Monday, October 6, 2008

Hey, the Poll is Out! Guess What?

I guess that one guy really, really likes Mr. Big.

2008 Hambletonian/Breeders Crown Standardbred Poll: Week 22 – 10/6/08

Deweycheatumnhowe: 1st (21 first place votes)
Somebeachsomewhere: 2nd (13 first place votes)
Mr. Big: 3rd (1 first place vote)


I am now convinced that if Dewey loses every start from here on out, and Beach wins each of his, this vote will stay the same.

Fire away boys.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe....the voters are avid readers of this blog and are hoping that you are true to your word and do the railway spike thing! Either way...that Hambo victory seems to hold a lot of weight.

Pull the Pocket said...

If I had any pull Futchie, you and I would be sitting on a beach with a laptop, betting for a living into 9% takeouts. :)

Anonymous said...

Your so passionate almost brought a tear to my eye. You know these things are political look at the O'Brien Awards Casie wins harness world flips should have been Burgess who wins next year Burgess.The year he won he had one good horse the year he lost he had 3 good horses including horse of the year in the States Glidemaster. What race did he win Tell All Little Brown Jug.Say what you want about the Jug and half mile racing the owners nailed a bullseye of his forehead by missing that race and they black balled him. Dewey better lose every race left for you to have a prayer.I love it when you Blog with feeling.

Pull the Pocket said...

Hey TTF,

I used to go trout fishing. I have a speckled trout on the wall of my office. I put it up in a tree after I caught it, and went back to the fishing hole. But there was a hornets nest in the tree and two of them stung me in the face. But being 12 years old, I said "ouch" and I went back fishing.

I know these things are political, but in this sport we can not seem to do anything right, even something as simple as voting the best horse in racing, the best horse in racing. I think it is a microcosm of where we are right now. I get annoyed when we sit back and watch things crumble.

Back to watching football, and dusting off my trout rod.

PTP

Anonymous said...

Well, I certainly think SBSW should be number one. However, even though Dewey lost one of the heats of the Kentucky Futurity, the fact he came back and won in a gutsy if slow final probably won him some votes back.

I agree SBSW wins and one defeat have been more impressive than Dewey but the fact is the American voters (disclosure - I am an American) in this poll just can't look at this as a North American poll. One would hope an impressive one or two victories in the Messenger would help SBSW, but then they will probably say that was on a half mile track.

Anonymous said...

I guess in fairness this poll is just one of many frustrating examples of a popularity contest. Unfotunately in this case the popularity contest is not being waged among the fans, instead it is the lack of popularity, of one decision, that has determined this outcome. At the very least a split decision between the two horses would seem believable, but 24 votes to 10, there in no credibilty in that.
A poll of the fans would certainly provide a different outcome (at the very least a split down the middle), the real Fans line the track everytime the Beach steps on it. . . Actually come to think of it that might even be part of the problem, maybe some of the voters are even letting jealousy play a part in their decision
Either way, I'm glad PTP is not letting them abuse their privilege without at least saying "you're not fooling anyone, and we're not buying it".

Anonymous said...

Ok, here's my 2.6 cents. Dewey lost an elimination and a second heat in 2 major races. SBSW lost one major race. Dewey has raced the best of his class week in week out---SBSW opted for an easier campaign, because it was available to him and luck of the draw put him away from some of the best in his class.

Dewey $3 million, SBSW close but not yet.

Dewey has won by lengths and in gritty, gutty wear-them-down fashion, a tremendous animal.
SBSW just a breed part and could probably win if urged by a quarter mile.

Not racing in the Jug hurt a bit, but not as much as everyone likes to think. We had an extraoridanry Jug without him, eh?

And the the poll votes trotters ahead of pacers, it's true and I don't know why! Maybe because there are not enough trotters to have an A and B group--like the pacing ranks.

Lastly, there is NO Canadian bias except in the minds of Canadians.
I voted SBSW on top the last 2 weeks and it pained me to put DCAH as a #2, but I thought SBSW had a slight edge.

Arguing about it is fun.

Moira

Pull the Pocket said...

I cant argue with Moira. She gave me a Hambo hat. If I want another one I can not say a thing :)

She is right on this part for sure, and it is mind boggling to me: "The poll favours trotters over pacers". Everyone knows it is easier to be a top trotter with lotsa wins and money than a top pacer - the fields in the 3YO trotting ranks are not deep, while pacers have to slug it out week after week in a tremendously deep field. Yet it happens. It happened with Windsong's Legacy and many other trotters. Why? I have no idea.

Anonymous said...

But what about the three world records ? One of them is all aged. Beach shares the ALL-AGE world record for a race mile, and we all watched him accomplish that ALL BY HIMSELF, and without the benefit of perfect weather.
He has run sub 1:50 NINE times this year, has any other 3y old ever done that ?
. . . apparently Beach didn't care who the competition was, he provided the fans with their money's worth even when he didn't have to.

Pull the Pocket said...

No colt has ever come close to going under 50 nine times.

If this were baseball this is what a pitcher or hitter would have to have done to equal what this colt has:

Pitcher: 29-1 ERA 1.35
Hitter: hit 0.410 with 80 HR's

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