Friday Thoughts: Derby, Horse Retirement & Some Pick 4's

Mike Maloney talks Derby, and likes Premier Pegasus's last so much, it seems the current 14 or 15-1 is a good bet.

Jelly Roll - Sniffs out winners

Speaking of the Derby, Kentucky Confidential seems to be doing well with their crowd-funding strategy. This might be the wave of the future for former print journo's. All the fine writers are probable targets for funding. I gave a win bet and if you know the people involved you might consider it, too. Being a kickstarter member allows you to fund quite a few interesting projects.

Today's feature contributor is Ernie Munick. His profile pic is his pooch, named "Jelly Roll". I liked the toque. I have a similar pic, below.


New York Horsemen Group head on Horse retirement: 

“That way everybody that participates in racing—handicappers, tracks, jockeys, trainers, owners—would be giving something,” he said. “Yes, it means an increase in takeout. But I can’t think of a better reason for a takeout increase than the protection of our race horses.”

What I wish he said:

"With slots coming to New York racing we have a tremendous opportunity to use some of this money in a positive fashion. After lowering takeout, we should earmark some for horse retirement. Slots deals across the nation have all gone to purses and this has not worked to grow our sport or protect our horses. It's time we as horsemen started thinking of the future."

Jessica seems to agree.

One of our horse's is still looking for a home after retiring. We hope there is someone out there to take him, but at the very least he will have the time he needs to find a new family. I am not sure why this is such a difficult thing for horse owners to do. Retirement of your horse is a business expense and part of being a horse owner. I don't expect a customer to pay for my horse and if our stable can't scrape together a few hundred a month to feed him while we try and find him somewhere to go, we should have never purchased him in the first place.

My nominee to draft a policy for horse retirement? Caroline Betts.  She is an economist, runs a retirement farm and has a head on her shoulders. She also has a good idea about 401k for racehorses. Pay her some money and get her to figure this mess out. With billions of slot money floating around, it's time.

Santa Anita has turned into Mountaineer. Yesterday's ISW handle: $1.9 million.

Ted, dressed as a cow

There was a power outage here yesterday and it was cold. At about 2AM it went off and by 10AM I was icy. My pooch did not have a toque, but he had a blanket. I think he was warm, but I am not sure because I can't speak dog.


The pick 4 guarantee's for harness are in full-force. Included in that are low rake tracks like Northfield and Balmoral. For a look at some morning line oddsmaker numbers for these harness tracks to hopefully help you with your capping, please click here. (go against the BLMP capper at your own risk!)

April 2nd, I believe, is the first Woodbine $100k Pick 4 guarantee. I have to recheck that. It's Spring Championship Day. In the old days this was a huge race - long ago it was the Willowdale with horses like Banker Fretz and Willow Wiper. Later on it was the Toronto Pacing Series with some top FFA'ers around. With huge money available at places like Yonkers and Chester it is tough to get those kind of fields any longer. Still, it is a good race for betting, because when ten competitive nice horses get together something can happen.

Beanie Barbaro visits Caroline Betts' offices at USC.

There appears to be some backtracking going on in California.  With so many players saying bye-bye to the product, how long would it take to recover unless they do something big? That's anyone's guess.