Condren Profiled & Other Notes

Ever since I was a kid going to the harness tracks in Ontario I knew the name Steve Condren. He was a guy that if you bet against him, you might be in trouble.

It seems betting against him in his current fight is similar.

Perry Lefko wrote an excellent update on Steve and his battle with cancer. It's definitely worth a read (pdf).

Further in HRU we look at the Strategic Wagering Initiative in a redux article (page 4). I have spoken to many in harness racing, and in fact, in the academic community, about the "It's Not My Job" phenomenon. In racing, if track 'A' or ADW 'B' benefits more than ADW 'A' or Track 'B', there is a constant resistance to do anything at all. The status-quo takes hold, and it never seems to relent. We just can't seem to get our mind focused on growing a signal or bet that one day becomes marketable to ADW's and others across North America and the World. If we have a marketable signal we can charge a higher rate, we can't charge a higher rate and then get a marketable signal.

There's plenty of news this weekend, including petitions in Ontario, a $40k Balmoral pool, WEG stakes, a VFTRG good post, and more.

For several interesting links for the weekend, The Goat is on duty and it's updated in real time w/ news and notes. There are a couple tech links worth reading today, including how sports teams (and how we, in some way) are using Pinterest.

Have a nice weekend!