'No Beer for You!' And Assorted News

Horse is barred from pub screams a headline from a UK paper (thanks to Ray Paulick for the link). It turns out that this 12 year old mare was welcome at the pub for some beers for many years, but now she is turfed because of new carpet. I am outraged. In people years she is like 60, she does not get into bar fights, she does not have too many and try to pick up dates, she does not say something stupid after four pints. She is a model customer. Horses should have rights to drink beer in a pub. It will be a new focus on the blog.

Also on Ray's blog he ran a link to a bloodhorse story yesterday saying "Fans are pissed".

Keith Chamblin, senior vice president of communications and industry relations for the NTRA, cited research that led the NTRA to take action. A “confidential and proprietary report” by SocialSphere Strategies indicated core fans and casual fans aren’t happy with the state of horse racing.

“In five words, our core fans are pissed,” Chamblin said. “They are very upset with us, and the intensity of their responses is very alarming to say the least.”

I would like to thank them for getting a study done to tell them that fans are not happy. I am currently commissioning a study here on the blog to see if people are annoyed or happy with gas prices. I am hoping to unlock this mystery and I will report back when I am done.

In the US, the Thoroughbred Horseman's Group doesn't seem to be making many friends in the business as they try to get more ADW for themselves. On the Horseplayer Association blog yesterday, it is noted that purses have actually done fine in the second quarter of 2008 (up 3.6%), but wagering fell (over 4%). It is very true - we do not have a purse crisis in the game (slot money is huge), but we do have a wagering crisis. We do not seem to be tackling the wagering crisis, but we are tackling purses which don't seem to need it. What business would act like this? If you ran a restaurant and your pie was a big hit with sales growing, but your roast beef sandwiches sucked, would you put your limited resources into changing the pie?

Somebeachsomewhere's owners in some quarters took some flack for not going to the Jug. One of the most bizarre arguments about that miss was that they were "ducking Art Official". It was determined that since the Beach and Art both had the Messenger stakes on their calender, they would meet there. Now it appears that Art will skip the Messenger. No cry about them ducking the Beach so far. But that is good. The truth is more often than not a good thing. Neither of these horses have dodged each other. With the vagaries of horseflesh and scheduling (they are not machines) it is very difficult to make sure they meet. However, the Breeders Crown motto is "it all comes down to the Breeders Crown" and this year it might be a perfect slogan.