Some Steve Byk "At the Races" content from last Friday

[BitPlayer]

I thought the conversation with Nick Tammaro about US stewarding in general was interesting (beginning about 7:30):

https://stevebyk.com/broadcast/coming-soon-part-2-nick-tammaro-james-scully/

One thing that surprises me in the Derby aftermath is that in all the Category 1 v. Category 2 discussion there seems to be the assumption that US jurisdictions would have to adopt Category 1 in its entirety.  I would argue that we ought to be thinking about separating the effects of a foul on the bettors from the effects on purse distribution. The decision about which bettors to pay has to be made in a matter of minutes and, from a marketing perspective, should be structured to limit bettor anger/annoyance. The decision about how to distribute the purse can be made several days later (as it already is with respect to drug penalties, horses ineligible for the condition, etc.) and should focus on fairness (e.g., compensating the owner of the fouled horse at the expense of the owner of the culprit) and promoting safe riding (jockeys being more concerned about their share of the purse than which bettors get paid).

The Nick Tammaro segment also featured some interesting discussion later on about bankroll management on big days with large fields. They have apparently discussed this before, but it was new to me.

During the following hour, Paul Matties mentioned some issues about whether figure makers should use the same variant for the Alysheba (McKinzie) and the La Troienne (She\'s A Julie) immediately after it.  The way TGJB has done it looks sensible.