L, Glorious Dirt, Sid & Joe

Here are some items which crossed the virtual desk that I found kind of interesting.....

There was a neat story by the Baconater on his site about the machinations of the Breeders Cup lasix ban, er not ban.

• The board came within an eyelash of rolling back the Lasix ban for all races.

In horse racing when the going gets tough, the tough get going ..... to the nearest exit to reverse policy.

I think it's a testament that big money owners and trainers have a lot of say in this game, and no one can really set rules that stand up to them. In Ontario when the whipping ban was enforced, drivers went completely nuts. There were similar claims: It was unsafe, it would cause a boycott, etc. But the Commission here held firm and never wavered. Three years later those claims were clearly hyperbole, but that's neither here nor there, I guess. I figure if a few giant stables and a couple of big owners didn't like it, we might've not seen the whipping ban either.

Anyhoo, I agree with O Crunk who wrote:

@pullthepocket Huge step backward.Better off not trying to change the status quo than trying to change it and folding like a cheap tent.
— o_crunk (@o_crunk) March 11, 2013

There's a new editor at the DRF, Mark Simon. I read the story in the Journal yesterday about companies using data to hire people. Some will ask questions on an application and try and figure out of the candidate fits. I wonder if the DRF uses questions, too.

Dirt or synthetic?

Easy Goer or Sunday Silence?

East coast or west coast?

I kid, I kid.

Alex Waldrop tweeted out this story on Fantasy Sports today.  For the folks who say racing is failing because it is "too complicated" they have trouble explaining fantasy sports. Fantasy sports works because it's a) available b) has free data for you to study and c) has an outcome that's in front of you each time you watch a game from your couch. Racing has done a poor job with a (residency requirements and home market areas) b (it costs an arm and a leg to build a database) and c (for years video was behind some sort of Fort Knoxian firewall).

Kawartha Downs has shut down. I think we'll see most private tracks in Ontario go the way of the do do bird, while the Ag tracks will stay. I don't think - since the industry must shrink to survive with less money - that would be a bad thing. The tracks that have a shot to grow are the Ag tracks. They'll be on-board with new ideas, and new investment; much more so than the for profit ones. The new Ontario will be about asset allocation.

I was totally bummed yesterday that Mike Bloomberg's plan to make you buy two cups to drink 32 ounces of coke instead of one was struck down by the courts. His incredible fact finding, scientific study that fat people consume more calories than skinny people did not sway the judge much. I am not overly concerned about it, since I only travel to New York and don't drink gallons of soda, but I am really bummed because my first foray into short story writing here on the blog will not happen.

I have it on good intel that Sid Fernando and Joe Drape (despite some dust ups on twitter, which I am sure is done to throw me off the case) meet in Park Slope once a week to discuss racing. There, they don't have a beer, but share a 2 litre bottle of Jolt Cola. I was waiting in the weeds for the Pop Police to come and bust them and send them to Rikers.

While in the Big House, Sid (because his various Apple products are taken away) goes into deep meditative thought, and Joe learns to play the harmonica. Through music and Tibetian introspection, they solve racings problems, and when they are released they go on a traveling road show to tell anyone who wants to listen. In the end, Joe and Sid are named Co-Racing Commissioners, handle explodes, people buy yearlings for millions each day, and racing is saved.

Now, because of this judge, the above will not happen. The judge must not like horse racing.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!