Andy is at it again - fudging the numbers>>http://drf.com/news/article/104272.html
This is bigger news than the usual tweaking. This is a BSF revolution.
Colt,
I would not take this decision lightly. I have to look at the details but it looks like Andy and his team are taking a shot at trying to deal with the \"compressed figures\" phenom that has been talked about on this board and elsewhere.
TGJB,
Any comments on this?
Smalltimer and Congaree,
Not sure if you will catch this thread, but Watchmaker is now the 3rd DRF writer to criticize or question Shireffs and his ridiculous roadmap for Zenyatta this year. (granted, none of the wirters used the word \"gutless\".)
Let\'s hope that Shireffs keeps his ears open and reconsiders this approach. It would be nice to actually see Zenyatta RACE this year.
Not surprising,as common sense and a strong understanding of racing,besides making figures, is on display here.
If you look back at threads on this board,re synths,many of the same things were noticed and discussed by JB and a few of us.
Mike
jimbo,
Frankly I don\'t give a crap what Watchmaker, or anybody else thinks about the campaign. Why does it bother you where she runs or against who?
smalltimer,
Which one is it? Do you give a shit or not? Half your posts you make yourself out to some type of altruist and criticize posts related to gambling by saying stuff like \"you just want to bet against her\".
If you are a fan, and not a gambler, you should want her to run against real competition.
if you are a gambler, not a fan, you should still want her to run against real competition.
Racing on plastic/carpet against the same horses she already beat, in the same exact races she ran last year, is boring. From either a fan or gambler\'s perspective.
Well said.
jimbo,
I\'m done wasting my time with you. I try to be civil with you and then you get on my case for being a fan of Zenyatta. Since when do I have to meet your standards on being a fan or a gambler?
Jimbo
From the pure sporting perspective, Zenyatta is clearly avoiding the best competition.
From the business perspective, the horse has nothing to prove (at least in the owners and trainers minds and if competition wants to chase her then fine), and is set up to cash easy checks from the CAL Racing Commissions.
They are taking the path of least resistance I guess.
NC Tony
Jimbo\'s right though---it\'s a boring path.
NC Tony,
Agreed, but it ain\'t a lot of fun.
Sports is usually about defining winners and champs. Imagine if instead of Orlando and the Lakers facing each other in the NBA finals, the fnalists got the right to play the Clippers and Kings instead of each other. And whoever pummeled the Clippers/Kings the hardest was determined to be the \"Champs\".
Or the same thing with the Nationals in Baseball.
Besides the occasional college football BCS mistke, what other sports besides horse racing, aren\'t geared towards having the best compete against the best to determine?
Oh well, I am just glad that even though Zenyatta won\'t race against anybody good this year, this topic has achieved no further contact with Smalltimer for me.... Aparently being a \"gambler\" or \"fan\" is insulting....
Jimbo-- actually, racing has been set up to equalize competition, through conditions (nw1, nw2 etc.), and weight allowances, to say nothing of handicaps. The problem is that tracks don\'t want top horses to go elsewhere, so they won\'t put the 130 on Zenyatta she should be carrying against the California slow rats.
Her conections have the right to run anywhere they want. And we have the right to criticize, both as bettors and fans.
Ah, once there was a game where horses who won their Grade I would carry more weight, and then more weight, and then more weight and then they would be running not against their peers on the track but against the immortals.
The ability to carry and concede great weight the standard by which greatness was measured. The race where a runner was going to measure himself against the immortals, the most anticipated race in the sporting world.
But, hey, a horse has to hang around the track until five or six to be mature enough to run against the immortals, so let\'s sell the public on three year old racing, (which will make the fans dam grateful when we let a four year old run) and get our charges to the breeding shed.
This abandoning the raison d\'etre of the sport, the pawing off of the crown jewel so to speak, pretty much explains why the game has been running around like a headless chicken for the last ten years. The noble head of its grandest tradition has indeed been cut off.