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Friday, December 08, 2006

Notes - Dec 7

- Tote Board Brad is in town, and he said he had a good day at the Big A. Something about the Don Rickles Stakes. Don Rickles? How did that hockey puck get a race named after him? Being a reader of LATG, Brad knew how hot Gary Contessa is these days. Or maybe he just noticed that Contessa had already won twice on the day and had ten wins coming in.

In any event, Brad had Silver Prospector in the Don Rickles, at 6-1. Alan Seewald tried to sneak this one by for a 50K tag at Monmouth, the first time he was ever for sale, but the long arm of Gary Contessa snapped him up. He moved him up to 75K and got a second, and now he has a minor stakes winner.

The daily weekday attendance at the Big A has now regularly dropped below the 2,000 mark - 1,923 on Wednesday and, despite Brad being in town to boost the figure, just 1,914 on Thursday. Instead of talking about Saratoga, which would prosper even if George W. Bush was running it, let's hear the prospective franchise holders tell us what they're going to do about this.

Oh, yeah. Slot machines. I forgot.

Yonkers is back in action with their racino, and while business may be booming at the slot machines, that doesn't necessarily carry over to the racing side. Handle last Saturday was just $403,000, compared to $3.4 million at the Meadowlands.

- Just Zip It will not run on Sunday. Bill Turner wants to give her a bit more time between races.

- The Appellate Division of the NY State Supreme Court has upheld a 45 day drug suspension for all-world trainer Todd Pletcher and do you think this will effect the voting for the Eclipse?

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Contessa used the old "Condition book has been written perfect for us..." line, which basically means, the new vet told me to give him an injection from the yellow vial 12 hours before the race and it's made my year!

Anonymous said...

Alan,

Like I have written before, Dutrow gets Saint Liam to the podium, Pletcher won the training crown last year, didn't he? He should be automatically removed from the ballot.

I have lost track of all the trainers caught in the past five years, but Hall of Famers such as Mott, Zito, and now Pletcher have been caught and served time.

For those in the Hall, should integrity hold true and their plaques be added to with a mention of their positive(s).

Pletcher must be making plans to sit on the pine for the first month and a half of next year.

It's appalling Asmussen was able to transfer his entire stable to his assistant. Blasi won at the same clip.

All of this does not detract from cheating. The owners do not permanently remove their runners. Pletcher will probably spend the 45 days playing on The Green Monkey, not attending to him.

It's a black mark on racing and it's not likely to be removed.