Friday Notes, Stories, Twinkies and More

Here are a few things that caught my eye today, if you're interested.

I follow some of the things that Three Chimneys Farm does with regards to aftercare and industry promotion. If I am in the market for a thoroughbred yearling anytime soon, I am buying one of theirs.

Twitter has been a pretty cool medium, I must admit. Where many (me included) use linked in to network in business; for racing fans, breeding farms, turf writers and some fans, twitter is the go-to. I had to jot down some thoughts about Twitter last week. Who do I call? No one. I pinged @sidfernando on twitter and asked him some questions. I wondered what some thoroughbred fans and bettors thought of harness racing last week too. I asked Claire, or Dana, or Chris, on twitter. There was no need for a focus group. 


Twitter and Harness Racing was a topic in this weeks Harness Racing Update. To see which drivers, trainers and others are engaging on twitter, and what we have to do to get more involved with the micro-blogger, you can read it here. Thanks to Sid for the comments, and Greg (@gregrienhart) for looking it over. It's much easier to ramble in pieces that take me ten minutes to write (I know, you can tell!) on this blog.


Also in Harness Racing Update we learned our friend here on blog land (and harness racing owner and commentator) Andrew Cohen got a job as the new legal correspondent for 60 Minutes. Like seriously, how cool is that? Congrats dude. 


In addition on HRU it seems See You At Peelers is going to try and make a comeback next season. I still marvel at the differences in the two sports - thoroughbred and harness - in terms of openness. Takter would pretty much hand over her bloods if the press asked. I love that about this sport.


Darryl Kaplan wrote a very cool piece on San Pail in Trot magazine for the Christmas issue.

• As Canadians, I think we sometimes thrive as the underdogs. Not respected and not taken seriously. But like San Pail, we go out and we take care of business, week in and week out. And no one comes onto our track and pushes us around.

I loved the piece. It's seriously worth a read for its good writing.

Richard Eng wrote today that NYRA should use some slot cash to lower takeout. Hey, I think that's a great idea.

Fantastic job by economics prof Caroline Betts on HRTV yesterday. She was interviewed by Joanne Jones and Brad Free on takeout. She elaborated on what many of us speak about regarding rakes and racing, but she did it like a smart person does.

Teresa made a good comment on yesterday's piece regarding racing and social media. I think they've done a fairly good job of late. However, I wonder if we ever had it professionally done. Businesses, leagues etc tend to have a grand plan for everyone to follow - a workshop if you will. I think that's what the NTRA was set up for, or what the Standardbred Action plan called for. Both entities are understaffed or not even funded.

Greatest trotter who ever lived? That's the question on SC. These are extremely difficult questions because harness racing has raced in different generations and our equipment and breeding are changing. The best modern trotter, in my opinion, is Varenne. The best in past times for me, is Greyhound. I loved the Grey Ghost.

Have a great Friday everyone!