High Praise for High Limit

- Mike Welsch of the Form checks in, and I’m not surprised to read words of praise for High Limit's work; He comments that he gave every indication he is primed for a big performance Saturday. Other than Bellamy Road, he seems to win the prize for best looking horse this week.

High Limit was under no urging at any point of his work….The effort was the culmination of a very good week for High Limit, who appears to be coming into the Derby on top of his game. The key question is whether he will be able to get the 1 1/4 miles and do so without the early lead. [Daily Racing Form]

Greeley’s Galaxy, however, according to Welsch, "weakened noticeably through the stretch. Coming after the fiasco that was his last work, perhaps B Wayne Hughes is having second thoughts about that $200,000. You read negative clocker reports on these horses about as often as a Wall Street “sell” recommendation. This colt would have been a nice fit coming in fresh to the Preakness....or for some summer stakes, for that matter.

- Roses in May will stand stud in Japan next year. He’ll try to win the same races as he did last year – the Whitney and the BC Classic – and will take Japanese lessons in his spare time.

"The Japanese are looking for a replacement for Sunday Silence, and Roses in May is from the Halo line and Sunday Silence is a son of Halo," Kenneth Ramsey said about the comparison to the deceased Japanese stallion. "Roses in May and Sunday Silence are alike in that both are jet black and have identical facial markings. They came over several times to inspect him and couldn't believe the similarities." [Bloodhorse]

- More on the court ruling in NY State that paves the way for VLT’s at Aqueduct and Yonkers harness. In addition to ruling that VLT’s are not slots, which would be illegal under the State Constitution, the court overturned the lower court decision that said that the distribution of revenues to the tracks were unconstitutional.

Several state officials said that they were surprised that the court overturned the lower court's decision declaring the distribution of video lottery proceeds unconstitutional. The lower court said that the original formula was illegal, because instead of using all the money to support education, it directed that some of the revenue be used to increase prize money at racetracks and to aid breeding - in effect, subsidizing gambling instead of education.

But the Court of Appeals ruled that those measures could ultimately increase turnout at racetracks, which could translate into more people using the lottery machines and more money for education. [NY Times]

That seems like a very expansive interpretation of the law. The Court of Appeals will likely be disappointed. It’s going to take something other than bigger purses and increased breeders’ awards to bring back the crowds.