Maybe TG can get a good rate on product placement in this

[Boscar Obarra]

Dustin Hoffman makes bet. Dustin Hoffman has signed on to star in the pilot for HBO\'s new drama \"Luck\" from David Milch (\"Deadwood,\" \"NYPD Blue,\" and, uh, \"John from Cincinnati.\") The show is about horse racing and gambling. Now, why both the Hollywood Reporter and Variety are saying he is starring in the pilot is confusing to me. Does that mean he\'s doing one episode or just that HBO hasn\'t ordered it as a series yet so the trades don\'t want to get ahead of themselves? Something tells me you don\'t cast Dustin Hoffman  if you don\'t think your show is getting picked up. Guess we\'ll have to wait and see.

[TGJB]

First of all, Milch doesn\'t audition. It\'s not just a pilot.

Second of all, he read my racetrack screenplay a few years ago. I really hope none of it shows up in here, one lawsuit is enough. But it sounds like it won\'t.

I was trying to show the real world of current racing, not a period piece or Damon Runyon cartoon. Milch is one of the few other people who figures to get it right.

[richiebee]

Further info from Wednesday\'s NY Post:

\"Hoffman will play a career criminal just out of jail with a gambling
jones. \'Lucky\' will revolve around the West Coast horse racing world.

Dennis Farina (\"Law & Order\") has also been cast.

Hoffman has never done series TV before-- although he won an Emmy in 1986 for the
TV version of \'Death of a Salesman\'\"

[richiebee]

ADDENDUM:

Speaking of product placement (and knowing that JB will not comment on this) how
great is is that TG methodology and performance figures will be at the center of
the upcoming Rachel A. /Breach of Contract trial coming to a Kentucky courtroom
near you on April 6 (3 days before this years scheduled \"Race of the Century\"
between Zennie and RA)?

No matter what the outcome of the trial, Thorograph and TG will get priceless
exposure if the trial gets proper coverage. BRILLIANT!

Will team TG try to enter the Figs into evidence? Will the opposition object to
the Figs being entered into evidence? Inquiring minds (at least one) want to know.

Hopefully DRF will send Hegarty out for daily coverage of this trial;he\'s
probably tired of reporting on continuing Magna auction postponements and the
continuing decline of NYRA (anyone notice that no one talks about NY racing on
this board any more?)

Speaking of NYRA, I have some questions and comments.

Question 1) Why is Charles Hayward being paid $460,000 per year to guide the SS
NYRA towards the iceberg?

Question 2) Why does Racing Secretary Campo still have a job? The quality of NY
racing, including at Saratoga, has declined precipitously under his watch.

Comment: The award of the Aqueduct Racino development rights by lame duck
Governor Patterson to a band of schvartze carpetbaggers (excuse my Yiddish
political incorrectness) will delay the turnaround of NY racing and the much
needed improvement of Aqueduct by years. Its just sad. Actually as a fan of NY
racing and a NY state taxpayer, its quite infuriating

[Lost Cause]

I was raised on NY horseracing..I have never bet so little of it as I have done over the past couple of years..It is absolutely terrible..