse racing publications generally read by those who follow the sport.

The subject has many interesting angles-will one or the other or both run in the BC Classic?, will Big Brown perhaps run in the BC Turf?, Will Curlin skip the classic and just go overseas?, will a Match race be set up between the two horses? and on and on.

In the blogosphere and elsewhere, many state they are tired of the whole thing, won't go to see Big Brown Run, aren't interested in Big Brown and can't wait to see Big Brown retire etc.

But I wonder if this is entirely true. Big Brown drew a nice crowd at the Haskell and will probably draw a nice crowd this Saturday for the Monmouth Stakes. Curlin has been less controversial and attendance figures for his races have not been as impressive, but you can bet if they were to meet in a Match Race, many eyes would be at the races and glued to the TV Set.

Looking at the Sports end of this game Big Brown does keep the Sport interesting and even relevant. Sports always need Villian's and the somewhat unlikeable handlers of Big Brown fit the bill. Throw in a bizarre run in the Belmont Stakes, mix in some crazy Rick Dutrow quotes and you have a story people will read about and watch.

Weekend Notes

With big races this past weekend at Belmont and Woodbine, there was movement in the TBA Standings with Tough Tiz's Sis (Filly & Mare division); Ventura (F&M Turf), Forever Together (F&M Turf), and Champ Elysees (Turf) all gaining points in the Standings.

When checking out our standings, you will note we have a new sponsor of the 3 year old colt division-- Trainer Magazine.

It's been said that if you put 2 horse racing fans in the same room, you will get one thing-two people who do not agree on anything. In this vein should horse racing be marketed as a sport or gambling or perhaps both?? I lean on the side of both-remember that gambling drives the horse racing train but I think we can market sports fans who love competition, bring them into the game and they will love betting and rooting for this sport. Check out Railbird's post with lively comments from all sides of the coin of this debate.

Getting them in the tent

Ask any good carnival barker and he will tell you it is all about getting them into the tent. NYRA on the last day of the 2008 Saratoga Meet, announced free admission to everyone and as a result a strong crowd of 28,000 plus showed up, more fans than showed up 2 days earlier on a Beautiful Saturday to see Curlin Run in the Woodward.

This Friday on Opening day at Belmont, General Admission on Opening Day is free and there will be $2 off the clubhouse admission of $5.

This may seem like common sense, which would call for automatic dismissal when brought to those in charge of track management, but why not always have free admission to get into the track-especially no charge for General Admission? I can see a small fee for clubhouse admission, for space considerations alone at some tracks, but charging for general admission never made sense to me. Why charge people to come into your gates only to ask them to pay some more money again at the windows??

The handle is a product of the churn and the more people to churn the higher the handle. The don't charge you to walk into a casino. Why would they? The casino's know their product, they know it works and they know, like any good carnival barker, that all they have to do is get you to come to the tent, then they got you once you are in. If the tracks can put out competitive fields, i.e a good product, forget the general admission charge. Of course without the good product, nothing happens, and I lobby for the free admission on the assumption (dangerous..I know) that the product on the track is also being focused on and improved everyday. The tracks are competing for bodies here, and the entertainment options available are greater than ever-the major team sports, the growth of NASCAR, MMA, High School Sports, and of course 900 channels on Cable TV and anything you could possibly think of on the Internet.

Rather than occasional free admission days, NYRA and other tracks that charge a fee for general admission should ban it entirely. Over the long run, attendance and handle will increase with the greater exposure to the product.

Exit Saratoga

The 140th Saratoga Meet is now in the books. Like every Saratoga Season before it, it seems like opening day was only yesterday. Luckily, I ended the meet in my grandstand seats sitting in glorious sunshine, so unlike the opening day rainstorm.

I exited Saratoga yesterday with my trusty companion, walking slowly out the gates, much like the rest of the crowd, for we know there will be no racing the next day at the Spa. The last day reminds me so much of my childhood on the day before the 1st day of school..that bittersweet feeling...hopeful of what is ahead, yet sad of what we leave behind. We know we have to go, and just like summertime for a child, too much of Saratoga is not a good thing. The season should be short, just like summertime for a child, but even though we know if it went on forever it would be ruined and no longer special, part of us wants it to go on forever.

The final day saw 28,578 come through the gates, and 872,627 overall. For all that came, memories were made, for me I remember the following:

Commentator winning the Whitney again

The stretch drive duel between Proud Spell and Music Note in the 'Bama

Ginger Punch by a nose in the Personal Ensign

The Travers Photo finish between Colonel John & Mambo in Seattle

Curlin taking care of business in the Woodward

Watching Alan Garcia beaming with Joy after winning the Hopeful and
clinching the Jockey Title

Some final shots from the closing day at the Spa:



Leading Jockey Alan Garcia heading to the Track for the 2nd Race aboard Pals First Lady



The Post Parade before the Hopeful Stakes



Shade descends upon the Grandstand & Clubhouse as the final race ends and the sun sets upon closing day at the Spa

Professional Curlin

Standing at the rail just past the finish line watching Curlin was watching a true professional athlete at work. He knows how to win and won the Woodward at the Spa before 22,572 appreciative fans. I was never worried watching the race. Maybe some expected a complete romp, but I was happy with the performance, the time was solid and the Beyer figure was 112. Do I think he walks on water? No. But I am happy to watch the Horse of the Year continue his career as a 4 year old instead of running off to the Breeding shed. Was this enough to bring in new fans and label him a spectacular horse to save the industry ? No, but I can't blame Curlin for that. You can't blame NYRA for marketing the horse either (although most fans I spoke to at the meet disliked the tacky themed poster). They have to market someone and with Big Brown staying at the Jersey Shore this summer, Curlin is the horse NYRA had to market.

Having seem him run now 3 times in person, from the Belmont in '07, the Breeders Cup in '07 and now at Saratoga, you definitely see how this horse has matured and grown. Physically he is such a fit horse and beautiful to see in person.

As he came onto the track Saturday a splattering of applause begin on the clubhouse end of the track as people recognized Curlin. Then when Tom Durkin annouced the # 5 horse as Curlin more applause followed. When he came back to the winners circle after galloping out after his win, the crowd gave a warm applause. Here are some photos from the day:



Photographs waiting to get the perfect shot as the Gate is loaded for the Woodward



Curlin walking back to the Winners Circle after the Woodward Win



Curlin getting a hose down as the handlers are in the Winners Circle



Asmussen and Albarado in the Winners Circle



Offspring at the Rail--training him well

Saratoga Last Weekend Notes

Friday is Twilight Racing-1st post 2:45 pm.

21 year old Jockey Jackie Davis, daughter of retired Jockey Robbie Davis, makes her professional debut today at the Spa aboard 2 year old NY bred Shifty Guy in the 5th race.

Curlin draws the 5th Post in the Woodward Stakes at morning line odds of 3-5. The odds will drop and I figure he will go off at 2-5 or maybe even 1-5.

If you are gonna pick anyone else to win, pick Divine Park. Trainer Kiaran Mclaughlin is red hot, he has won 7 of his last 13 starts since Travers Day and now sits atop the Trainers Standings at the Spa with 16 wins.

With Curlin taking the Horse of the Year, then winning big races as a 4 year old including the Dubai Cup, where does he stand among the greats? For a interesting read on this, check out writer MaryJean Wall's take on her blog "Celebrating the Horse".

Weather looks good for the weekend with Sun forecast for the entire Holiday Weekend. There is a chance of a shower or 2 on Saturday but not a washout and the latest forecast has the showers staying south of Saratoga on Saturday.

Attendance for Saturday to see Curlin run? I'll throw out a prediction of 26,200. Sunday is cooler giveaway day so expect the usual spinner inflated figure of about 55,000. Closing Day on Monday should bring out about 20,000 or so.

NYRA goes Marketing

After barely mentioning Curlin's presence in June at Belmont Park for the Man 'O War, NYRA has finally gotten smart and pulled out the marketing engine for Curlin's debut at Saratoga this Saturday in the Woodward. The website for NYRA prominently mentions Curlin and they even have a page called "Curlin's Corner". The website itself could still be much better and interactive than it is, but it is light years ahead of where it was this time last year.

So Curlin gets the Key to the City of Saratoga Springs and posters will be given out to the the first 20,000 fans to enter the track. What do you think the attendance will be? Charlie Heyward, president of NYRA, is looking for 30,000 according to his interview with Sherry Ross of the Daily News.

Attendance was up for week 5, with thanks going to the dry weather all week. As been the case all season, rain will keep the crowds down, sun will keep the crowds coming. I don't know if we will see 30,000 there on Saturday. Seems a tad too optimistic. If memory serves me correctly I think about 22,000 were there the last Saturday of the meet when Lawyer Ron took the Woodward. Figure curiosity about Curlin will bring in another 4000-6000 for a total of 26,000-28,000 total fans in my estimation. My gang going with me this Saturday increased from 8 people to 12 with 4 of the 12 being 1st time visitors. Imagine seeing Curlin on your first visit to a racetrack ? With many out of towners already gone and school starting this week for many kids, it will be tough to bring in really huge numbers. If they actually exceed 30,000 NYRA will be more than satisfied.

Travers Day Recap

One can argue all day about the quality of this years 3 year old crop running in the Travers. But each year after I walk out of the Track on Travers Day towards Siro's to drink and discuss the days events I look for two things-will I have memories of the day and did I have fun. The 2008 Travers was an affirmative Yes on both accounts for me.

----The crowd was 40,723. I thought the crowd was a pretty good # and my pre meet guess of 42,500 on The Equispace blog Toga contest was the closest allowing me to finally break my maiden in the contest.

----The weather was even better than I expected. Some of the morning forecasts predicted a little bit of humidity but there was none to be had. In fact the weather was incredible, a far difference from the oppressive humidity of Travers '07

----A roar went up in my section of the grandstand when Slambino in the 7th race came across the wire at 88-1. One of my gang had him in a show bet prompting the immediate "why didn't you bet him to win" post race wise guy comments. A even greater roar went up when the pay amounts went up on the board showing a $105,914 trifecta and $1,523,188 superfecta. No one actually hit the $2 superfecta but there were 2 bettors who had the 10 cents superfecta that paid $76,159.40.

----I often find that horseplayers disagree on who is a good jockey and who is not. I am no expert but this Alan Garcia kid looks to me to be a good jockey. He won 5 races yesterday and seems really good on the turf. He is now the leading winning jockey in the meet.

----Visionaire won the Kings Bishop, coming out of the clouds with Alan Garcia on board. I had J be K like many others. Of course when the race was over the horse looks like a no brainer to pick especially at those odds, paying $15.60 to win.

----The Travers Stakes itself was one thrilling race. The crowd gave it's usual pre race roar as race caller Tom Durkin announced that "They're in the Gate" Then the horses got off clean and the crowd roared louder. As the horses turned and came down the final stretch Mambo in Seattle made a move on the outside of Da'Tara and caught up to Colonel John and they both barreled toward the finish side by side. We all leaned forward as it was obvious they would stay this way to the finish and we would need to look closely at the finish. I thought Mambo in Seattle had him at the wire and many in the crowd thought so too. We waited and waited and then Colonel John's # was posted first with Mambo in Seattle and then Pyro third. Even when they showed the replay a couple of times it was so hard to tell who won they were so close. Give me a race like that and who cares if Big Brown is not there.

----With 12 packed races and many long shots hitting in the undercard, it was a fun day. It was then off to Broadway and Caroline Street for the usual post race revelry. As one person I bumped into later said so simply: " I love this town"

Ginger Punch Prevails

22988 were on hand to watch Ginger Punch take the Personal Ensign Grade 1 Stakes in a thrilling race at the Spa. With Ginger Punch winning the Go for Wand in come from behind fashion the 1st weekend and the Proud Spell/Music Note duel last week, the fillies and mares have put on quite a show this meet. I was going nuts watching today's stretch drive from my seat and shakily snapped this picture with my cell phone as Ginger Punch makes her move in mid-stretch against Lemon Drop Mom. From my seat at the eight pole looking towards the finish line it looked like Lemon Drop Mom won by a nose, but the photo revealed Ginger Punch got up in the final jump.

It was a thrilling Friday on this Travers weekend with Ginger Punch winning again as well as several photo finishes and a 44-1 winner in the 7th (Quick Comeback), part of a $23,323.00 winning Trifecta payout.

The Spa was jumping with near perfect weather today and with the full turf fields and long shot winners spread out throughout the day, it was a ton of fun. I can't wait to be back Saturday for The Travers.

It will be a Derby Like field for the Mid Summer Derby with 12 horses. The betting will be spread out with no clear cut betting choice. Who do you like? I will take a shot with Harlem Rocker, Mambo in Seattle and Macho Again. Enjoy the day, enjoy the card, enjoy the Spa.

Make it mean something

In the blogosphere the big doings has been talk about the NTRA Marketing Summit and how to sustain fans, particularly younger fans under 30 in this industry.

There is the usual entries-market it as a sport vs. market it as gambling, lower takeouts, customer service, etc. Well, this weekend under sunny skies the track will be packed at Saratoga. Why don't we look at the reasons the track will be packed this weekend and work on marketing that year round:

1. It is an event. ie : "The Travers"
2. The meet is short and not too long
3. You can bring in your own food/beer/wine etc-customer friendly to the everyman fan
4. Graded Stakes races, quality races, full fields, horses you know by name are racing
5. It is cool to be there-great crowd mix

To me in my opinion the other tracks are not as packed because the meets are way too long, poor fields, poor customer service and not cool to be there. Sure there are other problems, early horse retirement, drugs, synthetics, etc but if we run meets year round that have meaning and properly market those specific meets on TV, Internet, with a Standings System (see right hand column- TBA Standings), you have something to go on. Anyway, if you are at the track this weekend, look around and formulate your own ideas on what works and what does not.

Common Sense

So Yesterday around 5 pm or so I am driving down the highway listening to Ch. 126 on Sirius to "At the Races with Steve Byk" and Trainer Bobby Ribaudo (Trainer of Sword Dancer Winner Grand Couturier)is on and he says something like- If we are so concerned about what drugs we put into horses and we want them to be natural why would we run them on a unnatural surface (synthetic)? He also said something like, what about all that synthetic stuff the horses are now breathing into their lungs?

The above is not an exact quote as I was driving at the time and don't drink and drive or write and drive. But you get the point. Good old fashion New Yorker talking from the heart and thinking out loud. I'm thinking-wow, common sense. Where is the common sense in this sport? We need the head leaders of this sport to listen to guys like this. Maybe our Thoroughbred Bloggers Association com padres at the NTRA upcoming Marketing Summit can push some more good ole common sense down the pike.

Linda Rice hits the Trainer Superfecta

Congratulations to one of my favorite Trainers Linda Rice who hit the Trainer Superfecta in the 6th race at the Spa Today, as all 4 horses she saddled in the 6th race, a $80,000 5 1/2 furlong turf race for 3 year olds and up, came in 1-2-3-4 in the 9 horse field.

The horses were Ahvee's Destiny, Canadian Ballet, Silver Timber, and Karakorum Elektra. Lest you think she did it with 4 favorites, she did not. The win price on Ahvee's Destiny was $20.60. The exacta paid $248.00; the Trifecta paid $914.00 and the Superfecta hit for $3,490.00.

Todd Pletcher picked up a win today and leads all trainers this meet with 12 wins. Richard Dutrow Jr picked up 2 wins today and is now in 2nd with 9 wins. Linda Rice has 6 wins for the meet (tied for 5th in the trainer standings).

Monday Morning Saratoga Notes

It was a sun splashed weekend at the Spa, highlighted by the thrilling stretch run between Proud Spell and Music Note. Proud Spell now stands atop the 3 yr old Filly Standings. Of course with the Breeders Cup on a Synthetic Surface, don't expect Proud Spell to be running this October in the BC.

It felt downright strange to have a complete weekend of sun at the Spa. 32,344 were there on Saturday with a "spinner" inflated crowd of 65,598 coming out on Sunday. For an interesting monetary breakdown on the #'s and handle on a spinner/giveaway day check out Steve Zorns Blog.

Due to a family commitment I arrived at the track late today and was told that the coupon for the giveaway shirts were all gone. The place was mobbed when I first got there with many spinners carrying 10 shirts at a time. I find the giveaway days for the most part to be annoying as the non racing spinners just tend to crowd up the track with no interest or regard for the racing. Luckily the spinners departed early with most of them gone by the time the feature race, the John's Calls Stakes went off. With the spinners gone, I got a great spot along the Paddock fence to see 17 year old John's Call lead the Post Parade.

The picture above is of a sun splashed Cornelio Velasquez aboard Dancing Tin Man, 2nd half of a $27.60 exacta ticket I managed to cash in on the 7th race on Sunday.

The highlight of the weekend and the meet thus far was The Alabama Stakes. For all the bad things we hear about the sport, if that race doesn't get your heart racing, I don't know what does.

Sweet Home Alabama

Seems like only yesterday I was sitting in the Grandstand on a beautiful Sunny August day watching the Alabama Stakes. Carl Nafzger trainee Lady Joanne riden by Calvin Borel, was the 9-2 third choice behind Panty Raid and Octave. Lear's Princess, who was near the back of the field early, followed Lady Joanne into the final stretch. The pair battled through the final furlong, with Lady Joanne holding off Lear's Princess in the final strides to prevail by a neck in 2:03.62.

Well, a year later and the 'Bama Stakes features a strong 6 horse field of 3 year old fillies. Oaks winner Proud Spell (2nd in the TBA standings) will be challenged by Music Note and Little Belle. The caveat here is that Music Note could be a morning scratch if Goldophins Stable decides to run her against the boys in the Travers Stakes next Saturday. In this corner, I hope Music Note stays in the Alabama. I am more excited to see her run against these 3 year old fillies rather than see her run next week in the Travers. Also keep an eye on Sweet Vendetta, winner of the Black Eyed Susan at Pimlico and Muska, last years Demoiselle Stakes winner. In short this race has alot of Juice and should be fun.

The 'Bama crowd at the Spa always seem to be lively and this year, with Sun (ok , some clouds mixed in and a chance of showers) forecast and The Sword Dancer on the undercard, expect a big crowd. I had some extra Grandstand seats and I had many takers when I offered them to the first responder. With nice weather, the eagerness to enjoy a sunny day at the Spa is suddenly a commodity.

Attendance has also picked up with 19,000 plus on Wednesday and Thursday this week and 20,000 plus on Friday. Last years Alabama Stakes card drew 33,083. Based on the encouraging #'s this week and the nice forecast (so far) for Saturday look for a crowd between 32,000-35,000. With a new giveway day on Sunday, and an even better day forecast-the long sleeve T-Shirt-expect a strong "spinner" # of 55,000 plus. The giveway shirt is white with a cheap looking silk screen photo imprint on the front and sure to lose it's shape after one washing but that will not stop the spinners from coming out.

More Curlin and Big Brown back and forth

The Soap Opera continues.

Curlin owner Jess Jackson challenges Big Brown to run in the Woodward at the Spa on August 30th, promising he would donate $50,000 from the Jackson Curlin for Kids Fund to the non-profit Belmont Child Care Association if Big Brown came to the race.

Of course, to the surprise of no one, Michael Ivarone of IEAH says no with a comment that the offer was "sad"

After snubbing NYRA's summer meet including the Travers and Woodward, Ivarone now waits for NYRA to bend over and set up a mid September turf race for his horse.

Crazy.

18 Days in the Books

We are officially at the half way point of the 36 day Saratoga Race Meet. On the 18th day we had what else-rain. It rained all day today- it was heavy at times-and 4 more races were taken off the turf for a total of 24 races taken off the turf thus far this meet..

So the biggest stories thus far at least from my vantage point are:

1. The Weather--Rain, Rain, and more Rain. Even when the day starts out sunny, rain comes in at some point and rains at least part of the day. The rain has often times been very heavy-including opening day, Friday August 8th, resulting in a cancelled card after 2 races, and today. We also have had lightning and hail, by my count on 3 different race days at the track.

2. Attendance-down from last year. Attendance through the first 18 days this year totaled 405,616, down 18.9 percent compared with the 500,280 fans who attended the first 18 cards last year. This includes a rain shortened card on August 8th.

3. Curlin to run in the Woodward--Just the shot in the arm the Spa needed. Curlin will run on August 30th on the Dirt in the Woodward.

4. Pletcher--Todd Pletcher has returned to the top of the Trainer Standings with 10 wins including 5 wins for his 2 year old's (out of 15 that ran)

5. A better second half of the meet--With such lousy weather everyone has been pointing to the last 3 weeks which feature a strong Alabama Field-Proud Spell, Little Belle and possibly Music Note, a full Travers Field (including possibly filly Music Note) and Curlin in the Woodward on the last weekend.

The weather calls for more rain through Thursday but Sunny for Alabama Day and the long range forecast calls for nice and dry weather for the last 10 days in August.

The Sun will come out Tomorrow

An all day rainstorm on opening day, 18 races taken off the turf over 14 racing days and now a rain and hailstorm resulting in a cancelled card on Friday after 2 races run. The handle lost for the day was about 2.5 million, and when the meet is over many will point to the lower overall handle and attribute the soft economy as the main reason. In this case it is the weather, just crazy weather over the 14 days of the meet run thus far. But there are 22 days left, the Alabama, Travers and Curlin are still to come and the weather has got to get better, right??? I remain the optimist, gas is down to $3.78 (if coming up the Northway, get off Exit 10 and 2 cheap stations yards away on the right side) the sun is shining today and a day at the Spa is still better than a day anywhere else this time of year.

On a programming note, the Arlington Million and Beverly D. Stakes from Arlington Park will be on ESPN today at 4:30. Will Einstein add to his points total (440) in the turf division against this strong field going in the Million?

No Graded Stakes Races This Weekend @ the Spa

The 3rd weekend of the Saratoga meet will have no Graded Stakes Races. Thats right, no Grade I, no Grade II, not even a Grade III. The best NYRA can do is 4 overnight Stakes on an 11 race card for Saturday. The feature race on Saturday, a NY Bred race for Fillies and Mares -The Yaddo Handicap, has been moved to Sunday as they could not fill the field for Saturday.

A weekend without a Graded Stakes race at Saratoga just does not sound right. Bad enough the weather has put a damper on the meet thus far but now we have a weekend with no Graded Stakes racing. A "boutique" meet like Saratoga should have strong fields with Graded Stakes racing on the weekends-end of story. That is how it used to be and in a perfect world we could go back from The Summer Place To Be too The August Place To Be with a 4 week meet and Graded races every weekend-The Whitney for week 1 The Alabama for week 2, The Travers for week 3 and The Woodward/Hopeful/Spinaway for week 4.

Lets get back to making the meet an event with the best racing every weekend instead of the best racing on some of the weekends. Compact the meet, increase the quality of the racing cards and bring in more people per day over a shorter period of time. The net attendance/handle should even out, at least in my way of thinking. Or is just about the simulcast and putting out a card every day.

Week 3 Day 1-Sights @ the Track

Week 3 is underway at the Spa. Despite rain in the morning the sun came out when racing began. 16,651 came out on a Wednesday to watch 6 maiden races and Sackatoga Stable/Tagg trained Doc n Roll win the feature race. The crowd today was pretty good and everyone seemed eager to come out and not use an umbrella. The cost of Gas around here has dropped about 25 cents in the last week and the mood seems much more upbeat around the track. Without an umbrella in my hand, I was able to walk around , take in the sights and snap some photos.


The morning begins as usual with rain showers, washing out the tours


Sunny with Dark Clouds to the North-typical of weather so far this meet


But the rain holds off as the sun shines as Vicarious wins the 3rd


The Paddock awaiting today's horses


The Bell that gets rung at 17 minutes to Post


Javier Castellano aboard 2 year old Yes I'm Clever before the 5th race


Javier Castellano after winning on 2 year old maiden winner Yes I'm Clever


Till the next time...

Dark Day Notes

Dark Day Notes-8/05/08

- Speculation continues on Big Brown and where he will run (or if) next.

-If Curlin runs the Woodward will the Big Brown crew take a shot and run?

-Day one of the Fasig-Tipton Preferred Yearling Sales is complete. See sales results here.

-A very worthwile Charity Benefit sponsored by Horse Society takes place Tuesday 8/5/08 at Saratoga Trackside Favorite Siro's Restaurant to benefit Old Friends, a retirement facility for Kentucky Thorougbreds. The good thing about this event is that you get in for only 30 bucks and all of your 30 bucks will go directly to the good folks at Old Friends. The event kicks off at 6 pm with drink specials, complimentary food , music, an auction and other fun stuff.

--Mary Lou Whitney owned horse Ninth Client, a 2 year old maiden, an ode to Former New York State Luv Gov Spitzer, won the 5th at Saratoga in a dead heat to appropriately (you can't make this stuff up) named Skipadate. It must have been theme day as Paradise Playgirl won the 4th and Under Serviced won the 3rd.

Monmouth biggest winner on Big Brown's Haskell Win

Was Big Brown's win in the Haskell at Monmouth a good win or not?

Like many others I was rooting for him to lose. I am sick of the whole IEAH/Dutrow/Kent back and forth. But despite all that, like many others, I did watch the race today (Thank you who ever invented the DVR). For me it is a good win-the splits were good, the final time was good and he was able to run down Coal Play when it counted. Is he the Super Horse that many described him as before the Belmont? To me, no way, but he did win a Grade 1 race and a win is a win is a win. If he failed to catch Coal Play everyone would be saying he sucked, but he did catch him, so he deserves credit.

The #'s on attendance and handle were winners for Monmouth, especially compared with a so far soft Delmar and Saratoga meet attendance wise. Alot of people came out to Monmouth and this shows me that that people will come out to watch a Horse they know by name and are familiar with, even if they dislike the Handlers connected with the Horse. The Haskell drew record wagering of $4,257,409, with a single-day record total handle of $17,642,954. Attendance was a very nice at 45,312. Don't forget the people who watched it on TVG, ESPN Classic or DVR/TIVO'd it for later watching. Could you imagine how much BB would increase Travers Day handle and attendance @ Saratoga if he ran? What if he runs at Suffolk Downs in the Mass. Handicap or Philly Park in the Pennsylvania Derby? You think those two second tier tracks would not love to have BB run and fill the stands up?

People love to go too sporting events to see stars, even if they can't stand the handlers surrounding the star or even the star himself. Look at all the talk about Manny Ramirez this week-love him or hate him- the man sells tickets. I know I have started flipping on ESPN Sportscenter late @ night to check out how Manny is doing out west.Horse racing is no different than any other sport. Give us an exciting athlete we know, with a story to follow, good or bad, and we will come out.

Saturday Morning Notes

The Saratgoa Race Track today will get no break again this Saturday 08/02/08-with showers and heavy thunderstorms forecast as coming in. This will no doubt keep the numbers down again. The Grandstand only seats about 8000 with most people staying outside. The weekend attendance figures particularly get hurt by bad weather as Saratoga has a large "backyard contingent" that picnics in this area with many locals coming for the day. However if you have ever had a picnic in the rain, it sucks, and people stay home. In contrast, yesterday, Friday was sunny up at the track and Constant Companion MBA and I felt a nice breeze. The place was pretty lively and 19,435 came out for a non-twilight racing day.

In todays feature at the Spa, look for 3 year old filly, Indian Blessing, currently # 3 in the TBA standings to move up the ladder with a win today. Maybe bet her in a late double with a horse in the 11th race to pick up some gas money. If you don't feel like getting wet you can choose online horse racing

Over at the Paulick Report, you can find an article on CNET founder Halsey Minor, who is interested in buying and restoring Hialeah Racetrack in Florida. What caught my eye is this quote from Minor:

"The number one thing I’m going to do is work on putting fans in the stands. Everything I do is going to be designed to make the day more interesting. The day’s got to be shorter and faster. You’ve got to find ways to help people figure out how to bet and without looking at complicated forms."

This frank talk is what I find refreshing and needed in the sport. First of all make it a sport with gambling not just gambling. Encourage fan education, promote standings like the TBA standings on the right side of this column and keep it simple. How many of us after years or reading the form, still get confused when looking at it. It is great for the expert handicapper that goes to Saratoga and bets all those races plus the simulcasts all day from Monmouth, Arlington, Delaware Park and Finger Lakes but the hodgepodge of numbers and inside terms scare away most fans who just end up picking favorite #'s or cute names because the program/form/whatever is so damm confusing to them.

If you want to sell a car the old adage is always KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid). Why can't we do the same with racing?

A real cool place to go

It is many a predictable pattern of many Saratoga Visitors on Saturday to hit the Track, then have a drink or two at Siro's, Horseshoe Inn, or other similiar establishment then to downtown for eating at many of the various restaurants and more drinking on Broadway and Caroline Street.

For those in the area this Saturday, I recommend two other options-both at the same location-The Saratoga County Arts Council at 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs (at the corner of Broadway & Spring-right by Congress Park). At 5 pm is the opening for an art exhibition of the original Travers posters from the last 25 years by Greg Montgomery, the artist, and book signing for The History and Art of 25 Travers by Vic Zast and Greg Montgomery. Montgomery's posters are the signature image of the Travers. They are the longest continuing series of sporting art in the world now standing at 25 years. His posters are very colorful and original and I look forward every year to the new one coming out.

At 8:00 pm in the same building the Saratoga Film Forum will show "Lost in the Fog" a self titled documentary about this fantastic horse who was only with us for a short time before succumbing to cancer. I only saw Lost in The Fog run once live, in the Kings Bishop at Saratoga-He just shot out of the gate and kept coming. The fans were in awe watching this beautiful animal sprint.There are a few races that when I want to recall, I close my eyes and see it again crystal clear in my head-the Kings Bishop run by Lost in The Fog is one of them. Head over to Brooklyn Backstretch for a nice interview with the filmmaker John Corey. I saw "The First Saturday in May" at this building. It is a cozy little place and a great place to see films year round.