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Thursday, December 01, 2005

Notes - Dec 1 (brief pre-Rangers game edition)

- Highland Cat is in tomorrow, but The Flying Dutchman is out. Sotheby’s has withdrawn NYRA’s paintings from their sale, and VP Bill Nader said that they will forge on to bigger game. "This was a Band-Aid, a small infusion of cash, relative to the big picture. What we really need is to try to get approval on the land sale.” [Albany Times-Union]

- Florida’s legislature meets next week in special session, and slots will be high on the agenda. At the behest of Governor Bush and other Republican leaders, a move to introduce legislation to enable a referendum to repeal slots in Broward County that they previously favored has been abandoned, for now anyway. [Governor] Bush "feels it's absolutely necessary that legislators implement the will of the voters before we go back and revisit the entire issue," according to Russell Schweiss, Bush's deputy press secretary. [Sun-Sentinal] What’s this? Someone named Bush changing course and admitting to be wrong?

- "I would characterize these allegations as chicken crap," said Thomas A. "Tad" Decker, chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, regarding the charges leveled against the head of Pennsylvania’s gambling board, Anne L. Neeb.

Neeb said yesterday that the report was an effort by some Louisiana officials to impugn her reputation because she alerted the FBI about her concerns over the awarding of three gambling licences while she was executive director of the board. [Philly Inquirer]

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

...good luck with HC this morning, Alan...just wanted to post something i came across in the Hollywood Park barn notes today...incidentally, i went out looking for Kentucky Oaks futures today (hoping to get a bet down on You Know Who), but nobody in town has them...cripes... 8^P

BALANCE, MEETMEINTHEWOODS HEADED FOR STARLET CLASH

Balance, winner of the $100,000 Sharp Cat stakes on Sunday, and Meetmeinthewoods, an impressive maiden winner in her debut two races earlier, are poised for a showdown in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet for 2yo fillies at 1 1/16 miles @ Hollywood Park on Dec. 18.

"We're looking for the next one, she was pretty awesome," said David Hofmans, trainer of Balance, on Thursday. The Thunder Gulch filly had covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.58, more than a second faster than the winning time of the Real Quiet for colts a day earlier.

Balance, proving she could handle dirt as easily as she had turf, campaigns for John and Jerry Amerman, who won the 2001 Hollywood Futurity with the Hofmans-trained Siphonic.

Meetmeinthewoods made a spectacular bow, stopping the clock in 1:08.75 for six furlongs under Corey Nakatani. "Wow! She's a runner!" said trainer Doug O'Neill in reaction to the performance. "She came out of the race in good shape, and if all goes well, we're thinking about the Starlet for her next race."

"From the first time we breezed her, we thought she was something special," O'Neill said of the Cal-bred daughter of General Meeting.

The chestnut filly was purchased at the Barrett's May Sale for $30,000. "My brother, Dennis, purchased her," said O'Neill of the bargain buy. "Her time in the preview was slow."

J. Paul Reddam, who owns the filly in partnership with O'Neill, won the Starlet in 2002 with Elloluv.