Imagine how much he wins by if only they added a few fences.

Seems to me like the 2-minute thing only addresses the optics. If there is no past-posting, and the bots adjust by dropping $20K into the exacta pool with 120.001 seconds to post, what have you gained?

\"Are they underpaid or are the others spectacularly overpaid ..... or both?\"

Yes. Both. Jockeys daily risk their lives and well-being for peanuts. Ballers risk sitting out a year while getting paid handsomely to rehab torn tendons.

But what sort of cash do their employers generate from their businesses? By that measure, ballers are probably underpaid, while the jocks are lucky for the peanuts.

Must have been before my time. I\'d have remembered that. What \"outside basket\"? Was there one in the parking lot south of the gym?

Not surprised he declined. That was a \"no autopsy, no foul\" game back then, and he would have been spotting a few years to just about everyone.

Shanny, you mean (Pilot\'s manager) Joe Schultz, yes? The guy who had two go-to combo-curses (sh**-fu** & fu**-sh**)?

Was Bouton\'s roommate that space-cadet outfielder named Steve Hovely? The one who shaved his head because he wanted to treat all of his hairs equally? Yeah, landmark book for baseball fans of a certain vintage.

Dick makes an excellent point about it being a great \"Weekend\". If the hubbub of Arc Sunday sounds too daunting, go on Saturday. Not as good a card and no Arc, but way smaller crowds. But before you pass up the chance, ask yourself the question an old college pal (an expat who has been in Paris the last 45 years) asked me along the old Longchamp rail in September 1992 .... \"how many times you expect you\'ll be in Paris on the first Sunday in October, Bobby?\" So far it\'s been just the once.

Saw Arazi\'s last victory (the Prix Dollar). Subotica won the Arc (much to the chagrin of the all the Magic Night fans). In the Prix Opera, a 3-yo filly ran up the track, but would return the following year to win the Arc, before going on to become the greatest broodmare in the history of the turf. Urban Sea.

Go.

\"Dying is no big deal. The least of us will manage that. Living is the trick.\"

Evergreen words from sportswriting\'s greatest eulogist, W.W. \"Red\" Smith.

Not surprising, JB, that Richie was frequent and good company on your cultural excursions. If you ever found yourself seated next to him on a bar stool, at a ballpark, or on a lawn chair in the Spa backyard, you were already ahead on the day. Richie knew the trick. RIP.

I met Alan about 30 years ago at the Varick Street office, but the first time I really talked to him was at a black swan event a few years later ... the short-lived \"Thorograph Holiday Party\".

But I really got to know him only many years later, when he made the rather startling decision to start playing basketball again (as a 60-something coming off a multi-decade layoff).

[Background: For about 45 years - from the mid-70s until covid killed it - there was a Thursday night game at an Episcopal school gym in the West Village. It was where I met TGJB, where he was able to poach Nicely from the employ of Ragozin, and where Alan made his quixotic and gutsy return to roundball.]

I bring this up because, while it was plain to see that Alan was a sweet and smart guy, one could be forgiven for missing the fact that he was also tough. Basketball is a game that exposes you, and, well, Alan\'s play exposed an innate toughness that earned him the respect of our gang, and undoubtedly served him well later on. The Saint Luke\'s crew adds their condolences. Well played, Al!

\"This leads directly to a discussion about corporate good citizenship…\"

As it applies to racing, this is a great subject for a book ... or maybe a pamphlet ... at least a nice haiku.

Wikipedia says Raise a Native won 4 times in 4 starts as a 2yo and set or equaled three track records. You could also add Storm Cat to that list.

Agree, and as she also wrote both hits (thank you, Wikipedia), I\'m fine with Ms. Davis getting all the credit, longing-wise (especially since it apparently also worked so well on you, Paul).

Putting Liz Taylor aside for the moment, I\'ll echo JB\'s \"well said\" and also commend Fairmount for anchoring his theme on that song by the Motels.

I don\'t know the band\'s wider catalog, but their two hits (the other is \"Only the Lonely\") both beautifully capture a sense of longing that seems to have largely vanished from pop culture, yet remains the very essence of Saratoga\'s allure.

It\'s why we care about the place. It\'s why we get upset when trees are chopped down to make room for some tacky ersatz museum, when the entire property was already a living, breathing, galloping, snorting, screaming, cursing, pooping museum of the racing life.

That\'s the thing about the racing life. It goes by at a fast clip. At the Spa, we can kid ourselves that it doesn\'t. We take the waters, and are cured. For the moment, anyway. Which is really all that any of us can ask.

As to Liz Taylor, I\'ll take \"National Velvet\". A girl, a boy, a horse, and a happy ending, despite the worst bad beat in the history of horse racing movies.

Roman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> \"Tell\" is a verb.

Also a noun.

Belmont Stakes Will Move to Saratoga for 2024

\"The race will be part of a special session at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., from June 6 to 9, 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced Wednesday. It will include 23 stakes races, including the Belmont on June 8.\"

Guessing the Met Mile would be one of the 23 ... Met Mile & 1/8?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/sports/horse-racing/belmont-stakes-2024-saratoga.html

In the ten years of Dutrow’s exile, quite a few good trainers have departed the game. Perhaps the sharpest irony of the early days of the “HISA era”, is Tricky’s second act, with the clear implication that it’s a great time to have a real “horseman” for a trainer (with all that sobriquet implies).

> Reminds me of Colin Chapman and the origin of
> Lotus race cars he did anything and everything to
> make the cars lighter and lighter of course they
> broke and wrecked.

The Lotus that won the Manufacturers\' Championship 6 times in 11 years (\'63-\'73)? That one?