Cash In Pocket

- Since Saturday's Fire Island trip was a Father's Day thing, I was able to beg out of any further festivities - and driving - on Sunday. Well, mostly no driving, as I did slip out to Belmont for just a few races. As usual on this particular day, there was a relatively large crowd, some 11,558 in this case. Most of those people seemed to be in the backyard, where large family groups abounded and a festive atmosphere reigned. There was also the usual Sunday kids stuff and live music too.

In fact, there were two bands going on simultaneously, and I unfortunately didn't discover the one playing way out in the back until it was almost done. From a distance, I heard them playing My City Was Gone, which was cool enough to go take a closer look. There, I noted the similarity in appearance and dress between the singer and a young Chrissie Hynde herself.


Pretend Chrissie








Real Chrissie. Hmmm....perhaps not the right photo for this particular blog...






That's better.





But it was only after they then broke into Brass In Pocket and Back On the Chain Gang that I realized that this was an honest to goodness Pretenders cover band!! And a really good one too!! (Or a pretend Pretenders, as the Head Chef retorted with her usual quick wit.) They're called Talk of the Town, and we'll forgive them for playing Cars songs too. I mean, how totally awesome was this? I've seen a lot of different bands play at Belmont over the years, and this had to be the highlight. (Along with Ernie's Jorma covers, of course.)


Catching up a bit, Friday's twilight card drew a decent crowd of 5,142 on a lovely evening. Unbridled's Heart was 4-5 in his second career start, but Mint Lane dominated wire to wire, and yes, his performance does make that of Casino Drive in the Peter Pan a bit more impressive. Two nice price winners for Phil Serpe on the day; his first two at the meeting after 13 unsuccessful tries. This barn had a rough Saratoga meeting last year, and will be looking to recapture its successes of past years there when that meet starts late next month.

Colors of Art, my pick in Friday's 7th, had nowhere to run in the lane and finished a tough luck 4th at 12-1. Don't know if he could have won, but he certainly could have been another long priced in-the-money finisher for trainer Randi Persaud. And the trainer took the 6th at Belmont on Sunday with first off the claim Hedge Fund, also at 12-1, thus heading a $94 exacta score for me. Yes, once in a while I do listen to myself and actually bet on the trainers I write about here. Definitely a barn to continue to follow closely as long as the bettors continue to overlook its entries.

In the 8th, my pick was Akebono, who stumbled at the start and then had no shot versus an unfavorable pace scenario, dead heating for third. I had actually singled 9th race winner Debbie Fast Girl ($15.80) in some unsuccessful late Pick 3's employing the above two selections, but went off her by the time the finale rolled around, partly because she wasn't getting bet. Nice going there by me.

Back to Sunday, I know this is me talking after the fact; but in the 7th, Coastal Flare had to be the worst even money favorite of recent memory. If, before I'm done writing this blog, I can convince a single horseplayer to not bet awful favorites like this, then I will have done my public service. I mean, you just can't bet horses at prohibitive odds that have lost its three career starts by 14, 7, and 10 lengths! I don't care what the class drop is, and in this case, it wasn't even that drastic. And coming off over nine months away from the races too!! There are so many wagering opportunities every single day; bettors just have to be more selective than this! Coastal Flare lost this one by 20 lengths for Frankel.

The trainer later took the G3 Jaipur Stakes with First Defence; the four-year old son of Unbridled's Song was also even money, and I gotta say, despite the fact that he won, that didn't make a helluva lot more sense than Coastal Flare. It was his first try ever on the grass in a field with some decently accomplished turf runners. Even though he's a half to a French stakes winner, and his second dam is the great broodmare Toussaud, that still seemed like very meager odds to take.

(Funny, I thought that Frankel's Lovely Isle, who won the race in between the above two, was a bargain at 6-5 and could have legitimately been half that price!)

I was gone by the Jaipur though and headed back home for an intimate Father's Day dinner. It was a good betting day for yours truly; in addition to the exacta mentioned above, upon getting home I threw out all the favorites in the 6th at Hollywood, fooled around with a dollar exacta box, and came up with a $147 payoff when the 7 horse came from out of the picture at the very end to get second. That stuff never happens to me. It was a happy Father's Day indeed! :-)

Stop Sobbing Now

Got back last night from a brief trip up to Saratoga for the weekend's races, and back at work But gotta stop sobbing now.... After all, it was a lot of Saratoga packed into two days. On Saturday alone, we went to the Farmers' Market in the morning, took a short stroll around town (though long enough for the Head Chef to spend around $60....stimulating the local economy), and hit the racetrack by noon. We split after the Whitney to head over to Saratoga Springs State Park, where we staked out our favorite spot, fired up a BBQ and dined by a babbling brook, ah... And then, we zipped over to SPAC for the Philly Orchestra, and managed to walk in just in time to hear guest soloist Joshua Bell. I may not be much of a classical music buff, but I certainly know enough to realize that this guy is truly a virtuoso....simply amazing!

Sunday was pretty chill by comparison, but still, of course, made it to the races despite the grey skies and shaky forecast (which I wasn't too worried about after handicapping the weather radar). Left after eight races (plus one at Del Mar) to head back to Queens, in time to see all of the scoring at the Stadium as the Yanks completed their thrashing of the Red Sox. Yeah, that's right, I missed the two desultory short-field, short-priced favorite stakes races. We can have this discussion another time, but, as a horseplayer, I'll take the full-field entry-level allowance, maiden special and claiming races over those shorties any day of the week.

Not much luck at the windows, save for Sunday's early double....just a saver bet which didn't really get me that far. Big blow of the weekend was when High Cry hung on for second at 34-1 in Saturday's sixth, thus splitting my exactas and triples (and no, not a penny to win on the 6-1 winner).

Anyway, it was all too busy for posting...and another busy day today. Right after work, it's off to Central Park. And talk about your fillies first! It's the legendary Chrissie Hynde, with the present incarnation of the Pretenders, plus opening acts Cat Power and Juliette Lewis. Not a free show....but rather a benefit so that we can enjoy other shows for free....such as Sunday's monstrous Dinosaur Jr. / The Walkmen bill. So I'll catch up with ya later, have a great day.

A Matter of Perception

Michele Obama has become the latest target of PETA.

The video is a part of a push by PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk to cut eggs from next Monday’s annual Easter egg roll, which Newkirk links to in a letter to the First Lady.

“I hope that after hearing their message, you will implement a new, humane tradition at the White House by using synthetic eggs that don’t require any animal to suffer,” Newkirk says in the letter.

Newkirk even takes a jab at Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” Initiative, saying “cruelly sourced, unhealthy eggs” are “primary contributors to some of our nation’s top killers, including heart disease and strokes.” [ABC News]

On their website, PETA has videos that document the treatment of egg-laying hens.  Now, we know full well that PETA crafts its videos to dramatize, proselytize, and propagandize to maximum effect.  However, there's no question that the practices depicted do exist, and it's rough stuff, tough to watch.  I'm not linking to it, you can find if you want.  However, as gruesome as it may be, if you're like me, it's not going to stop you from eating eggs.  Sure, the Head Chef buys only cage-free eggs, for whatever that may or may not be worth.  But, to be perfectly honest, I don't demand documentation of such when I go into a restaurant, like in a Portlandia episode.  And I would eat them in any event.  What can I say?  I'm not particularly proud, but like much of the world's population, I'm a carnivore.  It's a benefit from being blessed enough to be a member of the species that's at the top of the food chain.  Sure, sometimes when I'm eating meat, I do pause and think about it.  And then I chew the fat off the bone.  If you're Morrissey or Chrissie Hynde, or even just half as righteous on the topic as they, you have every right to judge me, and harshly.

But more towards the topic of this blog......I watched that, and thought - wow.  Now, THAT's animal abuse.  In case one still needs the context, it makes the stuff on the Scott Blasi video (not sure why it's referred to otherwise, Asmussen himself merely makes a cameo) look even more like what it largely is; as the Daily Racing Form's Jay Hovdey most succinctly put it, a confirmation of "the fact that men will say stupid things to try to impress women when they think no one is listening."  (And I'm still curious to know just exactly how she managed to inspire such intimate trust, and access.  Where is the oppo research on this woman?)  Even the innuendo in the video is hardly on the same scale of atrocity.

I think that if you consider, in this world in which we slaughter, eat, hunt - purely just for the sport of it - and otherwise disrespect animals as living beings, a global scale of animal abuse, on a scale of 1 to 10, the treatment of racehorses in this country might rank at about 1.7.  If that much.  Of course, we'd like it to be 1.  Unfortunately, when there are peoples' livelihoods at stake, that is never going to happen.  Still, my point here is that we in the horse racing industry are not such bad guys in the big picture.  Even including the bad guys that there no doubt are.  The problem, after years of getting hammered in the Times and now with the PETA video, is largely one of perception, the main point that Hovdey makes in his excellent above-mentioned column on Frank Stronach's new medication rules.

Those who believe perception is reality are duly alarmed. At the same time, those who believe perceptions can be incorrect and can be modified to more closely conform to reality have their work cut out, especially because it is becoming increasingly apparent that nothing of a unified nature will be done from inside the game about the darkening perceptions of horse racing, even in the face of racing’s more palatable realities.

So yes, initiatives like Stronach's are an important step towards reversing that perception; and so is....I suppose....the idea of releasing veterinary records for the Derby horses.  Personally, I have no interest in the latter, and to be perfectly frank, I myself don't lose sleep over the whole uniform medication rules and restrictions thing.  Sure, I draw the line at any practice that constitutes abuse or increases the chance of fatalities.  However, there will always be those who manage to bend the rules, if not outright skirt them, no matter what they eventually come to be.  And, I dunno, when I was first getting into the game all those many years ago, trying to figure out who was getting away with what and when was part of the challenge and - dare I say it?? - the fun.  As I've said, how much integrity can one really expect or demand when you are betting your hard-earned money on dumb animals?  Jeez, we're all so serious now.

But seriously, it's something that needs to be done.  It's an important element in fighting the prevailing perception.  Also because then we would no longer have to read columns like this one by Bill Finley.  I mean, I like Finley a lot, been reading him since he was covering the game for the Daily News.  But really, how many times can one write, and read, the same appeals over and over again?  In this particular column, the appeal was framed with respect to the silly suggestion that Asmussen should not come to the Derby.

I actually agree with Finley that he should come, but not for the same reason as he, and especially in a more perfect world in which racing would have the national spokesperson/PR machine that it desperately needs every bit as much as a national drug czar.  In the wake of the video's release, there were people on Twitter who posted photos of horses receiving tender loving care, and they were actually criticized by some who said they were missing the point.  But, with all due respect, it was they who were missing the point.  This industry urgently needs to fight back with some proselytizing and propagandizing of its own.

Assuming that NBC will do their duty and note the presence of the trainer amidst the controversy, it would be an amazing opportunity for somebody representing the industry in the absence of an official spokesperson - perhaps NTRA President Alex Waldrop, from whose somewhat less than full-throated defense some of the below points are taken from - to give and to spin as good as he gets.  Something like:

"Well of course we are concerned about any allegations of abuse such as the ones you mention.  But let me be clear:  We are proud of the fact that the overwhelming majority of our horsemen treat their animals with the utmost of care and compassion.  In fact, many owners go the extra mile to ensure, at their own expense, that their horses have a loving home after their racing days are over.

In the area of medication that has generated so much news, we have made great strides in the last few years.  Regulators in states that account for 80% of total betting handle are moving towards the adoption of uniform rules, reforms, and penalties.  In New York, which accounts for 20% of handle all by itself, adoption of just some of these reforms have already led to a 40% reduction in equine fatalities. And we have seen the rise of synthetic tracks which have proven to be far safer.  We are confident and determined to do even better, and with the help of our Equine Injury Database, and with the formation of the NTRA Safety and Integrity Alliance, we will.  

I would also like to point out however that, even in advance of these new reforms, out-of-competition testing of horses racing in states including New York, California, and Kentucky has failed to yield a single positive test for illegal substances from approximately 10,000 samples.  This proves definitively and beyond a doubt that the vast majority of our trainers and owners do indeed play within the rules.

And gentlemen, take a look around on this glorious day here at Churchill Downs.  [String music swelling.]  What a wonderful crowd we have on hand; over 140,000 here, and millions across the land, taking part in one of our great national traditions; the most exciting two minutes in sports. Horse racing is a part of our national heritage; an integral part of our American culture!   Be assured that we are working to ensure and maintain a horse racing industry that is safe, humane and prosperous, and which will continue to employ hundreds of thousands of people and generate millions in revenue for state and local economies!  

Or something like that.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/04/06/3181706/progress-on-race-reform-but-some.html#storylink=cpy

Talk of the Town

- In Maryland, it's the slots legislation of course, which looks like it's in the middle of the road to nowhere, as the state houses are at a stalemate, and it would be a mystery achievement if it's resolved. It's amazing to me sometimes, that in our democratic system, one man can, even against the public will, scuttle legislation he doesn't like, but this would be the third year in a row that House Speaker Michael Busch does just that.

Busch said Friday that he saw no indication that delegates are willing to consider other slots options. In fact, he said, it might be difficult to get a majority on the same bill a second time.

The speaker resisted the notion that he is to blame if slots don't pass this year, saying the House worked to craft a bill that provides the best deal for the state and keeps slots out of jurisdictions that don't want them. [Baltimore Sun/Newsday]

Busch's counterpart in the Senate, Thomas V. Mike Miller, like Busch, a Democrat..

..has said he objects to nearly every provision of the House bill. He said it wouldn't add any money to the state's coffers to pay for the Thornton education funding plan, would be difficult to implement because of the conflicts arising out of the selection commission, and wouldn't do enough to help the horse racing industry - the original impetus for bringing slots to Maryland.

Oh yeah. Helping the horse racing industry! I remember - that was how all this slots stuff started, wasn't it? But now the industry seems to be fast losing control of the issue, and it's spiraled out of their control as fast as the steroids scandal has to major league baseball. It's all about budgets and deficits, and somehow finding money to pay for schools or mass transit, and at the rate gambling is expanding people will no more have to go to a track to play slots than they do to bet on horse races.

Flush with slots cash, Monticello Raceway (check out the music if you click on. Do you think this band will make the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?) proudly unveiled a new $1.7 million paddock to go along with its increased purses. Don't get me wrong, I have a soft spot for Monti and I'm glad that things are looking up. But if and when five full fledged nearby casinos come to the Catskills as Governor Pataki wants, why would gamblers not interested in horses go there anymore? May not be long until the horsemen there are back on the chain gang.

- Action on racing in the New York legislature, which is up the neck in fiscal problems. Talks are on to provide a legislative solution that would bring the state's VLT law into compliance with the courts and allow new racinos to direct cash to the tracks.

Pataki recently said he wants negotiators to quicken the pace to get a VLT deal to ensure the state's two biggest future VLT operators--Aqueduct and Yonkers Raceway--get up and running in the current fiscal year. Senate Republicans have estimated the state is losing $1 billion a year in VLT revenue because those tracks, for different reasons, haven't begun VLT programs. [Bloodhorse]

Otherwise, good news and horrible news. The Assembly killed Pataki's plan to install 8 stand-alone VLT parlors, including 5 in NYC. But, hang on, bettors.

The Assembly said there would be a hike in the takeout rate on NYRA wagers. The takeout on win, place, and show bets would go from 14% to 15.5%, while the rate on exotics would rise from 17.5% to 19% on NYRA races. [Bloodhorse]

Of course, there's a lot to be resolved before this happens so you can stop your sobbing for now, but short fixes like this are the order of the day, so there's little doubt this is coming. Hello, Friends of New York, are you there?

- I didn't get a helluva lot right in my preview of the Louisiana Derby (hopefully you saw the pre-race comment left by reader "throwaway," which is what I did with my tickets), but I spelled all the names right, and correctly dismissed the chances of Sort it Out based on Baffert's comments that the horse needed a rest. He raced on the inside and finished a distant 8th. Just speculating here, but this reeks of interference by an owner who shelled out what I presume was a lot of money to buy the horse after his win in the Whirlaway at the Big A, and was determined to take a shot at the Derby no matter what. This is a really nice colt, but he had been in training non-stop since his debut in August, had run nine times since then, improving and progressing up to his tenacious win in the Whirlaway, and you didn't have to be Bob Baffert to look at the pp's and figure he could probably use some time off. Let's hope he's OK and that we see him down the line.

- Haskin on Zito's latest Derby hopeful:

Bellamy Road, a son of his owner George Steinbrenner's stallion Concerto, is pretty much in the same boat as High Limit. While he has one more career start, he'll have only one two-turn race this year. He also was brilliant last year, and does have a graded stakes, the Miller Genuine Draft Cradle Stakes (gr. III), to his credit.

In his allowance score, he destroyed his opposition, running the favorite, Dearest Mon, into the ground with fractions of :45 3/5 and 1:10 1/5 before drawing away under a hand ride by Javier Castellano to win as he pleased in 1:35 4/5 for the mile. [Bloodhorse]

- If you haven't figured it out by now, I was trying to pay tribute to the Pretenders, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night. Their seminal self-titled debut album was an exhilarating rush when it came out in 1980, and remains to this day one of the surest demonstrations that raw emotions are best expressed musically with electric guitars, bass and drums - and a singer like Chrissie Hynde didn't hurt either.