Friday's Racing Notes

Good morning racefans! Here are a few notes for today........

There was quite the dust up, apparently, when the Meadows carded the Arden Downs 2 year old races late in the Adios card tomorrow. With them so late, drivers with Hambletonian Oaks mounts at the Meadowlands are unable to drive them as they will be in transit. The story is in HRU, page two, pdf.

I was - still possibly will - interested to bet against Bee a Magician tomorrow in her Oaks elim. She'll be 1-5 more than likely, but I wonder if she was hitting the bike last week and we'll see a bounce. Trainer Richard Norman reports she looked fine in training this week, so maybe I am way out in left field on this.

Smiling Eli has lost a lot of luster of late, but I can't see why so many have dropped him so far down the Hambletonian top ten lists. To me he is the most talented colt of the bunch and if someone wants to give me a non-favorite price I would probably gladly take it. He's a solid number one on the Pocket list, if Pocket had a list.

You can tell we're not run by a commissioner's office, but separate commissions. The DRF headline out of Louisiana screams "Louisiana regulators drop probe into Monzante's death" and it's followed by prose relating to the fact this is 'over'. After something like this happens in any sport, some forward looking response by a commissioner or league office - due to the fact this story has brought intense emotion and anger - would be expected as a matter of course.

The Dream of Glory Trot day is next Saturday at Hanover. The day includes a match race at low takeout, which is a neat idea. The card is also being exported to some ADW's. Some tracks in Ontario are trying, and little Hanover seems to be one of them.

Alan wonders - albeit briefly and with seemingly not much alarm -  if the early Saratoga attendance numbers are a cause for concern.

I have not looked for a moment at the weekend's race in Thoroughbred racing, however, I will be handicapping one card for certain: Haskell card. That's usually a fun card, and the track is almost always filled, giving us the feel we like on big days.

Hong Kong head betting honcho Bobby Chang is right. He noted several years ago that bettors that leave their venue for Macau rarely come back; his broad point that racing needs to keep people engaged more than a slot machine does. This meet, despite seeing "Del Mar this and Del Mar that" everywhere I don't believe I've even watched one race from start to finish. I have not played California racing, other than a bet here and there in so long now.

Dumb bettor looked at the new Social Media marketing plan for harness racing in HRU (page 5, pdf) 

If horse retirement advocates want some support, they might look to serious gamblers. Long time Woodbine bettors Jim and John Cherry retired one of their mares in the 1980's and paid for her upkeep and care her whole life, until she recently passed away (this despite owning a farm). NHC winner Mike Beychok claimed and retired the horse he won the pot on. Two things about a real gambler, not a fake one or wanna be or one with a gambling problem, but a real gambler: 1) They're the best people to lend money to, because they pay you back and 2) Deep down they're softee's.

Enjoy your day everyone and good luck at the windows, should you be playing.