The Weekend Is Here

Good morning horse racing peeps.

My email this morning from Racetrackandy (not sure when the man sleeps) said for the Derby, Churchill has: "A ban on laptop computers, cameras with detachable lenses, cameras with attached lenses measuring six inches or more, camcorders and tripods"

Jessica tweets that she thinks that's to protect CDI and NBC broadcast and photo rights. Silly me, I thought someone might be smuggling in "Air Power" or something for the horses in those big lenses.  Regardless, she's probably right. There is no word if Churchill will be banning bettors from the Derby, but as we all have seen, they're trying.

Rich Eng let fly on the CDI takeout increase yesterday in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

• Churchill has claimed they need the added revenue to keep its purses at their current level. What bean counters gloss over in their projections is they expect overall handle to stay the same. That never happens.

Most of us who care about adding eyeballs to the sport, because eyeballs can mean long-term revenue, don't necessarily automatically disallow any rake hikes. On big days like the Derby, things can be changed. We just want to see some imagination. How about super exotic handle takeout for Derby Day set at 25%? That is not a terrible price with deep fields and super-dumb money. Racing has little imagination. Like Mike Maloney, I have no idea how the horsemen groups bought this stuff.

Is there another industry on earth who is searching for people to patronize them who does more to turn people off patronizing them than horse racing does?

Woodbine handle is taking it on the chin so far this season. In previous years the 5/8's sprint races were filled top to bottom with pretty deep fields of 9, 10, 11 or 12. This season is blah. They will continue to struggle, like most would, with that horse inventory.

I played the Meadowlands last evening. Kudos to the race office there. I mean some of those races were filled with horses that can't do in a ten claimer, but they were exciting enough to bet. I spent 15 minutes on the last race because it was so interesting, despite the fact there was barely a horse that was able to beat 154. If there is a track that does more with less I'd like to meet it.

There was chatter on twitter yesterday about first timers who run without lasix. Those numbers as a whole are terrible, with ROI in the 0.60 range. It's true they, globally, are a bad bet. However, a lot of the time they are longshots anyway, don't have a great work pattern, or just aren't ready. As with any bet that shows a globally bad ROI, you have to adjust and look at the current race to make a decision. I have caught one or two nice priced horses who were overlooked sans "L".

I have been scanning TimeformUS pretty regularly now. Have you tried it? If you have not I respectfully suggest you do. After you get used to it, the ratings, dynamism and ease of use are readily apparent. I will probably write something about it next week if I have some time.

Enjoy the racing today and this evening everyone.