this new espn coverage is excellent.
in the past, i have never stayed at home to watch this stuff on tv.
after watching a few of the derby and preakness shows this year, i decided to do the entire belmont day at home.
ignoring the fact that they showed b&j\'s bad derby trip over 100 times and suckered me into betting that weak hearted plodder .....
they put on an amazing five hour show today.
IMO, jerry bailey is the best thing racing tv has ever seen. he tells it exactly like it is. he has been in every situation there is, and when there is a gate issue, a pace issue, a track bias issue, or any other important intricacy racing fans need to know about, they put bailey on the case, and the viewers get the scoop. kenny mane is great. he\'s a wise guy, but he\'s great at what he does. randy moss is a professional. period. there is nobody better. hank goldberg is another wise guy, but he bets. he gives the bettors perspective.
too much barbaro coverage, but espn has no choice but to cater to the non professional crowd, otherwise they go under. they did a fine job with the coverage nonetheless.
i will stay at home to watch the breeders cup on espn this year.
Totally agree with you.
>IMO, jerry bailey is the best thing racing tv has ever seen.
He was even before he retired. His ability to go on the air right after a race or sometimes before and speak in very understandable bullet point sentences was second to none.
The group is good. You left out Jeanine Edwards who is as professional as she is attractive. A very tough combination to beat.
The biggest winner of the day was Belmont Park and NYRA. They had a big crowd, put on a good show and proved you don\'t have to have a horse going for the Triple Crown to make Belmont Stakes Day a big event.
Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Totally agree with you.
>
> >IMO, jerry bailey is the best thing racing tv
> has ever seen.
>
> He was even before he retired. His ability to go
> on the air right after a race or sometimes before
> and speak in very understandable bullet point
> sentences was second to none.
>
> The group is good. You left out Jeanine Edwards
> who is as professional as she is attractive. A
> very tough combination to beat.
>
> The biggest winner of the day was Belmont Park and
> NYRA. They had a big crowd, put on a good show and
> proved you don\'t have to have a horse going for
> the Triple Crown to make Belmont Stakes Day a big
> event.
>
>
yes, jeanine edwards does a fine job as well. they need to work her in more.
nyra did indeed put on a great show today.
that late pk4 was as good as it gets.
SC,
What crowd?
The place was a morgue until 4pm.
Scalpers couldn\'t get $10 for a $60 seat...lol. And it cost $5 to walk in the door. (was $10 but NYRA dropped the price).
No lines anywhere to be found....not for food, beer, souvenirs, betting or even to take a leak...lol.
No vendors outside...not even Karakoum Stables...lol.
No traffic jam leaving
I took a walk through the Clubhouse looking for a \'sheet\' player of any persuasion and couldn\'t find a single one....
Maybve I wasn\'t really there .....but I was.....
Bob
good points. espn did very well with j.b.
the tv coverage , baily and the announcers was very good although it seemed like they needed a little help when talking about patterns + numbers . now i know what they feel like when i display my curserary knoweledge on racing history .
but abc & espn had it together yesterday .
- my only real peave is : zito\'s comments on the spacing and schedualing of tc race\'s should have been complete with the revelation ( by someone on the broadcast ) that he dosn\'t want to see change becouse basically , he\'s got the life of reilly and is living off the fat of the land just by leaving everything right where it is ...
>- my only real peave is : zito\'s comments on the spacing and schedualing of tc >race\'s should have been complete with the revelation ( by someone on the >broadcast ) that he dosn\'t want to see change.......
Please elaborate. I missed this some of this part as I was jumping around. I did hear them say that the TC schedule was fine and with so many coming close it proves so much so. Then after the race was over the I hear Terry Gannon (Terry Gannon???????-were there no ex-Knicks or Lakers available) say that five out of the last seven winners of the Belmont did not run in the Preakness.
Which proves the spacing is flawed when if you want to win the biggest Three Year Old race in NY you need to skipped some leg of the Triple Crown
Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >- my only real peave is : zito\'s comments on
> the spacing and schedualing of tc >race\'s
> should have been complete with the revelation ( by
> someone on the >broadcast ) that he dosn\'t want
> to see change.......
>
> Please elaborate. I missed this some of this part
> as I was jumping around. I did hear them say that
> the TC schedule was fine and with so many coming
> close it proves so much so. Then after the race
> was over the I hear Terry Gannon (Terry
> Gannon???????-were there no ex-Knicks or Lakers
> available) say that five out of the last seven
> winners of the Belmont did not run in the
> Preakness.
>
> Which proves the spacing is flawed when if you
> want to win the biggest Three Year Old race in NY
> you need to skipped some leg of the Triple Crown
Jazil
Afleet Alex
Birdstone
Empire Maker
Sarava
Point Given
Commendable
Those are the Belmont Stakes winners from the last 7 years. Two that ran in all three events were very close to Triple Crown Winners. Afleet Alex and Point Given. Both were Champion 3YO\'s thanx to Lost in the Fog being revealed as a faker.
Empire Faker ran once more, was beaten and retired gimpy.
Sarava never ran again to my knowledge and if he did he was gimpy.
Commendable never won again and was retired by the Breeders Cup.
Are folks really going to argue that the horses using the multiple week spacing ambush technique in the Belmont during the last 7 years are really being managed better than those that run in all three triple crown events and are sounder with more bottom to go on with their careers?
None of these horses went on to run at four, though a couple probably could have. You guessed it, the two that ran in all three.
Can we stop this blatant nonsense. The Triple Crown does not need spacing because a gimpy Barbaro wasn\'t put together well enough to handle the rigors. With as weak as this crop is revealing itself to be Barbaro might have won the Triple Crown, had he been a well bred horse like Point Given or Afleet Alex or several others that have nearly won the Triple Crown in the last 9 years.
sheez
>Are folks really going to argue that the horses using the multiple week spacing >ambush technique in the Belmont during the last 7 years are really being >managed better than those that run in all three triple crown events and are >sounder with more bottom to go on with their careers?
Yes because of these winners.
Jazil
Afleet Alex
Birdstone
Empire Maker
Sarava
Commendable
The Belmont was the biggest victory on their resumes up to that particular point in time. The only exception being perhaps Birdstone who did later win the Travers.
Silver Charm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > >Are folks really going to argue that the
> horses using the multiple week spacing >ambush
> technique in the Belmont during the last 7 years
> are really being >managed better than those
> that run in all three triple crown events and are
> >sounder with more bottom to go on with their
> careers?
>
> Yes because of these winners.
>
> Jazil
> Afleet Alex
> Birdstone
> Empire Maker
> Sarava
> Commendable
>
> The Belmont was the biggest victory on their
> resumes up to that particular point in time. The
> only exception being perhaps Birdstone who did
> later win the Travers.
>
Silver, your namesake is steaming mad over this.
He was one of the legitimate ones. A great horse that fate and a wide out of his vision closing adversary deprived him of the Triple Crown. He went on to win a bunch of big ones as a handicap star. He was too legit to quit. He was a much better horse than Touch Gold and was narrowly deprived of immortality. So he is steaming over your disregard for his substance, even if he is steaming in Japan.
Smarty Jones was essentially a Triple Crown horse too. Real Quiet was three inches in front a jump from the wire and three inches in front a jump past the wire.
If we tamper with the conditions to win the Triple Crown we change entirely what it is about. Its about a horse bred well enough to accomplish one of the greatest feats in sports. The pursuit of that Holy Grail will encourage owners to demand well bred horses. Horses bred to be sound and run often. If you change the conditions so any old Empire Maker or Barbaro can spot up those races before going bad in the Travers all you accomplish is a disservice to the breed.
People think I\'m cold because I don\'t gush sympathy over a fallen prospect. But folks like me that demand more of the industry are the games future. To allow otherwise will only result in weakly bred horses, running short distances on drugs and with race spacing so that five weeks separates the major events.
That format will undo whats left of the breed quicker than any other harm you can propose.
I\'m waiting for the next Silver Charm and maybe this time, he\'ll win it all.
the industry knows , as do the networks , that selling the TC as packaged is an uphill effort now . in this era of over-analization by the media , it\'s no coincedence that zito\'s remark\'s , in that context and instance , where not graced with an alternative or oposisition point of view . i understand interests need to be protected here - and will be , but i don\'t see how racing can expand on a quality product or market share as the triple crown\'s current ( and historic ) structure now exsist .
To what has already been said about ESPN\'s coverage, I would add that I think Jay Privman is a plus. He\'s both more articulate and a better handicapper than Hank Goldberg.
I was dismayed to read Richard Sandomir\'s review of the ABC broadcast in The New York Times. While he too was critical of the endless Barbaro coverage, he characterizes the Acorn and the Manhattan as \"races of no television consequence except as time fillers.\" He goes on to say: \"Covering the Acorn and the Manhattan took up 28 minutes that could have been devoted to letting viewers learn something new about the 12 horses in the Belmont.\" I thought they were pretty good races.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/13/sports/othersports/13sandomir.html
Maryland doesn\'t want the Preakness moved because it conflicts with the local communites vacation schedule. TV doesn\'t want the Triple Crown schedule strung out because it conflicts with other scheduling.
The change will only start to happen when Derby winners begin to skip the Preakness to go on to the Belmont. When a trainer states they do not want to run back in two weeks to run in the Preakness because they want to do right by their horse.
Who could possibly criticize him........
PS: Privman is a good addition, its been overdue
Was there any coverage of the buglers?