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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Jokes

- Zensational, appropriately out of the dam Joke, has been retired. At least Ahmed Zayat is being honest about it. "Having already won three Grade 1 races, we feel that he will be more valuable at stud." [DRF]

And there you go, in 17 brief words, just about everything that is wrong with this sport. Here's a horse who proved absolutely nothing, defeating weak Grade 1 fields on synthetic surfaces, and flopping miserably the only time he was really put to a test. Bob Baffert said: "He's incredible; he's a beast....He's one of the three best horses I've ever trained." [BRIS] What a bunch of fucking crap; I wouldn't say he was better than Midnight Lute, no less Point Given, Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Silverbulletday, Congaree, or even Captain Steve or War Emblem for that matter.

- The local Queens Courier has some quotes from sources with "intimate" knowledge of the Aqueduct bidding process who seem to think the whole thing is a joke.

“It seems like there’s something new every day,” said one source. “I’ve been involved in several deals involving a government, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said another.

“People are laughing. It’s as if the State is saying, ‘Hey, we don’t want to give this guy the bid, so everybody match him,’” one of the sources explained.

“I’m not surprised Wynn pulled out,” said another. “He’s got bigger deals going on and a last-minute change like this complicates things.”
The Seeking Alpha blog explains how it's Wynn that's doing the laughing.

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is the bidder that they do not want? Should be able to tell from the initial bids, correct?

Anonymous said...

That would be Penn Nat. Their initial bid was $5 million. Although, penn nat could be a NYRA favorite prospect, so one always has to consider this.

This whole thing is indeed laughable though. I still remember Donald Trump from 2003 saying "If I don't get this deal then nobody will!" How about the Donald, he was right!!

Anonymous said...

"And there you go, in 17 brief words, just about everything that is wrong with this sport."

17 additional words that remind us that we live free of a breeding czar.

Anonymous said...

Leave it to a bunch of clueless Dem's to muck up an easy deal. Can't wait for healthcare/public option.

Anonymous said...

Delaware North may not get the extension to file an answer to the SL Green complaint in NY Supreme Court that they have requested. This case, as you probably know, is alleging that DelNorth left the former Empire Racing fold when it was not permitted to do so per the engagement with Empire. Subsequently, DelNorth was awarded the Aqueduct contract without Empire/SL Green involved. The judges decision to postpone the case until a "new" winner at Aqueduct is chosen, or alternatively Delaware North being forced to file an answer, one or the other are due tomorrow. This case may very well be playing upon the current Aqueduct award decision making process of Governor David Paterson.

If SL Green is permitted to proceed with disclosure and depositions of DelNorth, and former Governor Spitzer and Paterson officials are called to testify, this whole thing could blow up on this Governor, or make the former Eliot Spitzer administration a party to favoritism and bid manipulation, and perhaps even lead to the NYRA's racing franchise award to be questioned as problematic.

More at stake in NY than meets the eye in the days to come.

Anonymous said...

Given we're in our entire financial predicament because of the GOP, I'll take next to anything the Dems put forward on health care.

Anonymous said...

If the 3 men don't want to get tangled in the SL Green/Delaware North law suit, then just pick another VLT developer.

Let those guys fight amongst themselves.

Anonymous said...

Hence the new bids.