So call me a crepe hanger...

[richiebee]

... but it is hard to be optimistic about the winter Racing season which is upon
us:

Aqueduct/NYRA: The downward spiral seems to continue. As New York Knick great and
current broadcaster Walt \"Clyde\" Frazier might say: \"Dismal and Abysmal\". As
another former Knick, Micheal Ray Richardson once said: \"The ship be sinking.\"
But the NYRA folks know where their bread is buttered, and I hope it is only a
rumor that NYRA is studying the feasibility of building a retractable dome over
Saratoga and racing upstate 180 days out of the year.

Santa Anita/Gulfstream: Will be administered by Frank Stronach, everyone\'s
favorite Debtor-in-Possession (as they say in the trade). Read in the DRF that
Pollywood needed 2 days to rustle together a card of races with short fields. Can
imagine that the same shortage of horseflesh will plague Santa Anita.

Expect lots of purse cuts and budget cutting in general at 2 of America\'s premier
racing facilities. Didn\'t Frankstro once have a bikini contest at one of his
tracks? If he can\'t afford the bikinis this year does that mean?...There is a
Tiger Woods joke in there somewhere but far be it from me to kick a
hypocritical,sex addicted serial philanderer when he\'s down.

Fair Grounds, a grand old facility down on Gentilly Blvd, is plagued by too much
state mandated state bred racing (an entire day of it Saturday) and rough New
Orleans winter weather which will result in a rained off turf rate of about 30%
if history is an accurate indicator.

Calder, which usually has its best racing at this time of year, seems to be
struggling with an outbreak of equine herpes.

I\'ve never paid much attention to Pennsylvania racing or Turfway or Turf Paradise
and can not see any reason to start now...

Green shoots? Two traditional winter racing venues, Tampa Bay Downs and Oaklawn
Park, seem to have improved/maintained the quality of their racing over the
years. I enjoy playing turf racing, which will keep me from sending much action
towards Hot Springs.

Tampa Bay Downs could benefit from the uncertainty surrounding the
ownership/management situation at GP. Tomorrow\'s Opening Day card features
runners from (in alphabetical order): Catalano, Clement,Kennealy, Matz, Pletcher,
Proctor, Salzman, Zito and Zweisler. Full fields and turf racing almost enough to
make this racing fan forget how bad the TBD racecaller is and drop a few dollars
at this venue. Rolling doubles/P3s add to the appeal for multi race wagerers. A
little boost to the purse structure and horse(wo)men and horseplayers will have
to pay attention to this place.

... and there\'s always hope for Hialeah.

[sekrah]

I\'ve never paid much attention to Pennsylvania racing or Turfway or Turf Paradise
and can not see any reason to start now...

I\'ll say this about Penn National.  The quality of horses and races here have improved dramatically with the influx of slot machine money into the purses, but there is still blatant fraud being committed by a handful of \"super\" trainers.

It is nice seeing some of the better jockeys from the other tracks in the region coming in though.

[magicnight]

Richie - I once read that, following up on Micheal Ray\'s \"the ship be sinking\" quote, the reporter asked how far down the ship might sink. Micheal Ray\'s answer? \"The sky\'s the limit.\"

[martoon]

Richie...

As the owner of a modest little racing stable I think the Florida racing is terrible.  I don\'t see how Tampa is doing it with these big trainers or Calder either.  Their top purses for allowance races are only $17,000 unless the horse is Florida bred where it\'s just a few thousand more.  That means if you WIN the race, the owner is taking home around $8k.  No way you can pay the bills with those big trainers at $100+ dollars a day plus vet, transportation etc for those meager purses.  And if your horse is good enough to win an allowance race there in tough competition, why would you blow that condition for $8k when the purses at all the slots fueled tracks in PA, Canada and elsewhere are double or triple that. If I had a solid allowance horse with Matz i\'d rather give it the winter off than race for those purses. Owners are getting crushed n Florida. Really no way to make a buck unless you\'re winning stakes races down there.