Racing can still put on a good show. There are problems but the Fans still love the Big Show and the competition. The Death of horse racing has been greatly exaggerated.....
Apparently Churchill can\'t put on a good show of hospitality. Was that the line of the day or what? If you didn\'t hear it, make sure you hear what the owner said when he received the trophy from the Md Gov.
Of course there are problems....Churchill\'s small fields are not b/c of the competing purses of neighboring states. Let\'s face it, while CD has been criticized at least as described above and by Turcotte, Porter, et al....Scollay has the testing scaring people off it seems. Can we get other states to uniformly follow suit? Let\'s clean up this game.
And I\'m all in to beat Cali in Belmont. I sat out this one. I\'ve seen this story before. If he wins, fantastic, we have our triple crown winner. But for the odds he will be combined with Wicked Strong and Tonalist as legitimate contenders against him, I\'ll be willing to try to beat him as a gambler. Arod lost at least 5-7 lengths today. No clue if that means he wins but he was horribly stopped at the worst time. JJ said it cost him the race then said at least second not sure if he beats Chrome but was in \"perfect position\" he said.
Curious---what horse racing fan/owner do you know that wouldn\'t be at the Preakness if they won the Derby? No one I know.....bizaare to me.
Last note....I thought Chrome was not as impressive as Funny Cide or Smarty but will still be just as odds on obviously at 1.5 miles. I saw a horse today with terrific tactical speed and a so-called will to win that absolutely has to be outside of horses. If he would ever get boxed in OR get moved on too early in the Belmont where he blows his wad early in the second turn....then he can get beat. The draw of the Belmont will be enormous especially if there is a large field. Baffert may not run against him as he said post-race but I think at least 10 others sign up to test him. I\'ll tip my cap to him if he wins but I will be gambling against it.
The game is in trouble.
Yes \"event days\" can still draw, so what?
It\'s the day in and day out racing that matters.
Look at the foal population numbers.Down the road dows not look pretty...
Top notch performances. More people attending. More money getting Bet. Table set for a some better days to come.
Tonite you celebrate. Tomorrow you enjoy. Come Monday you think about fixing problems. One thing racing has, these Tracks, these Big Name Events and the States that host them is something called Tradition. Hide your weakness until you can correct it and play to your strength. Listen to me on that!
Thats all for today and a while. Good nite....
You can\'t just go by the big day numbers. They might carry the day but they won\'t carry the year. The day to day numbers need to be in the equation.