Jake--got a call from the PR firm representing the DRF. They want us to tell everybody that EVERY horse who earned a check in EVERY Sunshine Millions race was \"DRF-connected\"-- their connections buy the DRF, and managed, and in some cases bought, the horses using it.
On a more serious note, Paul is wearing me down. He has said for a long time that we should change our basis for dealing with horsemen (commissions only), to something resembling the Ragozin policy, which lets anyone have all the data they need to buy and manage a million dollar horse for $25. I\'m definitely not going to let horsemen have anything resembling that for buys (our CLIENTS don\'t need the competition for the few good buys, and neither do we), but we may make some alteration in the way we charge for the data people call about using to manage their own horses.
There is a big difference between horses like Hot Wells and Dashboard Drummer, which actually are Ragozin office productions, and those that are \"sheet connected\". And we\'re going to take a look at making more horses \"TG connected\".
Jake on the Ragozin board-- \"Congrats to Sheets customer John Sadler on his upset victory in the million dollar Ocala Breeders Classic. John claimed Musique Toujors off The Sheets last year for only $40,000\".
Jay Hovedy in the Wednesday DRF-- \"John Sadler had enough faith in Larry Benavidez to give his assistant the green light to claim a 3 year old named Musique Toujors\".
\"Sheets connected\" is getting broader and broader.
TGJB,
I don\'t know the details of your deals with owners and potential buyers, but I can tell you the way I would want it if I were a horse buyer that wanted access to TG.
If I were an experienced handicapper and I was analyzing The DRF, watching the races, looking at the charts, looking up detailed pedigree info, stallion and broodmare stats etc... and also wanted to access specific TG figures on request, I would be willing to pay a premium price for them. How much, I am not sure, but it wouldn\'t be a huge amount.
If I didn\'t know much about horseracing and wanted to be a totally passive owner that was getting full service advice from TG and you guys were doing \"ALL\" the research, then I would be willing to pay some kind of commission.
I think there are two types of owners/trainers.
One wants you to give him the name of a horse to buy.
The other already has a horse in mind and wants to do further due diligence on his own.
I think it\'s possible to cater to both, but it might impact your current deals.
TGJB
Actually, it gets even more confusing. In the article in the link far below, Glassman claims that it was all his idea to claim MT (I wonder what product Glassman used).
Having looked at MT\'s Thorograph sheet, I did notice that MT had made a nice step forward in the race just before he was claimed (and he did follow up on it even further in the race he was claimed out of); there was a certain logic to the claim based on that forward indicator. I do not know what MT\'s Ragozin Sheet looked like but am curious.
I recall there being an old debate about the way sprint and route figures were done at some Southern California tracks. You contended (and I believe were vindicated) that Ragozin was shortchanging one type of race at the expense of the other. I wonder if this issue may have impacted the MT sheet one way or the other? The race which was the key indicator on Thorograph was 1 1/16 at Santa Anita on 10/31 2003 (R4) (ironic date for a trick or treat). It also happened to be MT\'s first dirt race at Santa Anita.
Also, isn\'t it strange that Ragozin-customer-Sadler chose to run this guy back on one week\'s rest after two new tops? (This is especially strange since the horse was coming from run em every week Abrams who himself even seemed to be learning at the end that this horse runs better with a bit of time between efforts).
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=52502&subsec=2