An Appeal to Reason

- "Citing the Triple Crown's history, its importance to current race fans and to the industry in general in raising awareness and creating new fans for the sport," several horsemen's groups have appealed to Churchill Downs to make the Derby signal available to Youbet, and all other account wagering platforms. Reporting in the Form, Matt Hegarty points out:

Horsemen's groups hold broad veto rights over racetrack signal agreements. The statement did not say that the horsemen would consider withholding some rights in response to the impasse.

If they did, that would certainly turn the table on TrackNet, which used the Derby as a weapon to force at least one company we know of to drop TVG's tracks, while Youbet has held firm. Even short of that step, the groups have put Churchill in a tough spot; should they refuse, they'll look even more arrogant than they already do.

- Well, the post positions have been drawn, and you can see the field here at Bloodhorse, or, if you don't mind PDF, from the Form with comments from Watchmaker and Privman. Ironically, the ad at the bottom of that page is for Youbet.

Of the horses I like as of now, the one who did the worst in the draw was Any Given Saturday, from the sucky 18 post (though Closing Argument did run second from that post two years ago). I'm going to go through the field with final comments, so I guess I'll shut up now and get to work.